In this seminar, we will focus on language learning in a particular – yet very common – type of context, namely one where the language spoken in a learner's childhood home (the heritage language) differs from the majority language used in the surrounding community. Heritage speakers are thus native speakers of their heritage language although this language is often not their strongest or most dominant language in adulthood. From a linguistic and developmental perspective, heritage speakers are of particular interest for questions about the roles of age of acquisition, amount of exposure, and identity in language acquisition. From an applied perspective, they present challenges for language assessment and class placement. More broadly, they challenge common notions about what a "native speaker" of a language is.
The aim of this seminar is to gain a better understanding and appreciation of heritage language development and outcomes in both children and adults. Class meetings will include discussion of relevant readings, as well as hands-on work with developing appropriate tools for measuring heritage speakers' language skills and experiences. Students will be expected to collect some data from (child or adult) heritage speakers (of any language) with measures we will develop in class. In addition, each student will develop a proposal for an empirical research study addressing a clearly defined and theoretically motivated research question about heritage language learning, and present a poster on this project in the last week of the semester.
For a taste of the topic and the general perspective informing this seminar:
Montrul, S., & Polinsky, M. (2021). Introduction: Heritage Languages, Heritage Speakers, Heritage Linguistics. In S. Montrul & M. Polinsky (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics (Cambridge Handbooks in Language and Linguistics, pp. 1-10). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108766340.001
(Ebook available from UH libraries)