Theoretical Linguistics· 2013Q2
Heritage languages and their speakers: Opportunities and challenges for linguistics
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- Q2SCImago
- 2013year
Short summary
Heritage speakers, bilingual individuals whose first language is an ethnic or immigrant minority language, present a unique opportunity to advance linguistic theory by shifting focus from monolingual to multilingual models of language acquisition.
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Key points
- Heritage speakers are bilinguals of minority languages, often with non-native-like adult attainment.
- Studying heritage speakers necessitates a shift from monolingual to multilingual models in linguistics.
- Heritage language data can shed light on grammatical phenomena like case, aspect, and interface phenomena.
- Research on heritage speakers can inform debates on language acquisition and function under diverse conditions.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
In this paper, we bring to the attention of the linguistic community recent research on heritage languages. Shifting linguistic attention from the model of a monolingual speaker to the model of a multilingual speaker is important for the advancement of our understanding of the language faculty. Native speaker competence is typically the result of normal first language acquisition in an environment where the native language is dominant in various contexts, and learners have extensive and continuous exposure to it and opportunities to use it. Heritage speakers present a different case: they are bilingual speakers of an ethnic or immigrant minority language, whose first language often does not reach native-like attainment in adulthood. We propose a set of connections between heritage language studies and theory construction, underscoring the potential that this population offers for linguistic research. We examine several important grammatical phenomena from the standpoint of their representation in heritage languages, including case, aspect, and other interface phenomena. We discuss how the questions raised by data from heritage speakers could fruitfully shed light on current debates about how language works and how it is acquired under different conditions. We end with a consideration of the potential competing factors that shape a heritage language system in adulthood.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Theoretical Linguistics, 2013 · DOI ↗
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Field: Linguistics and Language
Linguistics and LanguageSocial Sciences