Cover not available

In:Generative SLA in the Age of Minimalism: Features, interfaces, and beyond
Edited by Tania Leal, Elena Shimanskaya and Casilde A. Isabelli
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 67] 2022
► pp. 265–286

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Heritage language speakers inform the critical period hypothesis for first and second language acquisition

 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Published online: 17 August 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.67.11mon
Abstract
This chapter considers how heritage language speakers, bilinguals exposed to their L1 since birth either exclusively or simultaneously with the majority language, shed new light on the role of age in language acquisition. Investigating the ultimate attainment of bilinguals with early and late exposure to their L1 and L2 helps disentangle how the roles of previous linguistic knowledge and of quantity and quality of input interact with age of onset of bilingualism. Comparing the linguistic and processing abilities of heritage speakers and L2 learners allows us to understand how the timing of input interacts with situational factors and elucidates the developmental schedule of different modules of the grammar. Early exposure is critical for aspects of phonology, syntax, and morphology.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Age effects in child bilingual acquisition: Maturation or language exposure?
  • 3.Are heritage speakers like second language learners?
  • 4.The impact of age of acquisition in different linguistic modules
    • 4.1Phonology
    • 4.2Syntax and morphology
    • 4.3Processing morphology
  • 5.Discussion
  • References
References (81)
References
Abrahamsson, N. (2012). Age of onset and nativelike L2 ultimate attainment of morphosyntactic and phonetic intuition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 34, 187–214. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Abrahamsson, N., & Hyltenstam, K. (2009). Age of onset and nativelikeness in a second language: Listener perception versus linguistic scrutiny. Language Learning, 59, 249–306. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ahn, S., Chang, C., DeKeyser, R., & Lee-Ellis, S. (2017). Age effects in first language attrition: Speech perception by Korean-English bilinguals. Language Learning, 67, 694–733. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alarcón, I. (2011). Spanish gender agreement under complete and incomplete acquisition: Early and late bilinguals’ linguistic behavior within the noun phrase. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 14, 332–350. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Antonova Ünlü, E., & Li, W. (2016). Examining the effect of reduced input on language development: The case of gender acquisition in Russian as a non-dominant and dispreferred language by a bilingual Turkish-Russian child. International Journal of Bilingualism, 22, 215–233. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Arechabaleta, B. (2019). Tracing language variation in Spanish: A multidisciplinary approach (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Au, T., Knightly, L, Jun, S., & Oh, J. (2002). Overhearing a language during childhood. Psychological Science, 13, 238–243. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bley-Vroman, R. (1990). The logical problem of foreign language learning. Linguistic Analysis, 20, 3–49.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carreira, M., & Kagan, O. (2011). The results of the national heritage language survey: implications for teaching, curriculum design, and professional development. Foreign Language Annals, 44, 40–64. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chang, C. (2016). Bilingual perceptual benefits of experience with a heritage language. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19, 791–809. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chang, C. B., Yao, Y., Haynes, E. F., & Rhodes, R. (2011). Production of phonetic and phonological contrast by heritage speakers of Mandarin. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 129, 3964–3980. . Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chung, E. S. (2018). Second and heritage language acquisition of Korean case drop. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21, 63–79. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clahsen, H., & Felser, C. (2006). Grammatical processing in language learners. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27, 3–42. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (2003). Implicit and explicit learning. In C. Doughty & M. Long (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 313–348). Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018). The critical period hypothesis: A diamond in the rough. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21, 915–916. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Epstein, S., Flynn, S., & Martohardjono, G. (1996). Second language acquisition. Theoretical and experimental issues in contemporary research. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 19, 677–758. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Flege, J. (2018). It’s input that matters most, not age. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21, 919–920. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Flege, J. E., Yeni-Komshian, G. H., & Liu, S. (1999). Age constraints on second-language acquisition. Journal of Memory and Language, 41(1), 78–104. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Flores, C. (2010). The effect of age on language attrition: Evidence from bilingual returnees. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 13, 533–546. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Losing a language in childhood: A longitudinal case study on language attrition. Journal of Child Language, 42(3), 562–590. