scholarly journals The Development of Subject Position in Dutch-Dominant Heritage Speakers of Spanish: From Age 9 to Adulthood

Languages ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 88
Author(s):  
van Osch ◽  
García González ◽  
Hulk ◽  
Sleeman ◽  
Aalberse
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Speakers Of Spanish ◽  
Language Literature

This exploratory study investigates the knowledge of word order in intransitive sentences by heritage speakers of Spanish of different age groups: 9-year-olds, 13-year-olds and adults. In doing so, we aim to fill a gap in the heritage language literature, which, to date, has mainly focused on adult heritage speakers and preschool bilingual children. The results from a judgment task reveal that child- and adolescent heritage speakers do not entirely resemble monolingual age-matched children in the acquisition of subjects in Spanish, nor do they assimilate adult heritage speakers. The data suggest that several different processes can occur simultaneously in the acquisition of word order in heritage speakers: monolingual-like acquisition, delayed acquisition, and attrition. An analysis of the influence of extraneous variables suggests that most of these effects are likely to be the consequence of quantitatively reduced input in the heritage language and increased input in the majority language.

Vulnerability and Cross-linguistic Influence in Heritage Spanish: Comparing Different Majority Languages

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 340-366
Author(s):  
Brechje van Osch
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Dominant Group ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Speaker ◽  
Interesting Difference ◽  
Specific Vulnerability ◽  
Heritage Speakers Of Spanish ◽  
English Dominant

This paper compares Dutch-dominant and English-dominant heritage speakers of Spanish regarding their sensitivity to the various factors that play a role in subject position. An acceptability judgment task and an elicited production task demonstrated that both groups were sensitive to the effect of verb type on word order, but not to the effect of focus. To account for the specific vulnerability of focus, several possible accounts are proposed. An interesting difference occurred between the two heritage speaker groups regarding their knowledge of the effect of definiteness on word order. The Dutch-dominant group outperformed the English dominant group in this condition, arguably helped by the similarity between Dutch and Spanish regarding the definiteness effect on word order. This finding shows that properties inherent to the heritage language and cross-linguistic influence from the majority language are both crucial elements in explaining vulnerability in heritage grammars.

scholarly journals REANALYSIS IN ADULT HERITAGE LANGUAGE

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Polinsky
Keyword(s):  
Life Span ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Child Language ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
English Dominant

This study presents and analyzes the comprehension of relative clauses in child and adult speakers of Russian, comparing monolingual controls with Russian heritage speakers (HSs) who are English-dominant. Monolingual and bilingual children demonstrate full adultlike mastery of relative clauses. Adult HSs, however, are significantly different from the monolingual adult controls and from the child HS group. This divergent performance indicates that the adult heritage grammar is not a product of the fossilization of child language. Instead, it suggests that forms existing in the baseline undergo gradual attrition over the life span of a HS. This result is consistent with observations on narrative structure in child and adult HSs (Polinsky, 2008b). Evidence from word order facts suggests that relative clause reanalysis in adult HSs cannot be attributed to transfer from English.

Early shifts in the heritage language strength: A comparison of lexical access and accuracy in bilingual and monolingual children

2020 ◽  
pp. 136700692093633
Author(s):  
Bozena Dubiel ◽  
Eithne Guilfoyle
Keyword(s):  
Response Time ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Relative Dominance ◽  
Similar Accuracy ◽  
Heritage Language Development

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This study examines the characteristics of the child heritage language during the period of its relative dominance in early sequential bilinguals. Our objectives are twofold: to compare lexical accuracy and access in heritage and monolingual speakers across the primary school years, and to examine whether the results point to any early shifts in the heritage language strength. Design/methodology/approach: The participants are 38 Polish–English early sequential bilinguals and 24 Polish monolinguals aged 4;7–13;2, divided into four age groups. We use a new psycholinguistic tool, the Child HALA, to measure shifts in language strength by comparing lexical accuracy and access between the heritage and monolingual Polish. This picture-naming test is based on the HALA tool. Data and analysis: The data consists of accuracy and response time scores. The results are compared between the age groups and between the heritage and monolingual speakers to document any changes as a function of age and type of acquisition. Findings/conclusions: The heritage speakers achieve similar accuracy scores as the monolinguals; however, their rate of acquisition is slower. Their response time scores are lower across all age spans, which points to a slower language access. The results may suggest that the heritage language displays early shifts in its strength before a switch to a more dominant L2 between the mean age of 8–11;5. Originality: We document early changes in the heritage language strength that occur during a period of its relative dominance in bilingual children. The study employs a new psycholinguistic test applicable in the assessments of language maintenance in children. Significance/implications: The study provides insights into the heritage language maintenance during the early years of exposure to the majority language. The results may offer a greater understanding of the characteristics of the heritage language development in bilingual children.

