On the trail of the Conestoga modal: recent movements of modal auxiliaries in Pennsylvania German

This paper explores recent developments in modal verbs within the Pennsylvania German spoken in Ontario, Canada, focusing on a unique case of degrammaticalization. Unlike typical grammaticalization, where lexical items evolve into auxiliaries, the modal verb wotte has re-emerged as a full lexical verb, distinct from its auxiliary counterpart. Notably, the lexical form has undergone phonological reduction, defying expected patterns. This shift is attributed to pragmatic influences rooted in Mennonite religious values, particularly the community’s aversion to overt expressions of desire. The study highlights how cultural and social factors can reverse established linguistic pathways, offering a rare counter-example to the principle of unidirectionality in language change. The findings underscore the importance of extra-linguistic context in understanding syntactic and morphological evolution (AI generated abstract, Copilot)