On Complexity and Divergence in Heritage Language Grammars

Abstract

For more than a decade, research on heritage speakers’ (HSs’) mood selection has documented a high degree of variability in their interpretation and use of mood morphology in variable contexts. Most of the previous literature, however, has focused on late-acquired alternations, and often limited analyses to one form (i.e., subjunctive), making it difficult to draw conclusions about HSs’ knowledge of mood distinctions. This study intends to fill this gap by examining Spanish HSs’ (n = 76) and Spanish-dominant controls’ (n = 25) interpretation and use of an early acquired mood alternation, where the presence of indicative or subjunctive conveys the report of an assertion or a command. Results from two experimental tasks reveal that, even though HSs’ performance tends to differ from that of controls’—especially at lower levels of proficiency—the nature and extent of their divergences suggests the need to embrace a more nuanced analysis of HSs’ linguistic outcomes when examining modal contrasts.

The Next Phase in Heritage Language Studies: Methodological Considerations and Advancements

“…As a result, properties or forms that are highly frequent in the (baseline) input might become more entrenched in the grammars of HSs, leading to lower levels of optionality in their use 4 . In contrast, less frequent HL forms would be more likely to favor the emergence of grammatical innovations (Backus, 2020) or morphosyntactic variability (Poplack et al, 2013;Perez-Cortes, 2022a). These hypotheses are compatible with recent theoretical proposals regarding the nature of the lexicon, especially those that advocate for an exoskeletal approach to morphology (Embick, 2015;Lohndal and Putnam, 2021).…”