Abstract
This paper discusses a common reality in many cases of multilingualism: heritage speakers, or unbalanced bilinguals, simultaneous or sequential, who shifted early in childhood from one language (their heritage language) to their dominant language (the language of their speech community). To demonstrate the relevance of heritage linguistics to the study of linguistic competence more broadly defined, we present a series of case studies on heritage linguistics, documenting some of the deficits and abilities typical of heritage speakers, together with the broader theoretical questions they inform. We consider the reorganization of morphosyntactic feature systems, the reanalysis of atypical argument structure, the attrition of the syntax of relativization, and the simplification of scope interpretations; these phenomena implicate diverging trajectories and outcomes in the development of heritage speakers. The case studies also have practical and methodological implications for the study of multilingualism. We conclude by discussing more general concepts central to linguistic inquiry, in particular, complexity and native speaker competence.
Highlights
Since its inception, the generative tradition within linguistic theory has concerned itself primarily with monolingual speakers in its quest for what we know when we know (a) language
To demonstrate the relevance of heritage linguistics to the study of language competence more broadly defined, this paper presents a series of in-depth case studies on heritage linguistics, documenting some of the deficits and abilities typical of heritage speakers
The case studies we present serve double duty: first, their findings stand to characterize the similarities and differences between native and heritage speakers; and second, they engage with a popular strain of research in heritage language study, namely the various proposals meant to account for the near-native abilities of heritage speakers
Summary
Edited by: Terje Lohndal, Norwegian University of Science and Technology and UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway. Specialty section: This article was submitted to Language Sciences, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology. This paper discusses a common reality in many cases of multilingualism: heritage speakers, or unbalanced bilinguals, simultaneous or sequential, who shifted early in childhood from one language (their heritage language) to their dominant language (the language of their speech community). To demonstrate the relevance of heritage linguistics to the study of linguistic competence more broadly defined, we present a series of case studies on heritage linguistics, documenting some of the deficits and abilities typical of heritage speakers, together with the broader theoretical questions they inform. The case studies have practical and methodological implications for the study of multilingualism.
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