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Foote, R. (2011). Integrated knowledge of agreement in early and late English-Spanish bilinguals. Applied Psycholinguistics, 32, 187–220. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fromkin, V., Krashen, S., Curtiss, S., Rigler, D., & Rigler, M. (1974). The development of language in Genie: a case of language acquisition beyond the “critical period”. Brain and language, 1(1), 81–107. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gor, K.  (2014). Raspberry, not a car: Context predictability and a phonological advantage in early and late learners’ processing of speech in noise. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1449. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Granena, G., & Long, M. (2013). Age of onset, length of residence, language aptitude, and ultimate attainment in three linguistic domains. Second Language Research, 29, 311–343. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gregg, K. (1996). The logical and developmental problems of second language acquisition. In W. Ritchie & T. Bhatia (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 49–81). Academic Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Håkansson, G. (1995). Syntax and morphology in language attrition. A study of five bilingual expatriate Swedes. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 5, 153–171. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hartshorne, J., Tenenbaum, J., & Pinker, S. (2018). A critical period for second language acquisition: Evidence from 2/3 million English speakers. Cognition, 177, 263–277. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hawkins, R., & Chan, C. (1997). The partial availability of universal grammar in second language acquisition. The ‘failed functional features hypothesis’. Second Language Research, 13, 187–226. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jegerski, J., Keating, G. D., & VanPatten, B. (2016). On-line relative clause attachment strategy in heritage speakers of Spanish. International Journal of Bilingualism, 20, 254–268. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jegerski, J., & Sekerina, I. A. (2020). The processing of input with differential object marking by heritage Spanish speakers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23(2), 274–282. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnson, J., & Newport, E. (1989). Critical period effects in second language learning. The influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language. Cognitive Psychology, 21, 60–99. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1991). Critical period effects on universal principles of language. The status of subjacency in the acquisition of a second language. Cognition, 39, 215–258. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Keating, G. D., VanPatten, B., & Jegerski, J. (2011). Who was walking on the beach? Anaphora resolution in Spanish heritage speakers and adult second language learners. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 33, 193–221. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, J. Y. (2020). Discrepancy between heritage speakers’ use of suprasegmental cues in the perception and production of Spanish lexical stress. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23(2), 233–250. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuhl, P. K., Conboy, B. T., Padden, D., Nelson, T., & Pruitt, J. (2005). Early speech perception and later language development: Implications for the “critical period”. Language Learning and Development, 1, 237–264. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lardiere, D. (2006). Ultimate attainment in second language acquisition. A case study. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lukyanchenko, A., & Gor, K. (2011). Perceptual correlates of phonological representations in heritage speakers and L2 learners. In Proceedings of the 35th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 414–426). Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mayberry, R. (1993). First-language acquisition after childhood differs from second-language acquisition: The case of American Sign Language. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 36, 1258–1270. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mayberry, R., & Kluender, R. (2018). Rethinking the critical period for language: New insights into an old question from American Sign Language. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21, 886–905. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mayberry, R. I., & Lock, E. (2003). Age constraints on first versus second language acquisition: Evidence for linguistic plasticity and epigenesis. Brain and Language, 87(3), 369–384. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meisel, J. (2010). Age of onset in successive acquisition of bilingualism. In M. Kail & M. Hickmann (Eds.), Language acquisition across linguistic and cognitive systems (pp. 225–248). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011). First and second language acquisition: Parallels and differences. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2013). Sensitive phases in successive bilingual acquisition. The critical period hypothesis revisited. In C. Boeckx & K. Gromann (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of biolinguistics (pp. 69–85). Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2014). Heritage language learners. Incomplete acquisition of grammar in early childhood. In E. Arias, Gutiérrez, M., Landa, I. & Ocampo, F., Perspectives in the study of Spanish language variation. Papers in honor of Carmen Silva-Corvalán (Verba, Anexo, 72, pp. 427–454). Universidad de Santiago de Compostela.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018). Early child second language acquisition: French gender in German children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21, 656–673. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009). Knowledge of tense-aspect and mood in Spanish heritage speakers. International Journal of Bilingualism, 13, 239–269. