Native Speakers, Interrupted
Differential Object Marking and Language Change in Heritage Languages

A study of the language acquisition and transmission of Hindi, Spanish and Romanian as heritage languages in the United States.

Silvina Montrul (Author)

9781107133372, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 December 2022

280 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.3 cm, 0.64 kg

A heritage language is the term given to a language spoken at home by bilingual children of immigrant parents. Written by a leading figure in the field, this pioneering, in-depth study brings together three heritage languages – Hindi, Spanish and Romanian - spoken in the United States. It demonstrates how heritage speakers drive morphosyntactic change when certain environmental characteristics are met, and considers the relationship between social and cognitive factors and timing in language acquisition, bilingualism, and language change. It also discusses the implications of the findings for the language education of heritage speakers in the USA and considers how the heritage language can be maintained in the English-speaking school system. Advancing our understanding of heritage language development and change, this book is essential reading for students and researchers of linguistics and multilingualism, immigration, education studies and language policy, as well as educators and policy makers.

Preface
Introduction
1. On heritage speakers as native speakers
2. Structural changes in heritage language grammars
3. Differential Object Marking
4. Language change and the acquisition of Differential Object Marking
5. The vulnerability of Differential Object Marking in three heritage languages
6. Differential Object Marking in Spanish as a heritage language
7. Differential Object Marking in Hindi as a heritage language
8. Differential Object Marking and clitic doubling in Romanian as a heritage language
9. Comparing the three heritage languages
10. Intergenerational transmission.

Subject Areas: Education [JN], Grammar, syntax & morphology [CFK], Language acquisition [CFDC], Linguistics [CF], Language [C]