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Priming motion events in Italian heritage language speakers

Agents and mechanisms of language change

ORCiD logo with link | University of Mannheim
ORCiD logo with link | University of Mannheim
ORCiD logo with link | University of Mannheim
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 23 May 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.24048.bar
Abstract
Language contact can lead to short-term effects like cross-linguistic influence but might also contribute to long-term processes such as contact-induced language change. Recent studies suggest that structural priming may serve as a cognitive mechanism linking synchronic and diachronic outcomes in contact-induced language change since it occurs across languages and persists over time. Heritage language speakers, immersed in extreme language contact situations and often presenting an innovative language use, provide a valuable testing ground of the possible agents that produce and transmit these changes. Moreover, age is also thought to influence speakers’ tendencies to adopt innovative constructions with younger speakers being more accepting than older ones. In this study, we investigate whether priming serves as a mechanism underlying language change and its impact on speakers’ long-lasting linguistic choices. We conducted within and across languages priming experiments on motion event constructions focusing on the differences in the distribution of framing patterns between Italian (verb-framed language) and German (satellite-framed language), testing younger and older Italian HLS living in Germany. Our findings contribute to understanding the mechanisms underlying cross-linguistic influence and its role within language change and identifying its agents, bridging the gap between historical linguistics and psycholinguistic research on bilingual populations.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Priming as a mechanism underlying language change
    • 1.2Heritage speakers and younger speakers as agents of change
    • 1.3Motion events
    • 1.4Motion events in bilingual populations and priming of motion events
    • 1.5The study
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Materials
      • 2.2.1Proficiency score and background questionnaire
      • 2.2.2Within- and across-language priming experiments
      • 2.2.3Unprimed production tasks in Session 1 and Session 2
    • 2.3Procedure
  • 3.Data analyses
    • 3.1Analysis of the within- and across-language priming tasks
      • 3.1.1Coding
      • 3.1.2Statistical analysis
    • 3.2Analysis of the unprimed production tasks
      • 3.2.1Coding
      • 3.2.2Statistical analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Within- and across-language priming experiments
    • 4.2Unprimed production tasks
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Priming motion event constructions within and across-languages
    • 5.2Is the priming effect long-lasting?
    • 5.3Agents of linguistic innovations: Age-related tendencies in HL speakers
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • Data availability statement
  • Ethics statement
  • References
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2025. Does structural priming lead to contact-induced language change?. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism DOI logo
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