scholarly journals Aspectual distinctions in Dutch-Ambon Malay bilingual heritage speakers

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca R Moro
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Great Likelihood ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Heritage Speaker ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Aspect Markers ◽  
Contact Situation

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: This paper investigates the effects of Dutch on the tense-aspect system of heritage Ambon Malay, a variety spoken by Dutch-Ambon Malay bilinguals in the Netherlands. The study asks whether the cross-linguistic contrasts between the two languages – Dutch obligatorily marks past/non-past and finiteness, whereas Ambon Malay lacks a grammaticalized expression of these distinctions – has an effect on the aspectual system of heritage Ambon Malay. Design/Methodology/Approach: The database for the study consists of video descriptions provided by 32 bilingual speakers (the experimental groups) and by three control groups: 27 homeland speakers of Ambon Malay, 5 first generation speakers of Ambon Malay in the Netherlands (late bilinguals), and 10 monolingual speakers of Dutch. Data and Analysis: The frequency and distribution of aspect markers is analysed statistically in the four groups. Findings/Conclusions: The analysis of the data reveals that, under the influence of Dutch, the Ambon Malay progressive marker ada has undergone a shift in temporal status and frequency and it is now interpreted as a marker of present tense, as well as of progressive aspect. The other two aspect markers, the iamitive/perfective su and verbal reduplication (iterative) are used significantly less by heritage speakers. Originality: This study shows that when a grammatical category is present and productive in the dominant language of a bilingual heritage speaker, but not in the heritage language, there is a great likelihood that it will undergo contact-induced grammaticalization, even in a relatively short time contact situation. The study also shows that input-related factors, such as transparency and phonological salience, contribute to the (in)stability of aspectual forms in the heritage language. Significance/Implications: This finding has implication for the incomplete acquisition perspective on heritage languages, which sees these languages as grammatically simplified systems (see, e.g., Montrul, 2009; Polinsky, 2008), because it shows that heritage languages can also gain grammatical distinctions previously absent in the (homeland) language.

Problematizing heritage language identities

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-213
Author(s):  
Rebecca Pozzi ◽  
Lina Reznicek-Parrado
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Mexican Descent ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Language Pedagogy ◽  
Heritage Speaker ◽  
Linguistic Awareness ◽  
Relevant Topic

Abstract Heritage speaker identities have traditionally been a relevant topic of inquiry among scholars of heritage language pedagogy. Nevertheless, there is little research on Spanish heritage language identities in a study abroad context. Additionally, most existing studies on this topic focus on heritage speakers of Mexican descent studying in Mexico (e.g., de Félix & Cavazos Peña, 1992; McLaughlin, 2001; Riegelhaupt & Carrasco, 2000). This study examines heritage language identities in a non-heritage context by exploring the experiences of three heritage speakers of Mexican descent studying in Mendoza, Argentina. By focusing on a non-heritage context, we move away from the presumption that all heritage speakers seek to (re)claim a specific ethnic identity through language study (see Leeman, 2015). Instead, our qualitative analysis illustrates the diverse ways heritage speakers in a non-heritage context construct, contest, and negotiate their identities with respect to linguistic awareness, negotiation between varieties, and perceptions of their abilities.

Who did what to whom, and what did we already know?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Ionin ◽  
Maria Goldshtein ◽  
Tatiana Luchkina ◽  
Sofya Styrina
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Heritage Speaker ◽  
Narrow Focus ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Speakers Of Other Languages ◽  
Prior Literature

Abstract This paper reports on an experimental investigation of what second language (L2) learners and heritage speakers of Russian know about the relationship between word order and information structure in Russian. The participants completed a bimodal acceptability judgment task, rating the acceptability of SVO and OVS word orders in narrow-focus contexts, under neutral prosody. Heritage speakers behaved like the control group of baseline speakers, preferring SVO order in answer to object questions, and OVS order in answer to subject questions. In contrast, L2 learners preferred SVO order regardless of the context. While the heritage speaker group was more proficient than the L2 group, proficiency alone cannot account for differences in performance: specifically, with regard to acceptance of OVS order for subject narrow focus, heritage speakers improved with proficiency, but L2 learners did not. It is proposed that heritage speakers have an advantage in this domain due to early age of acquisition (cf. Montrul, 2008). This finding is consistent with prior literature on narrow focus with heritage speakers of other languages, and suggests that this phenomenon is not particularly vulnerable in heritage languages.

