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Are heritage speakers one step ahead in ongoing processes of diachronic change?

Comparing heritage speakers with speakers of two varieties of Portuguese in their comprehension of null object constructions

ORCiD logo with link | Goethe University Frankfurt
ORCiD logo with link | Goethe University Frankfurt
ORCiD logo with link | Universidade do Minho
ORCiD logo with link | Goethe University Frankfurt
ORCiD logo with link | University of Granada
ORCiD logo with link | Universidade do Porto
ORCiD logo with link | Goethe University Frankfurt
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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.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Goethe University Frankfurt.

Published online: 4 December 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.25014.rin
Abstract
This study investigates whether heritage speakers of European Portuguese (EP) show a diachronically advanced behaviour in their comprehension of null object constructions. Based on a comprehension experiment, we compared heritage speakers to homeland speakers of EP, on the one hand and homeland speakers of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) on the other, the latter representing a variety in which null objects have diachronically spread. Our results confirm significant differences between EP homeland speakers and the two other groups but not between heritage speakers and BP homeland speakers, indicating an acceleration of diachronic change in the heritage speaker group. In addition, our study confirms that null objects in islands are available to homeland speakers of EP, challenging earlier analyses of null objects in this variety.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Null objects in EP and BP: A diachronic tale
  • 3.Null objects in EP as heritage language: Previous findings
  • 4.The present study
    • 4.1Research questions
    • 4.2Participants
    • 4.3Materials
    • 4.4Procedure
    • 4.5Analysis
  • 5.Results
  • 6.General discussion
  • Data availability statement
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • CRediT author statement
  • References
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