scholarly journals The Effect of Silence and Distance: Evidence from Recomplementation in US Heritage Spanish

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 66
Author(s):  
Joshua Frank
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Choice Preference ◽  
Baseline Group ◽  
Colombian Spanish ◽  
Preference Task ◽  
Heritage Speakers Of Spanish ◽  
Experimental Findings ◽  
Linguistic Phenomenon

The present study investigates the architecture of heritage language grammars, as well as divergence from the baseline, by offering novel data. Recomplementation is defined as a left-dislocated phrase sandwiched between a primary (C1) and an optional secondary (C2) complementizer, e.g., He said that1later in the afternoon that2he would clean his room. While formal syntactic-theoretical accounts align on the grammaticality of recomplementation, experimental findings suggest that the overt C2 option is associated with a decrement in acceptability. An aural acceptability judgment task and a forced-choice preference task were administered in Spanish to 15 advanced US heritage speakers of Spanish (HS) and 12 members of a Colombian Spanish baseline group. Results show that HSs do not rate the overt C2 construction with a decrement in acceptability when compared to the null one. This behavior, along with a higher proportion of overt C2 preference, diverges from the baseline. In line with the Model of Divergent Attainment, we argue that the complexity associated with silent elements and dependency distance combined with processing burden leads to a reanalysis of the linguistic phenomenon. We introduce a multiple representations proposal that accurately describes the data in question and is faithful to current syntactic-theoretical accounts.

When bilinguals outperform monolinguals

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Miller
Keyword(s):  
Age Of Onset ◽  
The United States ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Crucial Difference ◽  
Comparison Results ◽  
Heritage Speakers Of Spanish

Abstract This study explores cross-linguistic influence among different populations of Spanish-English bilinguals by studying their interpretation, production and acceptance of definite articles in subject position. The three bilingual groups included Heritage Speakers of Spanish living in the United States, L1 English/L2 Spanish speakers, and L1 Spanish/L2 English speakers. Two groups of monolingual speakers (Spanish and English) were also tested for comparison. Results show that instructed bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on the acceptability judgment task but that monolinguals performed better on the interpretation tasks. Additionally, the type of linguistic experience each group had was found to predict variable performance across acceptance, production, and interpretation tasks. These results support multi-competence models of bilingualism, which argue that language performance is linked to language experience, suggesting that variable amounts of exposure rather than age of onset of acquisition may be the crucial difference between first language and second language speakers.

Sentence comprehension in heritage language: Isomorphism, word order, and language transfer

2021 ◽  
pp. 026765832199790
Author(s):  
Anna Chrabaszcz ◽  
Elena Onischik ◽  
Olga Dragoy
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Language Transfer ◽  
Processing Strategy ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Sequence Of Events ◽  
Linguistic Transfer

This study examines the role of cross-linguistic transfer versus general processing strategy in two groups of heritage speakers ( n = 28 per group) with the same heritage language – Russian – and typologically different dominant languages: English and Estonian. A group of homeland Russian speakers ( n = 36) is tested to provide baseline comparison. Within the framework of the Competition model (MacWhinney, 2012), cross-linguistic transfer is defined as reliance on the processing cue prevalent in the heritage speaker’s dominant language (e.g. word order in English) for comprehension of heritage language. In accordance with the Isomorphic Mapping Hypothesis (O’Grady and Lee, 2005), the general processing strategy is defined in terms of isomorphism as a linear alignment between the order of the sentence constituents and the temporal sequence of events. Participants were asked to match pictures on the computer screen with auditorily presented sentences. Sentences included locative or instrumental constructions, in which two cues – word order (basic vs. inverted) and isomorphism mapping (isomorphic vs. nonisomorphic) – were fully crossed. The results revealed that (1) Russian native speakers are sensitive to isomorphism in sentence processing; (2) English-dominant heritage speakers experience dominant language transfer, as evidenced by their reliance primarily on the word order cue; (3) Estonian-dominant heritage speakers do not show significant effects of isomorphism or word order but experience significant processing costs in all conditions.

scholarly journals The Sound Pattern of Heritage Spanish: An Exploratory Study on the Effects of a Classroom Experience

