Age and input effects in the acquisition of mood in Heritage Portuguese

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 795-828 ◽  
Author(s):  
CRISTINA FLORES ◽  
ANA LÚCIA SANTOS ◽  
ALICE JESUS ◽  
RUI MARQUES
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Production Task ◽  
European Portuguese ◽  
Complement Clauses ◽  
Effect Of Age ◽  
Mood Choice ◽  
At Home

AbstractThe present study analyzes the effect of age and amount of input in the acquisition of European Portuguese as a heritage language. An elicited production task centred on mood choice in complement clauses was applied to a group of fifty bilingual children (six- to sixteen-year-olds) who are acquiring Portuguese as a minority language in a German dominant environment. The results show a significant effect of the age at testing and the amount of input in the acquisition of the subjunctive. In general, acquisition is delayed with respect to monolinguals, even though higher convergence with the monolingual grammar is observed after twelve years of age. Results also reveal that children with more exposure to the heritage language at home show faster acquisition than children from mixed households: the eight- to nine-year-old age boundary seems relevant for those speakers with more exposure, and the twelve- to thirteen-year-old age boundary for those with less exposure.

scholarly journals Socioeconomic level and bilinguals’ performance on language and cognitive measures

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 1057-1078 ◽  
Author(s):  
VIRGINIA C. MUELLER GATHERCOLE ◽  
IVAN KENNEDY ◽  
ENLLI MÔN THOMAS
Keyword(s):  
Parental Education ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Socioeconomic Level ◽  
Cognitive Measures ◽  
Complex Relation ◽  
At Home

The performance of bilingual children and adults in Wales on Welsh and English vocabulary and grammar and on cognitive measures is re-analysed in relation to SES indicators of parental education and parental professions. Results are reported for 732 participants ranging across seven age groups from age 3 to over 60 and from four home language types, monolingual English, and bilinguals with only English at home, Welsh and English at home, or only Welsh at home. Results reveal extensive evidence of SES influence on performance, and of a complex relation of exposure in the home and SES level on performance, modulated by the age of the participant and whether one is considering the majority or minority language.

Bilingualism matters

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia C. Mueller Gathercole
Keyword(s):  
Birth Order ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
The Family ◽  
Complex Picture ◽  
Future Work

The articles in this special issue provide a complex picture of acquisition in bilinguals in which the factors that contribute to patterns of performance in bilingual children’s two languages are myriad and diverse. The processes and contours of development in bilingual children are influenced, not only by the quantity, quality, and contexts of input, but by whether the child hears monolingual or bilingual speech, who is the source of that speech, the proportion of speakers of the heritage language in the community, the child’s birth order in the family, the family’s SES, the timing and the child’s stage of development, profile effects in performance, and characteristics of the languages being learned. One constant across the research is the finding that the majority language fairs well in development, while the minority language is threatened. The insights gained are relevant to future work on bilingual children, whether of a theoretical or applied focus.

scholarly journals Language activities in a minority–majority language context: book-reading at home is more important for Frisian than for Dutch

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn BOSMA ◽  
Elma BLOM
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Book Reading ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Context ◽  
Watching Tv ◽  
Reading Activities ◽  
Reading At Home ◽  
At Home

AbstractPrevious research has shown that in a minority–majority language context, the quantity of language input at home is more important for the development of the minority language than for the development of the majority language. In the current study, we examined whether the same holds true for the frequency of specific language activities at home. In a group of five- and six-year-old Frisian–Dutch bilingual children (n = 120), we investigated to what extent vocabulary and morphology knowledge were predicted by reading activities, watching TV, and story-telling activities in both languages. The results showed that reading in Frisian predicted both Frisian vocabulary and morphology, while reading in Dutch only predicted Dutch vocabulary. This shows that reading at home is most important for the development of the minority language. This especially holds true for the acquisition of Frisian morphology, a domain that is known to be vulnerable in language acquisition.

Teaching Russian as a Heritage Language in Finland

2008 ◽  
Vol Volume 6 (6.1 (Spring, 2008)) ◽  
pp. 127-152
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Protassova
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Heritage Learners ◽  
Special Program ◽  
Regular Instruction ◽  
The University ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
Made In

Originating from many different sources, Russian as a heritage language in Finland displays a spectrum of developmental tendencies: both attrition and maintenance can be observed in various degrees. The Finnish educational system allows for the organization of bilingual pre-schools and schools when there are sufficient numbers of potential pupils. At the very least, children who speak a minority language (anything other than Finnish or Swedish) at home are entitled to ninety minutes of lessons in that language per week. Accommodations are made in higher education as well, such as the special program for Russian heritage learners at the University of Helsinki. Research has shown that bilingual children who grow up without regular instruction in Russian lack higher-level skills in the language, and their Russian is influenced by Finnish or Swedish on every level.

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.

A Psychometric Approach to Heritage Language Studies

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-210
Author(s):  
Irina Sekerina
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Critical Factor ◽  
Standardized Assessment ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
The Core ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Language Studies ◽  
Ultimate Attainment ◽  
Effect Of Age

The central goal of the heritage language (HL) curriculum is to facilitate ultimate attainment of the language by advanced speakers. However, the field of HL studies faces a problem in how to accurately and efficiently identify and measure weaknesses and strengths of advanced HL speakers on their way to ultimate attainment. So far, only the age of arrival to the country where the dominant language is spoken has been formally investigated as the most critical factor that influences full professional proficiency and ultimate attainment of the HL. The field of HL studies needs to embrace a formal psychometric approach that will allow us to go beyond the effect of age of arrival to uncover contributions of other naturally occurring factors, i.e., genetic, physiological, cognitive, developmental and environmental. At the core of this approach lies a comprehensive standardized assessment of (a) proficiency in HL and (b) general cognitive abilities.

scholarly journals Condicional e 'ir' no Imperfeito + Infinitivo: questões de temporalidade e de modalidade

2017 ◽  
pp. 75-98
Author(s):  
Luís Filipe Cunha
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Relation ◽  
European Portuguese ◽  
Complement Clauses ◽  
As If

In European Portuguese, both the Condicional (approximately corresponding to the English structure would + Infinitive) and the construction ir (‘go’) in the Imperfect + Infinitive express posteriority with respect to a given past interval. In this paper, I show that, in spite of their seemingly similar behaviour, these two forms diverge in a number of significant aspects. In particular, and taking into account the analysis of contexts such as if-clauses and some subordinate complement clauses introduced by factive and intensional verbs, I will argue that, while the Condicional is mainly used to provide modal information, even losing its basic temporal value, the structure ir (‘go’) in the Imperfect + Infinitive always induces a temporal relation of futurity in a past domain, irrespective of the possible modal meanings accompanying it.

scholarly journals Antler growth in male roe deer in field hunting grounds in Vojvodina: Effect of age on trophy value

2006 ◽  
pp. 109-122
Author(s):  
Dragan Gacic
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Representative Sample ◽  
Roe Deer ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Capreolus Capreolus ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
Antler Growth ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Effect Of Age ◽  
Healthy Males

Antler growth in male roe deer (Capreolus capreolus L) was studied on the representative sample consisting of 546 trophies (227 from Backa and 319 from Banat) hunted in the period 19982005. No significant differences in antler characters and trophy values were noted between Backa and Banat (except weight of antlers for 5 year old males), and the data for both regions were pooled. Antler growth is a curvilinear function of age. Mean values of length, weight and volume of antlers, and total trophy score varied significantly between the males in different age groups. The study results prove that in Vojvodina field hunting grounds, healthy males attain the culmination in antler growth and trophy value at the age of six years but already after the age of seven years, they show the first sign of old age and decline.

scholarly journals ON THE USE OF THE CAPITAL LETTER BY PORTUGUESE HERITAGE LANGAUGE STUDENTS IN SWITZERLAND

Diacrítica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Ana Margarida Azevedo Caetano ◽  
Henrique Barroso
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Graphic Representation ◽  
Capital Letter ◽  
European Portuguese ◽  
Empirical Hypothesis ◽  
Language Students ◽  
Intervention Procedure ◽  
Analyze Data

This article focuses on a case study developed in 2017 with a sample of  portuguese Heritage Language students, living in Zürich (Switzerland), and intends to be a reflection on the deviations in the graphic representation of the capital letter by some bilingual Portuguese descent students. Starting from the empirical hypothesis that the cause of these deviations consists in the transfer from German to Portuguese, the intervention procedure implemented in the group of informants under study was based on a sequence of two exercises atdifferent evaluative moments, allowing, in this way, to collect and analyze data, in order to assess the class and subclass of words that register the highest percentage ofdeviant occurrences and to understand if the metalinguistic reflection contributes (or not) to the use of capital letters in accordance with the European Portuguese orthographic standard.

The Impact of Home Language and Literacy Support on English-Chinese Biliteracy Acquisition among Chinese Heritage Language Learners

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-235
Author(s):  
Chan Lü ◽  
Keiko Koda
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Language And Literacy ◽  
Literacy Support ◽  
Oral Vocabulary ◽  
Chinese Heritage Language ◽  
The Impact ◽  
At Home

Studies on monolingual children have shown that home language and literacy support is crucial in children's early literacy acquisition. However, such support has not been examined as thoroughly among bilingual children, including heritage speakers. This study investigated the effect of home language and literacy support on important precursors of literacy skills including oral vocabulary knowledge, phonological awareness, and decoding skill in English and Chinese, among a group of 37 Chinese heritage language (CHL) learners. Our results suggest that the use of Chinese at home supported children's language and literacy skills in Chinese, especially their oral vocabulary knowledge; support of learning Chinese at home did not hinder children's acquisition of literacy skills in English. Implications for parents and teachers of CHL learners in relation to their biliteracy learning are discussed.

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