My Research

Research Summary

My research focuses on sounds and the sound systems of bilingual/multilingual people, in general, and Dutch heritage speakers in the United States, more specifically. I have a particular interest in how the sound systems of the two languages are realized in both the speech of adult immigrants, their children, and later generations raised in the United States as well as how language ideologies and community structure affect language maintenance.

Publications

2025. Hietpas R., & Salmons, J. “Noun Class in Heritage Dutch and German: Diaspora and multiethnolectal contexts.” In Syntax in Uncharted Territories: Essays in Honor of Maria Polinsky, edited by Lauren Clemens, Vera Gribanova, and Gregory Scontras.
2022. Hietpas, R., & Vanhecke, C. “Dutch language and culture in North America.” In Selected Proceedings of the 12th Workshop on Immigrant Languages in the Americas (WILA 12), edited by Eeva Sippola and Elizabeth Peterson.
2019. Brown, Joshua R., and Rachyl Hietpas. "Postvernacular Dutch in Wisconsin." In Selected Proceedings of the 9th Workshop on Immigrant Languages in the Americas (WILA 9), edited by Kelly Biers and Joshua R. Brown. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.

My Research

Research Summary

Publications

Conference Presentations

Conference Posters

Outreach