Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Sprach- und literaturwissenschaftliche Fakultät - Institut für Slawistik und Hungarologie

05.12. Maria Martynova (HU Berlin): Postradal Nikto 'Nobody Got Hurt': Negative Concord in Heritage Russian in Germany and the US [Probevortrag für eine PhD Verteidigung; hybrid]

This talk explores the dynamics of Negative Concord (NC) in Heritage Russian spoken in Germany and the United States. Negative Concord, characterized by multiple negative elements yielding a single semantic negation, is a well-documented feature of standard Russian grammar. However, its realization in heritage speakers presents an intriguing interplay between linguistic structures and the impact of limited input and contact with majority languages, such as English and German, which do not feature NC.

Using experimental data, this study investigates the roles of syntactic factors in NC production. It further examines how this phenomenon is influenced by the linguistic environment of heritage speakers. The analysis utilizes Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) to account for variability across participants and linguistic contexts.

The findings aim to contribute to our understanding of NC as a complex phenomenon in language contact situations and its broader implications for theories of bilingualism, syntactic transfer, and language change.