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 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

The Role of Lexical Associations and Overgeneralizations in Heritage Spanish Perception

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Whitney Chappell
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Mixed Effects Models ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Group I ◽  
New Information

Heritage speakers exhibit a tendency to overgeneralize morphological paradigms in their production, but little is known about their perception, and the present study seeks to better understand how heritage speakers process new information in their home language. To this end, 119 listeners from different language backgrounds evaluated the number of syllables in 70 nonce words, all four-syllable paroxytone nonce words with an initial obstruent + vowel + flap sequence, with the first vowel presented at 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% of its original duration. Two types of word endings were used: -fono, designed to be reminiscent of the word teléfono, a high frequency four-syllable word, and -pine, which does not clearly prime any existing Spanish words, e.g. teréfono and terépine, respectively. Cumulative link mixed effects models fitted to 119 participants’ evaluations (N = 32,619) show that heritage speakers evaluate nonce words ending in -fono as four syllables significantly more than words ending in -pine (p < 0.001), but no word-ending effect was found for any other language group. I contend that heritage speakers filter new information in their heritage language through existing knowledge more rigidly than other Spanish speakers, and these overgeneralizations in perception parallel heritage speakers’ overgeneralizations in production.

scholarly journals Comprehension and production of non-canonical word orders in Mandarin-speaking child heritage speakers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiuzhou Hao ◽  
Vasiliki Chondrogianni
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Chronological Age ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
English Heritage ◽  
Related Morphology

Abstract Across languages, structures with non-canonical word order have been shown to be problematic for both child and adult heritage speakers. To investigate the linguistic and child-level factors that modulate heritage speakers’ difficulties with non-canonical word orders, we examined the comprehension and production of three Mandarin non-canonical structures in 5- to 9-year-old Mandarin-English heritage children and compared them to age-matched Mandarin-speaking monolingual children and adults. Specifically, we examined how linguistic properties, such as linear word order, presence or absence of morphosyntactic cues, and surface structural overlap between languages, as well as child-level factors, such as chronological age and current home language use affect the acquisition of non-canonical structures in heritage children and their monolingual peers. Results showed that although heritage children could use morphosyntactic cues, they did not show monolingual-level sensitivity to passive-related morphology. Additionally, children produced more canonical SVO word order, which is shared between English and Mandarin, and preferred the reverse interpretations of non-canonical structures in comprehension. These responses were taken as evidence for cross-linguistic influence from the majority to the minority language. Finally, although non-canonical structures caused difficulties for child heritage speakers, their performance was modulated by structure and improved with age, over and above heritage language use.

Bilingual children and adult heritage speakers: The range of comparison

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 547-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Polinsky
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Second Child ◽  
The One ◽  
Linguistic Property

This paper compares the language of child bilinguals and adult unbalanced bilinguals (heritage speakers) against that of bilingual native speakers of their home language (baseline). We identify four major vectors of correspondence across the language spoken by these three groups. First, all varieties may represent a given linguistic property in a similar way (child bilinguals = adult heritage speakers = bilingual native speakers of their home language). This occurs when either (i) the property in question is highly robust and is acquired by learners without difficulty or (ii) the property is already in decline in the baseline. We illustrate scenario (i) with data from Russian count forms, which are morphologically quite complex. The preservation of these forms in child bilinguals and adult heritage speakers suggests that simplicity of encoding is not the only factor determining robustness of retention. Second, child and heritage speakers may share a linguistic structure that differs from the one found in the baseline (bilingual native speakers of their home language ≠ child bilinguals = adult heritage speakers). This scenario occurs when incipient structural changes in the baseline become amplified in the language of next-generation bilinguals, or when a given structure is rare, confined to a specific register, and/or reinforced through literacy. Third, a structure may be acquired by bilingual children faithfully, but undergo reanalysis/attrition in the adult heritage language (bilingual native speakers of their home language = child bilinguals ≠ adult heritage speakers). Russian relativization illustrates this scenario; child bilinguals show native-like performance on relative clauses but adult heritage speakers show an exaggerated subject preference in the interpretation of gaps. Finally, a structure that is not fully learned by child speakers may be reanalyzed by adult heritage speakers following general principles, thus bringing the adult heritage representation closer to that of the baseline (bilingual native speakers of their home language = adult heritage speakers ≠ child bilinguals). Heritage speakers’ production and comprehension of psychological predicates in Spanish illustrates this possibility.

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 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.

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