scholarly journals Factors Affecting Language Proficiency in Heritage Language: The Case of Young Russian Heritage Speakers in Spain

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-329
Author(s):  
Tamara Vorobyeva ◽  
Aurora Bel
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
The Other ◽  
Significant Variable ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Family Language

Abstract This study focuses on the issue of language proficiency attainment among young heritage speakers of Russian living in Spain and examines factors that have been claimed to promote heritage language proficiency, namely, age, gender, age of onset to L2, quantity of exposure and family language use. A group of 30 Russian-Spanish-Catalan trilingual children aged 7–11 participated in the study. In order to measure heritage language proficiency (L1 Russian), oral narratives were elicited. The results demonstrated a significant relationship between L1 proficiency and three sociolinguistic variables (age of onset to L2, quantity of exposure and family language use). Additionally, the multiply regression model demonstrated that the only significant variable affecting language proficiency was family language use and it accounted only for 33% of the variation of children’s language proficiency. The study raises the question about what are the other, yet unknown factors, which can affect heritage language proficiency.

scholarly journals Italian-German bilinguals: The effects of heritage language use on accent in early-acquired languages

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anika Lloyd-Smith ◽  
Marieke Einfeldt ◽  
Tanja Kupisch
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Degree Of Certainty ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Almost All

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions:This study investigates perceived accent in the two early-acquired languages of 21 adult-aged bilinguals with Italian as the heritage language (HL) and German as the majority language (ML). We test the relative ability of ‘age of onset (AoO) in German’ (range = 0–6 years) and ‘Italian use’ to predict perceived nativeness in Italian and German.Design/methodology/approach:Two accent rating experiments were carried out (one in each language) comparing the bilingual speech samples to those of monolingual and second language (L2) control groups. The samples were rated by German and Italian-speaking judges for foreign accent (‘yes’ or ‘no’) and for degree of certainty (‘certain, ‘semi-certain’, ‘uncertain’).Data and analysis:The effects of ‘AoO in German’ and ‘Italian Use’ (operationalized as an Italian Use Score) were analysed using correlational analyses and logistic regression.Findings/conclusions:Our results show that almost all bilinguals were indistinguishable from monolingual controls in German, and that their perceived accent in Italian lay somewhere between that of the monolingual and L2 controls. Based on regression analyses, we conclude that a later introduction of the ML has neither a negative effect on the ML itself, nor does it show up advantages in the HL. Instead, how native-like the heritage speakers (HSs) sound in the HL largely depends on HL use. No negative effects of HL use are found for German.Originality:We test a new population of Italian HSs in South Germany and compare these results to findings from other HS populations in Germany.Significance/implications:This study shows that, although it may be the case for child-aged bilinguals that introducing the ML earlier causes more phonological pressure on the HL, this effect seems to have disappeared by adulthood – at least with regards to perceived global accent. Also, accent in the HL depends on HL use across the lifespan.

Influential factors in lexical richness of young heritage speakers’ family language: Iranians in New Zealand

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khadijeh Gharibi ◽  
Frank Boers
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Linguistic Variables ◽  
Parental Attitude ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Heritage Language Acquisition ◽  
Lexical Richness ◽  
Family Language