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). How similar are L2 learners and heritage speakers? Spanish clitics and word order. Applied Psycholinguistics, 31, 167–207. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Montrul, S., & Ionin, T. (2010). Transfer effects in the interpretation of definite articles by Spanish heritage speakers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13(4), 449-473.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2012). Dominant language transfer in Spanish heritage speakers and second language learners in the interpretation of definite articles. The Modern Language Journal, 96(1), 70-94.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Montrul, S. (2016). The acquisition of heritage languages. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018). The Bottleneck Hypothesis and heritage language acquisition. In J. Cho, T. Judy, M. Iverson, T. Leal, & E. Shimanskaya (Eds.), Meaning and structure in second language acquisition (pp. 149–177). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Montrul, S., Bhatt, R., Bhatia, A., & Puri, V. (2019). Case in Hindi as a weaker language. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 461. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Montrul, S., Davidson, J., de la Fuente, I., & Foote, R. (2014). Early language experience facilitates gender agreement processing in Spanish heritage speakers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 17, 118–138. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Montrul, S., de la Fuente, I., Davidson, J., & Foote, R. (2013). The role of experience in the acquisition and production of diminutives and gender in Spanish: Evidence from L2 learners and heritage speakers. Second Language Research, 29, 87–118. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Montrul, S., Foote, R., & Perpiñán, S. (2008). Gender agreement in adult second language learners and Spanish heritage speakers: The effects of age and context of acquisition. Language Learning, 58, 503–553. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Newport, E. (2018). Is there a critical period for L1 but not L2? Comments on Mayberry & Kluender. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21, 928–929. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oh, J. S., Jun, S. A., Knightly, L. M., & Au, T. K. F. (2003). Holding on to childhood language memory. Cognition, 86(3), B53–B64. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Polinsky, M. (2018). Heritage languages and their speakers. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sagarra, N., Sánchez, L., & Bel, A. (2019). Processing DOM in relative clauses. Salience and optionality in early and late bilinguals. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 9, 120–160. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schachter, J. (1990). On the issue of completeness in second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 6, 93–124.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmid, M. (1918). The impact of frequency of use and length of residence on L1 attrition. In M. Schmid & B. Köpke (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of language attrition (pp. 288–293). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schwartz, B., & Sprouse, R. (1996). L2 cognitive states and the full transfer/full access hypothesis. Second Language Research, 12, 40–72. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Selinker, L. (1972). Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 10, 209–231. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Silva-Corvalán, C. (2014). Bilingual language acquisition: Spanish and English in the first six years. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Slabakova, R. (2008). Meaning in the second language. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sorace, A. (1993). Incomplete vs. divergent representations of unaccusativity in native and non-native Italian grammars of Italian. Second Language Research, 9, 22–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Strange, W., & Broen, P. (1981). The relationship between perception and production of /w/, /r/, and /l/ by three-year-old children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 31(1), 81–102. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thordardottir, E. (2019). Amount trumps timing in bilingual vocabulary acquisition: Effects of input in simultaneous and sequential school-age bilinguals. International Journal of Bilingualism, 23, 236–255. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Torres, J. (2013). Heritage and second language learners of Spanish: The roles of task complexity and inhibitory control (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Georgetown University.
Tsimpli, I. M. (2013). (Evidence for) the language instinct. In C. Boeckx & K. Grohmann (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of biolinguistics (pp. 49–68). Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ullman, M. (2001). The neural basis of lexicon and grammar in first and second language, the declarative/procedural model. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4, 105–122. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003). Second language acquisition and universal grammar. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018). Nonconvergence on the native speaker grammar: Defining L2 success. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21, 934–935. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yeni-Komshian, G. H., Flege, J. E., & Liu, S. (2000). Pronunciation proficiency in the first and second languages of Korean–English bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and cognition, 3(2), 131-149.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Razmjoo Moghadam, Somayeh & Ghasem Barani
2025. The impact of linguistic vs. cultural imperialism on language learning. Frontiers in Psychology 15 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue