Abstract
Research on child heritage speakers (HSs) has shown successful language acquisition, comparable to monolinguals, whereas research on adult HSs often claims incomplete acquisition. This seems to be an evident contradiction in the current state of research, which may be explained by a possible language shift during adolescence or adulthood, but which does not necessarily have to be equated with a lack of competence. In an overview of the existing studies on child and adult HSs of French in Germany, we show that HSs are not incomplete acquirers of French and we suggest theoretical and practical implications following these findings. Our aim is to show, first, that HSs of French in Germany are not unanimously disadvantaged compared with French speakers in countries where French is a majority language, and second, that complete acquisition is independent of language dominance, a notion that has received particular attention in studies on multilingual and HL acquisition.
Highlights
Around 65% of migrants in Germany are from Europe and have roots in Turkey (13%), Poland (11%), and the Russian Federation (7%)
The historical relations between France and Germany have yielded a long-standing political cooperation, which has most recently been confirmed by the Franco-German Treaty of Aachen in 2019.1 As a heritage language, French is highly prestigious in Germany and is taught at schools and universities
We define a heritage language (HL) as a non-dominant or minority language acquired by children in a naturalistic way, and we describe heritage speakers (HSs) as multilingual native speakers who acquire or have acquired an HL
Summary
Around 65% of migrants in Germany are from Europe and have roots in Turkey (13%), Poland (11%), and the Russian Federation (7%). Whereas studies on (privileged) child bilingualism, as conducted in Western Europe and Canada, are typically longitudinal and focus on language development, studies on (stigmatized) adult heritage speakers (HSs), as conducted in the United States, are mostly cross-sectional and interested in linguistic outcomes (Kupisch and Rothman 2018). In an overview of the existing studies on child and adult HSs of French in Germany, we show that HSs are not incomplete acquirers of French and we suggest theoretical and practical implications following these findings. Cross-linguistic influence was assessed in codeswitching (Müller et al 2015), and various grammatical domains such as the morphosyntax (Müller et al 2011) and the lexicon of multilingual children (Arnaus Gil et al 2019) were focused on spontaneous and elicited productions collected in longitudinal and cross-sectional studies. Studies on child HSs on language separation and cross-linguistic influence are presented in Sections 4 and 5, with a special focus on language dominance.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
