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Heritage Languages in Europe

Kupisch, Tanja LU (2021) p.45-68
Abstract
Definitions of heritage languages include the languages of migrant, indigenous, and national minorities. This chapter is concerned with migrant minorities. The EU is generally pictured as valuing multilingualism, as reflected by EU policies and citizen’s attitudes. Nevertheless, when Europeans think and speak about protecting multilingualism, they do not necessarily have migrant languages in mind, although these are more numerous than other minorities in terms of both language diversity and number of speakers. The chapter summarizes linguistic research on HSs in Europe covering early childhood, primary school/adolescence, and adulthood, making reference to (morpho-)syntax, phonology, and vocabulary. The goal is to uncover common outcomes... (More)
Definitions of heritage languages include the languages of migrant, indigenous, and national minorities. This chapter is concerned with migrant minorities. The EU is generally pictured as valuing multilingualism, as reflected by EU policies and citizen’s attitudes. Nevertheless, when Europeans think and speak about protecting multilingualism, they do not necessarily have migrant languages in mind, although these are more numerous than other minorities in terms of both language diversity and number of speakers. The chapter summarizes linguistic research on HSs in Europe covering early childhood, primary school/adolescence, and adulthood, making reference to (morpho-)syntax, phonology, and vocabulary. The goal is to uncover common outcomes and missing links. The focus differs across these research areas but crosslinguistic influence is a common denominator, and the examples witness that research has gone beyond highlighting differences between monolinguals and HSs. Scenarios suggest that HSs may anticipate or resist language change, and that adult HSs often stay within the limits of what is possible in the baseline or related varieties. I conclude by pointing out the lack of comparisons across generations, an overrepresentation of specific languages families, and by suggesting that research drawing analogies with other situations of language contact and change are highly desirable. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
heritage speakers, bilingualism, language dominance
host publication
The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics
editor
Montrul, Silvina and Polinsky, Maria
pages
24 pages
publisher
Cambridge University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85172393106
DOI
10.1017/9781108766340
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
9ad4ac15-af35-4731-9e1d-e7c2e0311c0c
date added to LUP
2024-12-07 16:39:04
date last changed
2025-04-04 15:18:07
@inbook{9ad4ac15-af35-4731-9e1d-e7c2e0311c0c,
  abstract     = {{Definitions of heritage languages include the languages of migrant, indigenous, and national minorities. This chapter is concerned with migrant minorities. The EU is generally pictured as valuing multilingualism, as reflected by EU policies and citizen’s attitudes. Nevertheless, when Europeans think and speak about protecting multilingualism, they do not necessarily have migrant languages in mind, although these are more numerous than other minorities in terms of both language diversity and number of speakers. The chapter summarizes linguistic research on HSs in Europe covering early childhood, primary school/adolescence, and adulthood, making reference to (morpho-)syntax, phonology, and vocabulary. The goal is to uncover common outcomes and missing links. The focus differs across these research areas but crosslinguistic influence is a common denominator, and the examples witness that research has gone beyond highlighting differences between monolinguals and HSs. Scenarios suggest that HSs may anticipate or resist language change, and that adult HSs often stay within the limits of what is possible in the baseline or related varieties. I conclude by pointing out the lack of comparisons across generations, an overrepresentation of specific languages families, and by suggesting that research drawing analogies with other situations of language contact and change are highly desirable.}},
  author       = {{Kupisch, Tanja}},
  booktitle    = {{The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics}},
  editor       = {{Montrul, Silvina and Polinsky, Maria}},
  keywords     = {{heritage speakers; bilingualism; language dominance}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{45--68}},
  publisher    = {{Cambridge University Press}},
  title        = {{Heritage Languages in Europe}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781108766340}},
  doi          = {{10.1017/9781108766340}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}