Preposition Stranding in Spanish as a Heritage Language

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Pascual y Cabo
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Speaker ◽  
The Core ◽  
Preposition Stranding ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers ◽  
Timing Of Exposure

Previous research examining heritage speaker bilingualism has suggested that interfaceconditioned properties are likely to be affected by crosslinguistic influence (e.g., Montrul & Polinsky, 2011; White, 2011). It is not clear, however, whether the core syntax can also be affected to the same degree (e.g., Cuza, 2013; Depiante & Thompson, 2013). Departing from Cuza’s (2013) and Depiante and Thompson’s (2013) research, the present study seeks to determine the extent to which this is possible in the case of Spanish as a heritage language. With this goal in mind, a total of thirty-three Spanish heritage speakers (divided into sequential and simultaneous bilinguals) and a comparison group of eleven late Spanish-English bilinguals completed a battery of off-line tasks that examined knowledge and use of preposition stranding (i.e., a syntactic construction whereby the object of the preposition is fronted while the preposition itself is left stranded), an understudied core syntactic phenomenon that is licit in English but precluded in Spanish. Overall findings reveal that the sequential heritage speakers pattern with participants from the control group. The simultaneous heritage speakers, on the other hand, seem to have a grammar that is not so restricting as they accept and produce ungrammatical cases of preposition stranding. Herein, we argue that these results do not obtain the way they do due to incomplete acquisition or L1 attrition but crucially because of the timing of exposure to the societal language. We propose that this property was completely acquired, although differently acquired due to the structural overlap observed between the two languages involved (e.g., Müller & Hulk, 2001), and most importantly, to the timing of acquisition of English (e.g., Putnam & Sánchez, 2013).

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 Heritage language speakers in university education in Japan: Perspectives for an inclusive society.

Elia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 86-125
Author(s):  
Veri Farina
Keyword(s):  
Educational System ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
University Education ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
University Level ◽  
The One ◽  
The University ◽  
Heritage Language Speakers

The educational system in Japan has traditionally been focused on the “one nation, one language” ideology. This has led to the marginalization of indigenous and immigrant languages. As a consequence, heritage speakers are dealing with the loss of their heritage languages. However, there are isolated movements addressing the maintenance of the heritage languages, though they haven’t had a long-lasting effect on the educational system. In an attempt to contribute to reversing this language and identity loss, we based our research on two main points: 1) the belief that creating an informed partnership will help heritage language speakers (HLS) to integrate in the mainstream education space (Cummins, 2014) and 2) confidence in the importance of interconnecting the isolated movements for language maintenance. Would it be possible to achieve it in the Japanese educational context? Can we start scaffolding this new structure of informed partnership from the university level? In order to try to prove this point of view successfully, this article describes the creation at the university level of a class about Heritage languages and speakers in Japan, inspired by the Content and Language Integrated Learning model (CLIL). This class was meant to support and interact with another class called “Spanish for heritage students” that was developed at the same university. The student population is 14, almost half of them with a heritage language or culture. The course duration was one semester. The contents that were selected to reach the class goals are mentioned, as well as some points of view regarding what should be done to shift the Japanese educational system from a homogeneous stance to a multicultural inclusive posture. And in such a short time we could evidence an evolution in students’ critical awareness of the current immigrants’ heritage language and cultural situation in Japan. Working with specific vocabulary, reading from authentic sources, discussing contemporary articles among them, they could give shape to their thoughts in Spanish in order to express their opinions and possible solutions to this important matter.

El diptongo/hiato como rasgo contrastivo: un estudio perceptual con hablantes de herencia de español

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 459-496
Author(s):  
Allison Milner
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Boston University ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Heritage Spanish Speakers ◽  
Vocalic Sequences

Abstract This study examines the perception of diphthongs and hiatuses in 11 heritage Spanish speakers and 6 Spanish-dominant bilingual speakers with an AXB discrimination task (Lukyanchenko, Anna & Kira Gor. 2011. Perceptual correlates of phonological representations in heritage speakers and L2 learners. In Nick Danis, Kate Mesh & Hyunsuk Sung (eds.), Proceedings of the 35th annual Boston University conference on language development, 414–426. Sommerville, MA: Cascadilla Press). In Spanish, diphthongs and hiatuses represent distinct vocalic sequences (Schwegler, Armin, Juergen Kempff & Ana Ameal-Guerra. 2010. Fonética y fonología españolas, 4th edn. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley). However, there are words in which the pronunciation of the vocalic sequence as either a diphthong or hiatus serves as a contrastive feature, as in the example of ley / leí (Face, Timothy L. & Scott M. Alvord. 2004. Lexical and acoustic factors in the perception of the Spanish diphthong vs. Hiatus contrast. Hispania 87(3). 553–564; Hualde, José I. & Mónica Prieto. 2002. On the diphthong/hiatus contrast in Spanish: Some experimental results. Linguistics 40(2). 217–234). Given that these features also exist in English, albeit in different forms, does L2 influence of English impact heritage Spanish listeners' perception of diphthongs and hiatuses in Spanish? Specifically, this study examines discrimination between the diphthong / hiatus as a contrasting feature with /a e o/ as the nucleic vowel in the diphthongs. Results indicate that there is not a significant difference in discrimination between heritage speakers and Spanish-dominant bilinguals. Additionally, the nucleic vowel in the diphthong tokens is a significant factor for the ability to discriminate diphthongs vs. hiatuses in heritage Spanish speakers. The findings of this study contribute to the corpus of phonetic studies focusing on heritage Spanish speakers and perception in their heritage language.