Aims and objectives: This study investigates the extent to which young heritage speakers’ oral narratives in their first language (L1) differ from monolinguals’ narratives with regard to lexical richness (lexical diversity and lexical sophistication). It also explores which demographic factors (age, age at emigration and length of emigration) and/or socio-linguistic factors (frequency of heritage language use and parental attitudes toward heritage language maintenance) account for the differences. Data and analysis: The participants were a group of 25 young speakers of Persian as a heritage language, who were either born in or emigrated to New Zealand, and a group of 25 monolingual counterparts in Iran. Demographic information about the heritage speakers as well as information about parental attitude and practices regarding heritage language acquisition and maintenance were collected through semi-structured interviews with their parents. A film-retelling task was used to elicit the oral narratives, and these were analyzed for lexical diversity (by means of the Measure of Textual Lexical Diversity) and for lexical sophistication (by counting the incidence of low-frequency words). Findings and conclusion: As expected, the monolinguals’ narratives tended to manifest greater lexical richness than the heritage speakers’, especially according to the measure of lexical sophistication. Against expectation, frequency of heritage language use and parental attitude toward heritage language acquisition and maintenance were not found to be significant predictors of the young heritage speakers’ results. For the heritage speakers who were born in New Zealand, the results were predicted best by their age, while for those who arrived in New Zealand at a later age, the best predictors were both their age and how old they were at the time of emigration. This suggests that the demographic factors overrode the potential influence of the socio-linguistic variables examined. Originality: This study sheds light on (factors that contribute to) young heritage speakers’ L1 lexical competence, a topic that has hitherto been under-investigated. Significance and implications: A major implication of this study is showing the association of age and heritage speakers’ lexical richness. Although the statistical analyses did not show the effect of socio-linguistic variables, this finding indirectly supports the effect of parental input on heritage language proficiency in young bilinguals. Limitations: Limitations of the study include the relatively small number of participants, the use of only one task to elicit speech samples and the reliance on parents’ self-reported family language habits.

scholarly journals Israeli Russian: Case morphology in a bilingual context

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 886-907
Author(s):  
Natalia Meir ◽  
Marina Avramenko ◽  
Tatiana Verkhovtceva
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Early Age ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Accusative Case ◽  
Russian Speakers ◽  
Case Morphology ◽  
Potential Factors ◽  
Ultimate Attainment

The current study investigates case morphology development in a bilingual context. It is aimed at investigating potential mechanisms driving divergences in heritage language grammars as compared to the baseline monolingual standards. For the purposes of the study, 95 bilingual and monolingual children and adults were compared. Bilinguals residing in Israel acquired Russian from birth, while the age of onset of Hebrew varied. The participants completed a production task eliciting accusative case inflections. Both child and adult heritage speakers of Russian with early age of onset of Hebrew (before the age of 5) showed divergences in the production of the accusative case inflections as compared to monolingual Russian-speaking controls (adult and child), whereas grammars of Israeli heritage Russian speakers with later ages of onset of Hebrew, after the age of 5, were found to be intact. On the basis of Russian in contact with Hebrew, the study discusses how heritage language grammars differ from the baseline grammars of monolingual speakers and which mechanisms are associated with heritage language ultimate attainment. The effects of the age of onset and cross-linguistic influence from the dominant societal language are discussed as potential factors affecting the acquisition / maintenance of linguistic phenomena in heritage language grammars.

scholarly journals Auditory Processing of Gender Agreement across Relative Clauses by Spanish Heritage Speakers

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Daniel Vergara ◽  
Gilda Socarrás
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Auditory Task ◽  
Auditory Modality ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers

Processing research on Spanish gender agreement has focused on L2 learners’ and—to a lesser extent—heritage speakers’ sensitivity to gender agreement violations. This research has been mostly carried out in the written modality, which places heritage speakers at a disadvantage as they are more frequently exposed to Spanish auditorily. This study contributes to the understanding of the differences between heritage and L2 grammars by examining the processing of gender agreement in the auditory modality and its impact on comprehension. Twenty Spanish heritage speakers and 20 intermediate L2 learners listened to stimuli containing two nouns with gender mismatches in the main clause, and an adjective in the relative clause that only agreed in gender with one of the nouns. We measured noun-adjective agreement accuracy through participants’ responses to an auditory task. Our results show that heritage speakers are more accurate than L2 learners in the auditory processing of gender agreement information for comprehension. Additionally, heritage speakers’ accuracy is modulated by their Spanish language proficiency and age of onset. Participants also exhibit higher accuracies in cases in which the adjective agrees with the first noun. We argue that this is an ambiguity resolution strategy influenced by the experimental task.

