Redefining Language Death: Evidence From Moribund Grammars

Abstract

The present work presents a critical assessment of claims in recent literature that moribund language varieties exhibit accelerated language decay, and that attrition in individual grammars has a causational relationship with language shift to the majority language. We show these claims to be unfounded. Based on two empirical points taken from moribund heritage varieties of German—complementizer agreement and the restructuring of the morphosyntactic properties of dative case—we provide evidence that (a) attrition in the form of simplification of the heritage grammar is often times minimal, especially when compared to the nonstandard input varieties (rather than to Standard German), and (b) that systematic restructuring of the grammar is a typological pattern in language contact settings. These empirical findings point toward the limited effects of attrition on particular domains of grammar systems across the lifespan.

Case Marking Variation in Heritage Slavic Languages in Toronto: Not So Different

“…We found >90% use of normative forms in heritage data and >98% in homeland data. These results counter the frequent stereotype of heritage speakers losing case marking (see similar conclusions for moribund heritage languages in Bousquette & Putnam, ). They also contrast with experimental findings such as the 87% mismatch rate reported by Polinsky () for one type of construction, but align with Anstatt's (, ) findings of maintenance of case in Russian and Polish heritage speakers in Germany.…”

“…Case has been claimed as a vulnerable area of grammar for heritage speakers (de Groot, ; Flores, ; Leisio, ; Montrul & Bowles, ; Polinsky, ), meaning that it is more likely than other parts of languages to change when the language exists in a minority language context (cf. Bousquette & Putnam, ). Our goals are to determine whether case is vulnerable, when tested via spontaneous speech in physical and social contexts where heritage languages are regularly used (homes and cultural centers, as opposed to the university classrooms and labs often used for experimental work), whether case systems vary and change in multiple heritage varieties in the same way, and whether these changes resemble those found in nonheritage varieties.…”

Attrition and Reactivation of a Childhood Language: The Case of Returnee Heritage Speakers

“…Speakers with a higher LoExp also show some optionality in their productions (between 8% and 19%). This optionality is known to also occur in cases of L1 attrition in the context of long-term migration (as reported, for instance, by Schmid, 2002, among many others) or in moribund heritage languages (Bousquette & Putnam, 2019). It indicates that nominal inflection in German is highly complex and vulnerable to lack of continued exposure even beyond a phase when acquired knowledge is supposed to be consolidated.…”

The Roles of Age, Attitude, and Use in First Language Development and Attrition of Turkish–English Bilinguals

“…This difference manifests itself in a broader range of variability among bilingual populations compared with monolinguals, with some individuals scoring squarely within the monolingual range, while others clearly fall outside it. This variability is likely due to a number of processes, among them L1 attrition, as well as incomplete L1 acquisition and/or convergence toward a variety of the L1 that has changed due to language contact within the bilingual community among Heritage Speakers (HSs) (see also Bousquette & Putnam, ).…”