Syntax in heritage language acquisition: The view from Romanian
Syntax in heritage language acquisition: The view from Romanian

Summary/Abstract: A heritage language, also known as “family language”, “home language”, or “native language”, represents a minority language acquired through naturalistic exposure within the home, but in a context where a different language is the majority societal language (Rothman 2009, Montrul 2008, 2016, 2022a, b, 2023, Benmamoun et al. 2013, Polinsky 2018, a.o.). In other words, the language spoken in the home, and possibly within a smaller community, differs from the dominant language used by the broader society. Children acquiring heritage languages are heritage speakers of these languages. They are typically early bilinguals, simultaneous or successive, depending on the timing of acquisition of the two languages. These can be acquired either simultaneously from birth or successively, when the heritage language is acquired as the first language (L1) and the societal language is acquired later as second language (L2).

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