Canadian heritage German across three generations: A diary-based study of language shift in action

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Doris Stolberg
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Fourth Generation ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Language System ◽  
Three Generations ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractIt is well known that migration has an effect on language use and language choice. If the language of origin is maintained after migration, it tends to change in the new contact setting. Often, migrants shift to the new majority language within few generations. The current paper examines a diary corpus containing data from three generations of one German-Canadian family, ranging from 1867 to 1909, and covering the second to fourth generation after immigration. The paper analyzes changes that can be observed between the generations, with respect to the language system as well as to the individuals’ decision on language choice. The data not only offer insight into the dynamics of acquiring a written register of a heritage language, and the eventual shift to the majority language. They also allow us to identify different linguistic profiles of heritage speakers within one community. It is discussed how these profiles can be linked to the individuals’ family backgrounds and how the combination of these backgrounds may have contributed to giving up the heritage language in favor of the majority language.

scholarly journals Language control abilities of late bilinguals

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 580-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
JULIA FESTMAN
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Picture Naming ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
The Other ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Language Control ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
Late Bilinguals

Although all bilinguals encounter cross-language interference (CLI), some bilinguals are more susceptible to interference than others. Here, we report on language performance of late bilinguals (Russian/German) on two bilingual tasks (interview, verbal fluency), their language use and switching habits. The only between-group difference was CLI: one group consistently produced significantly more errors of CLI on both tasks than the other (thereby replicating our findings from a bilingual picture naming task). This striking group difference in language control ability can only be explained by differences in cognitive control, not in language proficiency or language mode.

scholarly journals Differential Access: Asymmetries in Accessing Features and Building Representations in Heritage Language Grammars

Languages ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Perez-Cortes ◽  
Putnam ◽  
Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Loss ◽  
State Representation ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Feature Values ◽  
Mood Selection ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Differential Access

In this article, we propose that elements of heritage language grammars—both in the form of axiomatic features and larger combined representational units—are not easily lost over the course of the lifespan. This view contrasts with alternative explanations for the steady-state representation of these grammars that suggest truncated acquisition or erosion are the primary culprits of perceived language loss. In production and comprehension processes for heritage bilinguals, particular elements are more difficult to access than others, leading to differential ways to access representations and feature values. To illustrate and support this hypothesis, we build on previous work by examining the interpretation and use of obligatory mood selection in Spanish desiderative constructions in three groups of heritage speakers with different levels of language proficiency.

Introduction to Heritage Language Development

2019 ◽  
pp. 417-433
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul ◽  
Maria Polinsky
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
First Generation Immigrants ◽  
Heritage Language Development

This chapter presents and analyses main factors that contribute to attrition in heritage languages. It shows that heritage speakers are a highly heterogeneous population from both a psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic point of view. In principle, their language can differ from the language of their input (baseline language, usually that of first-generation immigrants to a new country). The differences can be due to how the heritage language developed under reduced input conditions, interference from the dominant language (transfer) and innovations in the grammar, potential changes incipient in the input, and attrition proper. The latter is particularly apparent when the language of adult heritage speakers is compared with the language of bilingual children; such children outperform heritage speakers on a variety of linguistic properties. The critical factors that affect language change in heritage speakers include the age of onset of bilingualism and quantity/quality of input.

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.

Multilingual Accommodation in Namibia

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Stell ◽  
Marko Dragojevic
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Communication Accommodation ◽  
Communication Accommodation Theory ◽  
Intergroup Interactions ◽  
Intergroup Encounters ◽  
Accommodation Theory

This study examined how six different ethnolinguistic groups in Windhoek, capital of Namibia, adjust their language use during intergroup encounters. Invoking communication accommodation theory, we predicted that relatively low-vitality groups (high-vitality groups) would be inclined towards linguistic convergence (maintenance), but that these general patterns would be moderated by prevailing sociocultural norms and each group’s language proficiency. These hypotheses were largely supported. Relatively low-vitality groups tended to linguistically converge (typically via lingua francas), whereas relatively high-vitality groups tended to engage in linguistic maintenance. This resulted in two distinct patterns of adjustment: (a) symmetrical accommodation in interactions involving groups of relatively equal vitality, typically consisting of mutual convergence to lingua francas or mutual maintenance of a shared heritage language and (b) asymmetrical accommodation in intergroup interactions involving groups of relatively unequal vitality, typically consisting of upward convergence among lower vitality groups, and maintenance among higher vitality groups.

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