Variation in the usage of relativisation strategies in migrant and non-migrant English speakers

Abstract

[eng] This study considers the use of adnominal restrictive relativeclauses based on data from an acceptability rating task. We askednon-migrant native speakers (n = 24) of English and migrantnative speakers (n = 28) of English to judge three different typesof relative clauses. Results indicated that these speakers rate therelative markers that and zero more positively in line with thecurrent situation in Present-day English. The similar behaviour inthe rating shows that major driving forces of language variationsuch as colloquialisation and Americanisation are stronger thanother forces such as language contact. The similarities in theusage of relativisation strategies observed between contemporaryEnglishes and language competences of migrant and nonmigrantspeakers support the emergence of a new variety ofEnglish similar to other documented varieties that emerged incomparable contexts.