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Rajiv Rao ◽  
Zuzanna Fuchs ◽  
Maria Polinsky ◽  
María Luisa Parra
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Classroom Experience ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Sound System ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Voiceless Stop ◽  
Heritage Speakers Of Spanish

While heritage Spanish phonetics and phonology and classroom experiences have received increased attention in recent years, these areas have yet to converge. Furthermore, most research in these realms is cross-sectional, ignoring individual or group changes across time. We aim to connect research strands and fill gaps associated with the aforementioned areas by conducting an individual-level empirical analysis of narrative data produced by five female heritage speakers of Spanish at the beginning and end of a semester-long heritage language instruction class. We focus on voiced and voiceless stop consonants, vowel quality, mean pitch, pitch range, and speech rate. Our acoustic and statistical outputs of beginning versus end data reveal that each informant exhibits a change in between three and five of the six dependent variables, showing that exposure to a more formal register through a classroom experience over the course of a semester constitutes enough input to influence the heritage language sound system, even if the sound system is not an object of explicit instruction. We interpret the significant changes through the lenses of the development of formal speech and discursive strategies, phonological retuning, and speech style and pragmatic effects, while also acknowledging limitations to address in future related work.

How similar are adult second language learners and Spanish heritage speakers? Spanish clitics and word order

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
SILVINA MONTRUL
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Family Language ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers

ABSTRACTRecent studies of heritage speakers, many of whom possess incomplete knowledge of their family language, suggest that these speakers may be linguistically superior to second language (L2) learners only in phonology but not in morphosyntax. This study reexamines this claim by focusing on knowledge of clitic pronouns and word order in 24 L2 learners and 24 Spanish heritage speakers. Results of an oral production task, a written grammaticality judgment task, and a speeded comprehension task showed that, overall, heritage speakers seem to possess more nativelike knowledge of Spanish than their L2 counterparts. Implications for theories that stress the role of age and experience in L2 ultimate attainment and for the field of heritage language acquisition and teaching are discussed.

scholarly journals Input effects across domains: The case of Greek subjects in child heritage language

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evangelia Daskalaki ◽  
Vasiliki Chondrogianni ◽  
Elma Blom ◽  
Froso Argyri ◽  
Johanne Paradis
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
North America ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Heritage Language Acquisition ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Interface Hypothesis

A recurring question in the literature of heritage language acquisition, and more generally of bilingual acquisition, is whether all linguistic domains are sensitive to input reduction and to cross-linguistic influence and to what extent. According to the Interface Hypothesis, morphosyntactic phenomena regulated by discourse–pragmatic conditions are more likely to lead to non-native outcomes than strictly syntactic aspects of the language (Sorace, 2011). To test this hypothesis, we examined subject realization and placement in Greek–English bilingual children learning Greek as a heritage language in North America and investigated whether the amount of heritage language use can predict their performance in syntax–discourse and narrow syntactic contexts. Results indicated two deviations from the Interface Hypothesis: First, subject realization (a syntax–discourse phenomenon) was found to be largely unproblematic. Second, subject placement was affected not only in syntax–discourse structures but also in narrow syntactic structures, though to a lesser degree, suggesting that the association between the interface status of subject placement and its sensitivity to heritage language use among children heritage speakers is gradient rather than categorical.

Variable V2 in Norwegian heritage language

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marit Westergaard ◽  
Terje Lohndal ◽  
Björn Lundquist
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
The Other ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence

Abstract This paper discusses possible attrition of verb second (V2) word order in Norwegian heritage language by investigating a corpus of spontaneous speech produced by 50 2nd–4th generation heritage speakers in North America. The study confirms previous findings that V2 word order is generally stable in heritage situations, but nevertheless finds approximately 10% V2 violations. The cases of non-V2 word order are argued to be due to lack of activation of the heritage language grammar, making it vulnerable to crosslinguistic influence from the speakers’ dominant language. This crosslinguistic influence does not simply replace V2 by non-V2, but is argued to operate more indirectly, affecting (a) the distribution of contexts for V2 word order, and (b) introducing two new distinctions into the heritage language, one (indirectly) based on a similar distinction in the dominant language (a difference between adverbs and negation with respect to verb movement), the other based on frequency of initial elements triggering V2 in non-subject-initial declaratives. Together, these findings also indicate that crosslinguistic influence affects different contexts of V2 differently, providing support for analyses that treat V2 word order as the result of many smaller rules.

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