The use of referring expressions in narratives by Mandarin heritage language children and the role of language environment factors in predicting individual differences

Abstract

This study investigated the referring expressions used for first mentions of participants and entities in narratives by Mandarin heritage language (HL) and monolingual children. Referring expressions for first mentions in Mandarin comprise lexical, morphological and syntactic devices. Results showed that HL children used less adequate referring expressions for first mentions than the monolinguals, mainly due to overgeneralization of classifiers and lack of vocabulary knowledge. However, HL children did not differ from monolinguals in their use of relative clauses and post-verbal NP placement to mark first mentions. These results suggest that incomplete acquisition of the HL may vary across different linguistic subdomains (Montrul, 2008); specifically, domains requiring a great deal of input to acquire, such as vocabulary and the large repertoire of classifier morphemes, might be more vulnerable in HL speakers than syntax. Mixed modeling analyses revealed that older age of arrival, higher maternal education levels and a rich and diverse Mandarin environment at home predicted stronger narrative outcomes, also pointing to an important role for input in HL acquisition.

Russian language proficiency of monolingual and Russian–English bi/multilingual children

“…Some studies point to existing fundamental similarities in language acquisition and performance by young monolingual and bilingual children and infants (e.g., Fennell & Byers-Heinlein, 2014;Jia & Paradis 2015). And yet, these studies also show that from early infancy, bilinguals may experience more difficulties in some aspects of language acquisition.…”

“…Their individual language acquisition paths and achieved proficiency levels are unique (Scontras et al, 2015). Their proficiency in the heritage language depends on the quantity and quality of language input (Hoff & Core, 2015;Jia & Paradis, 2015;Unsworth, 2016). The native language of both parents affects heritage language acquisition: the latter is more likely to be successful when both parents are native speakers of the heritage language (Hoff, Rumiche, Burridge, Ribot, & Welsh, 2014).…”

“…The native language of both parents affects heritage language acquisition: the latter is more likely to be successful when both parents are native speakers of the heritage language (Hoff, Rumiche, Burridge, Ribot, & Welsh, 2014). Other factors in heritage language proficiency include age of arrival, and maternal education levels (Jia & Paradis, 2015). Some studies also suggest that language use is an important predictor of children's language fluency (Bedore, Peña, Gillam, & Tsung-Han, 2010, Hammer et al, 2012.…”

“…A number of linguistic and applied linguistic studies have attempted to evaluate the language proficiency of multilingual children vis-à-vis their monolingual peers (e.g., Paradis et al, 2003;Bedore et al, 2010;Jia & Paradis, 2015). Some studies point to existing fundamental similarities in language acquisition and performance by young monolingual and bilingual children and infants (e.g., Fennell & Byers-Heinlein, 2014;Jia & Paradis 2015).…”

“…And yet, these studies also show that from early infancy, bilinguals may experience more difficulties in some aspects of language acquisition. For example, bilinguals may have some deficits in their heritage language skills (particularly grammar) that result from incomplete acquisition or attrition, or the influence of the majority language (Montrul, 2008;Jia & Paradis, 2015). Some bilingual heritage language speakers may also have difficulties mastering phonology, have smaller vocabularies, have problems with some specific vocabulary items Vol.…”