Tenth Heritage Language Research Institute

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Sentence processing in Spanish as a heritage language without cross-linguistic influence from English

Heritage languages in the U.S. are often assumed to be subject to cross-linguistic influence from English, although it is not yet well known whether and how this affects real-time sentence comprehension. In this presentation, I will discuss the results of three recent studies of relative clause attachment among heritage speakers of Spanish. Previous research on late L1 Spanish-L2 English bilinguals has shown that relative clause attachment is subject to unusually pronounced cross-linguistic influence that appears to change over time, with increased exposure to English. However, the results of the current series of studies on heritage speakers (i.e., early L1 Spanish-L2 English bilinguals) suggests that their relative clause attachment preferences may be more stable. Data from meaning-oriented experimental tasks like self-paced reading suggest that the relative clause attachment preferences of heritage speakers with intermediate to advanced levels of proficiency are the same as those of monolinguals raised and immersed in a Spanish-speaking society. This may be because heritage speakers, as early bilinguals, can be more adept at managing cross-linguistic competition than the late Spanish-English bilingual participants from previous research, who did not gain experience as bilinguals in childhood.