scholarly journals Resultative constructions in heritage Ambon Malay in the Netherlands

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 78-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca R. Moro
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Frequency Distribution ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Variable Domain ◽  
Transfer Effects ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Resultative Constructions ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Verb Serialization

Domains where languages have two or more competing syntactic constructions expressing the same meaning may be problematic for bilingual heritage speakers. One such variable domain is the resultative constructions in heritage Ambon Malay, a variety spoken in the Netherlands by Dutch-Ambon Malay bilinguals. In Ambon Malay, resultatives are expressed mostly by means of verb serialization (SVC), although resultative prepositional phrases (PP) and adjectival phrases (AP) also occur. In Dutch, resultative constructions usually involve verb particles, PPs and APs. This overlap of structures poses the conditions for transfer effects between the two languages. The frequency distribution of SVCs, PPs and APs is investigated in semi-spontaneous speech from heritage speakers of Ambon Malay and compared to that of baseline speakers. Heritage speakers show an increase in the frequency of constructions shared by both languages (PPs and APs), while they underuse the constructions attested only in the heritage language (SVC).

scholarly journals Linguistic Profiling of Heritage Speakers of an Endangered Language: The Case of Vlach Aromanian–Greek Bilinguals

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 626-641
Author(s):  
Alexandra Prentza ◽  
Maria Kaltsa
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Language Practices ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Substantial Decline

AbstractThis is the first attempt to profile the heritage speakers of an endangered spoken-only variety of Vlach Aromanian in Greece. Neither the variety nor its speakers has been investigated before; hence, the study also aims at evaluating the exact state of endangerment of the Sirrako variety, as this is revealed by the language practices and skills of its bilingual speakers. To this aim, a background questionnaire was developed and administered to 60 bilingual speakers of Vlach Aromanian and Greek including questions on the age of onset of exposure to both languages, early home language practices, current language practices (orality and literacy) and attitudes toward the heritage and majority language. Significant variation in language practices, literacy skills, oral input and current competence across three generations of speakers was identified with a substantial decline in heritage language competence in younger bilinguals, verifying our claim of the endangered state of Vlach Aromanian.

scholarly journals Attitudes and Expectations towards Heritage Language Instruction: Evidence from Korean and Spanish in the US

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Esther Hur ◽  
Julio Cesar Lopez Otero ◽  
Eunji Lee
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
American Universities ◽  
Professional Success ◽  
The Us ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Cultural Components

This study investigated how the attitudes and expectations of heritage languages (HL) courses differ between Spanish and Korean. Spanish and Korean are two of the biggest heritage languages (HLs) taught across American universities, but represent different trends of HL in the US. Ninety-two adult heritage speakers (HSs) completed a 41-question online questionnaire on their perceived HL proficiency as well as on what aspects of HL courses should target and what activities would be more beneficial for them. The results showed that the two groups of HSs present different attitudes and expectations towards HL instruction. Spanish HSs value their HL classes as a way to prepare for professional success and expect to receive more explicit instruction in the classroom. On the other hand, Korean HSs favor cultural components and take HL courses as a tool for reconnection with their community and cultures.

Objects of transitive verbs in Italian as a heritage language in contact with German

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Di Venanzio ◽  
Katrin Schmitz ◽  
Anna-Lena Scherger
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Speech Data ◽  
Transitive Verbs

This paper seeks to close a gap in the ongoing research on heritage languages (HL), their acquisition, and the nature of transfer in HL with a study on a hitherto understudied language combination, namely Italian heritage speakers (HS) raised in Germany with two native languages. The current study compares data from spontaneous speech of these HS with speech data from native speakers of Italian who immigrated to Germany as adults with German as L2, and Italian monolinguals. Analyses of Italian objects show that the HS reflect native knowledge about lexical options of object omissions and their pragmatic identification, and of object clitic use. The results indicate no evidence for covert transfer in regards to Italian object realization types. Finally, the study leads to the conclusion that Italian HS differ in fewer investigated aspects from Italian monolinguals than L1/L2 speakers.

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