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Article published In: Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 31:2 (2018) ► pp.437–466

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On focus and weight in Spanish as a heritage language

 | University of Memphis
 | University of Florida
Published online: 27 December 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.16021.gom
Abstract
Previous research on heritage speaker (HS) bilingualism suggests, not without controversy, that certain properties of HSs’ grammars, mainly discursive properties, can result in divergent grammatical outcomes in adulthood be it as a result of incomplete acquisition or attrition. This study contributes to this line of research by examining whether HSs’ word order configurations with Spanish double object constructions reflect compliance with the pragmatic (End-Focus Principle) and syntactic related factors (End-Weight Principle) that regulate word order in Spanish. To this end, two groups of HSs with different proficiency levels in Spanish as well as a bilingual and a monolingual control group, all of Mexican origin, completed an acceptability judgment task. HSs’ performance on this task shows that their knowledge of the discursive nuances associated with constituent order remains as robust as their knowledge of the syntactic factors associated with this phenomenon. Our findings therefore suggest that this linguistic domain may not be subject to so-called incomplete acquisition or L1 attrition.
Resumen
Las investigaciones previas en el campo de la competencia bilingüe de los hablantes de herencia (HH) sugieren, no sin controversia, que ciertas propiedades de las gramáticas de los HH, principalmente las discursivas, pueden mostrar diferencias en la edad adulta con respecto a sistemas monolingües ya sea como consecuencia de un proceso de adquisición incompleta o de atrición. Este estudio contribuye a esta línea de investigación examinando si el orden de palabras con construcciones de doble objeto de los HH cumple con los factores pragmáticos (Principio del foco final) y de peso sintáctico (Principio de peso final) que regulan el orden de palabras en español. Con ese fin, dos grupos de HH con diferente nivel de dominio de español, además de un grupo control bilingüe y otro monolingüe, todos de origen mexicano, completaron una tarea de aceptabilidad gramatical. La conducta de los HH en dicha tarea muestra que su conocimiento de los factores discursivos es tan sólido como el de los factores sintácticos asociados con el fenómeno. Nuestros resultados parecen indicar que los HH no experimentan un proceso de adquisición incompleta ni de atrición en esta área lingüística.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background information
    • 2.1Theoretical issues: End-Focus Principle and End-Weight Principle
    • 2.2Double object constructions: The dative alternation
    • 2.3Acquisition studies
    • 2.4Motivation and research questions
  • 3.The study
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Methodology
    • 3.3Results
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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