scholarly journals Voicing patterns in stops among heritage speakers of Western Armenian in Lebanon and the US

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Niamh E. Kelly ◽  
Lara Keshishian
Keyword(s):  
Minority Language ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
The Us ◽  
Lebanese Arabic

Abstract Research on Western Armenian (WA) has described it as having a contrast between voiceless aspirated stops and voiced stops (Fairbanks 1948; Vaux 1998; Baronian 2017). Since there is no monolingual community of WA, all speakers are part of a minority language community, and also speak the majority language. The current study examines speakers from two heritage communities of WA: one in Lebanon, where the majority language is Arabic, and one in the US, where the majority language is English. The speakers in Lebanon were found to have a contrast between voiced and voiceless unaspirated stops, in line with Lebanese Arabic. The speakers in the US were more variable, some having the English pattern of voiceless unaspirated and voiceless aspirated stops, while others had voiceless aspirated stops, but their voiced stops were variable between voiced and voiceless unaspirated. These results indicate L2 transfer in both communities, leading to two different patterns of voicing in WA.

scholarly journals The Effect of Perceptions: Instructor–Student Dynamics in the Spanish Heritage Classroom

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Patricia González Darriba ◽  
Benjamin Kinsella ◽  
Crystal Marull ◽  
Nathan Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
Classroom Dynamics ◽  
Five Dimensions ◽  
University Courses ◽  
The Us ◽  
Attitudes And Perceptions

The rising population of heritage speakers (HS) in university courses in the US has increased the need for instructors who understand the linguistic, social, and cultural profiles of their students. Recent research has discussed the need for specialized courses and their differentiation from second-language (L2) classes, as well as the intersection between HS and language attitudes. However, prior studies have not examined HS students’ language attitudes toward the sociolinguistic background of the instructors and their effect on classroom interactions. Therefore, this study explores HS students’ overall language attitudes and perceptions of their instructors’ sociolinguistic background. In a survey, HS university students (N = 92) across the US assessed four instructor profiles along five dimensions. Results showed that students rated more favorably instructors born and raised in Latin America, followed by those from Spain. Furthermore, HS favored these two profiles over HS or L2 profiles as their course instructors. However, preferences were less marked in the online context. These findings demonstrate that to design supportive learning spaces with—rather than for—HS students, programs must first acknowledge how classroom dynamics are shaped by the perspectives brought into the learning space and by the context of the learning space itself.

scholarly journals ‘transformative’ potential of translanguaging and other heteroglossic educational practices

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-289
Author(s):  
M. Rafael Salaberry
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
The Us ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Heritage Speakers Of Spanish

Over the last few decades, there has been an increased awareness about imprecise, inaccurate and, thus, unfair conceptualisations of language based on monoglossic views of language that delegitimise the linguistic repertoire of multilingual minorities as is the case of heritage speakers of Spanish in the US or speakers of Lingua Franca English worldwide. At the same time, there are theoretical and educational proposals that offer new conceptualisations of multilingualism focused on the concept of heteroglossia, which, in contrast with monoglossic views, focuses our attention on the fluid and full use of all linguistic resources available to language learners/users as they engage in the process of interacting with their interlocutors. In the present paper, I describe an important challenge that compromises the valuable agenda of heteroglossic approaches to develop multilingualism: the effect of listeners’ biases and reverse linguistic stereotyping. That is, educational programmes designed to counteract the negative effect of monoglossic approaches to second language learning in general cannot adopt a segregationist approach (neither in their theoretical design nor in their practical implementation). To place this challenge in context, I describe in detail the specific example of Spanish heritage second language learners at the tertiary level of education in the US setting and I also provide a broad outline of potential improvements in the curricular design of such programmes.

Roadblocks to Bilingualism

2019 ◽  
pp. 66-90
Author(s):  
John Evar Strid ◽  
James A. Cohen ◽  
Autumn Gathings ◽  
Raven Stepter ◽  
Amor Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Heritage Speaker ◽  
The Us ◽  
Bilingual Teacher

Most teacher candidates have little experience with learning other languages. They therefore become cogs in the assimilationist machine that causes immigrants to lose native languages and become monolingual in English (Rumbaut, Massey, & Bean, 2006). In a time of devaluing immigrants (and their languages) and failure on the part of most Americans to learn other languages, educators need to focus on the role of other languages in promoting multicultural understanding and to increase language learning in the US. This chapter examines bilingual teacher candidates' experiences with language learning. For four years, students studying for ESL/bilingual licensure were asked to rate their language abilities, finding that 30% rated themselves as bilingual, with 70.43% of bilinguals describing themselves as heritage speakers. The authors report the overall findings as well as the bilingual heritage speaker candidates' own words on their experiences with language learning and maintaining their bilingualism.

Variation in the tonal space of Yangliu Lalo, an endangered language of Yunnan, China

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathryn Yang ◽  
James N. Stanford ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
Jinjing Jiang ◽  
Liufang Tang
Keyword(s):  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Young People ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Time Study ◽  
High Tone ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Tone Languages ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
Tonal Space ◽  
Tonal System

Abstract Endangered tone languages are not often studied within quantitative variationist approaches, but such approaches can provide valuable insights for language description and documentation in the Tibeto-Burman area. This study examines tone variation within Yangliu Lalo (Central Ngwi), a minority language community in China that is currently shifting to Southwestern Mandarin. Yangliu Lalo’s Tone 4, the rising-falling High tone, is lowering and flattening among young people, especially females, who also tend to use Lalo less frequently. Tonal range in elicited speech is shown to be decreasing as use of Lalo decreases. Concurrently, the standard deviation of the pitch of individual tones also decreases, while at the same time speakers with a narrow tonal range also show greater articulatory precision for each tone. Tonal range and standard deviation of pitch are both parameters of tonal space, the arrangement of, and relationship between, tones within the tonal system. The results from our apparent-time study suggest that tonal space provides a new avenue of sociolinguistic inquiry for tone languages.

scholarly journals Borrowing morphology

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heini Karjalainen
Keyword(s):  
Strong Influence ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Pattern Transfer ◽  
Minority Status ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Morphological Pattern ◽  
Indefinite Pronoun ◽  
The Prestige ◽  
Indefinite Pronouns

Veps is a Finnic minority language that has long been influenced by Russian, the prestige language in the speech area. The influence of Russian can be perceived in all subsystems of the Veps language, but hardly any research has been done on its impact on morphology. The current paper focuses on the influence of Russian on the Veps indefinite pronouns and their restructuring. The contemporary Veps indefinite pronoun system is based on the use of different affixes and particles, i.e., indefiniteness markers, which are attached to interrogative stems. This article describes the various Veps indefiniteness markers, which have been acquired via morpheme transfer (MAT) and morphological pattern transfer (PAT) from Russian. The borrowing of indefiniteness markers is typical for languages under the very strong influence of another language. According to contemporary studies, the motivation for borrowing should primarily be attributed to sociolinguistic factors and less to structural-typological similarities of the languages in question. In the Veps language community, such sociolinguistic factors are the minority status of the Veps language and the bilingualism of its speakers. 

scholarly journals Word order in heritage Russian: clause type and majority language matter

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulia Zuban ◽  
Maria Martynova ◽  
Sabine Zerbian ◽  
Luka Szucsich ◽  
Natalia Gagarina
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Written Narratives ◽  
Saint Petersburg ◽  
The Us ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Syntactic Properties

AbstractHeritage speakers (HSs) are known to differ from monolingual speakers in various linguistic domains. The present study focuses on the syntactic properties of monolingual and heritage Russian. Using a corpus of semi-spontaneous spoken and written narratives produced by HSs of Russian residing in the US and Germany, we investigate HSs’ word order patterns and compare them to monolingual speakers of Russian from Saint Petersburg. Our results show that the majority language (ML) of HSs as well as the clause type contribute to observed differences in word order patterns between speaker groups. Specifically, HSs in Germany performed similarly to monolingual speakers of Russian while HSs in the US generally produced more SVO and less OVS orders than the speakers of the latter group. Furthermore, HSs in the US produced more SVO orders than both monolingual speakers and HSs in Germany in embedded clauses, but not in main clauses. The results of the study are discussed with the reference to the differences between main and embedded clauses as well as the differences between the MLs of the HSs.

scholarly journals Language shift in Newar: a case study in the Kathmandu Valley

2018 ◽  
pp. 33-41
Author(s):  
Bhim Lal Gautam
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Community Living ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Kathmandu Valley ◽  
Language Community

This paper explores the patterns of language shift in Newar, the ethnic indigenous language community living in the Kathmandu Valley. The research focuses on language contact situations in different domains viz. social, cultural, personal, and official as well as media related activities where the informants are asked to use different languages along with the use of their own mother tongue i.e. Newar. This socio-ethnographic research aims at providing some clues as to how the discovery of a minority language triggers changes in representations and attitudes.

Spanish copula selection with adjectives in school-aged bilingual children

2020 ◽  
pp. 136700692096079
Author(s):  
Pablo E Requena ◽  
Melisa Dracos
Keyword(s):  
First Generation ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
The Us ◽  
Central Texas ◽  
Language Exposure ◽  
Selection Tasks ◽  
Ser And Estar

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This study examined whether school-aged second-generation heritage speakers exhibit knowledge of the semantic and pragmatic constraints on Spanish copula selection with adjectives, and whether experiential factors affect copula interpretation. Design/methodology/approach: Following a between-subjects design, we administered 2 Picture Selection Tasks to 50 second-generation bilingual children (ages 5;1–14;10) and 21 first-generation adults living in the same community in central Texas. Task 1 included real adjectives and Task 2 novel adjectives. We administered a morphosyntactic proficiency test in English and Spanish (BESA/BESA-ME) to the children and obtained language exposure and use data. Data and analysis: Using generalized linear mixed models, analyses compared bilingual children to first-generation adults in their selection of the temporary picture with each copula ( ser vs. estar), and also examined the role of age, language exposure/use, and morphosyntactic proficiency. Findings/conclusions: Only children with high Spanish morphosyntactic proficiency approached adult-like sensitivity to the semantic and pragmatic distinctions between ser and estar with adjectives. Age, Spanish exposure and use, and English proficiency did not significantly influence performance on the tasks. Originality: This study provides the first detailed examination of the acquisition of copula selection with adjectives in Spanish-English school-aged heritage speakers living in the US. Significance/implications: This study offers evidence of the vulnerability of aspect, as instantiated in Spanish copula selection, among school-aged bilingual children. It also suggests low-proficiency children might be a catalyzing locus of the accelerated changes in copula use.

The Future of Spanglish: Global or Tribal?

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 261-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Bazán-Figueras ◽  
Salvador J. Figueras
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
The Real ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
The Us ◽  
American Society ◽  
Real Academia

Abstract Research revolves around the socio-political, linguistic, and cultural aspects of “Spanglish” while considering its future in American society. A speech modality used by many Hispanics in the United States, Spanglish mixes grammatical and lexical elements from both English and Spanish and is primarily used in oral communication. The announcement by the Real Academia Española (RAE) to include Estadounidismos (a term coined by the RAE for referring to words used primarily, if not exclusively, in the US by Spanish speakers which are now part of the recognized lexicon) in its upcoming dictionary in 2014 shocked many. Furthermore, it has also placed Spanglish in the center of yet another controversy, as it presents heritage speakers with an opportunity to decide whether or not to remain fragmented or united.

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