“My Child Is a Perfect Bilingual”: Cognition, Emotions, and Affectivity in Heritage Language Transmission

Ivanova Ivanova

doi:10.3390/languages4020044

Abstract

One of the key questions of studies on heritage language (HL) transmission is which factors most likely foster the intergenerational transmission of HL and more saliently favor its acquisition in second-generation speakers. The present study explores the effect of the cognitive and affective disposition of first-generation speakers on the subjective HL proficiency level in the second generation of Russian-speaking immigrants in the town of Salamanca, central Spain. Based on a scalar questionnaire which enquires into the language practices, language attitudes and language motivations of the first-generation speakers, the study analyzes the effect of self-categorization, attitudes towards HL utility, and strategies of HL intergenerational transmission in ten mixed families. The main results of the study show that positive HL affectivity is key to assuring proficient HL acquisition in second-generation speakers, while negative HL affectivity systematically drives unbalanced Spanish–Russian bilingualism in children. The final results are consistent with those of other recent studies on affectivity in HL and suggest the importance of positive attitudes towards HL in its transmission.

Highlights

Heritage language (HL) speakers are assumed to be bilinguals in a non-restrictive sense of the term (Rothman 2007)
Second-generation speakers are mainly characterized by their mothers as assymetric bilinguals, who share native-like comprehension but restricted verbal production of Russian as a HL (RHL)
During their participation in the survey, some first-generation mothers mentioned that their children know Russian as well as their monolingual Russian-speaking peers; others complained that the RHL proficiency of their offspring either started to worsen or did not improve over the years

Summary

Introduction

Heritage language (HL) speakers are assumed to be bilinguals in a non-restrictive sense of the term (Rothman 2007). Despite the level of proficiency in inherited language, heritage speakers are frequently characterised as speakers lacking functional literacy (Rothman 2007), which means they have a restricted stylistic ability to use HL in all contexts. It is common for heritage speakers themselves to be aware that their proficiency in the majority language (the language of the host country) is stronger than their skills in the HL (Chevalier 2004). Considering that heritage speakers are those “whose home language is much less present in their linguistic repertoire than the dominant language of their society” (Scontras et al 2015), unbalanced HL development is closely linked to environmental factors of language acquisition during childhood

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Results

Conclusion