31.3392, Review: Applied Linguistics; Language Acquisition; Sociolinguistics: Aalberse, Backus, Muysken (2019)

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Subject: 31.3392, Review: Applied Linguistics; Language Acquisition; Sociolinguistics: Aalberse, Backus, Muysken (2019)

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Date: Wed, 04 Nov 2020 20:12:37
From: Tyler Anderson [tanderso at coloradomesa.edu]
Subject: Heritage Languages

 
Discuss this message:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=36614097


Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/31/31-153.html

AUTHOR: Suzanne  Aalberse
AUTHOR: Ad  Backus
AUTHOR: Pieter  Muysken
TITLE: Heritage Languages
SUBTITLE: A language contact approach
SERIES TITLE: Studies in Bilingualism 58
PUBLISHER: John Benjamins
YEAR: 2019

REVIEWER: Tyler Kimball Anderson, Colorado Mesa University

SUMMARY

Aalberse, Backus & Muysken’s book Heritage languages: A language contact
approach delves into the world of heritage languages and how these inform and
are informed by studies in language contact. Taking a global perspective, it
amply references studies from many contact situations around the world. The
authors use their combined decades of experience in the field of contact
linguistics to address a wide variety of interrelated themes from
complimentary areas of expertise.

In addition to providing an overview of the book, in Chapter 1 the concept of
‘heritage language’ is defined. Here, differing definitions from previous
researchers are presented, based on differing views of language contact.
Included in this discussion are six questions to aid in defining heritage
languages (HL). The authors begin with the status (official vs. unofficial) of
the language in the community, and then turn to the concept of shift in
language dominance and proficiency. The polemic inclusion of divergence from
monolingual native norms in the grammars of HL speakers is then treated.
Concentrating on the definition of ‘heritage’, the topic then shifts to
cultural connections to the language. The setting and timing of acquisition is
then mentioned, focusing on age of onset and naturalistic acquisition
settings. Finally, with regard to the differing definitions, they turn to
sociolinguistics and the concept of language community. Also contained in this
introductory chapter is the potential use of ‘contact scenarios’ in studying
HLs and how these can aid in understanding language contact and predicting
language contact outcomes. 

Chapter 2 shifts the topic to two perspectives that have historically been
used in HL studies, including the perspective of diaspora languages. In
connection with this discussion, the authors provide examples of various
languages in such a setting, with examples primarily from Dutch. Also covered
is the perspective of the receiving country of immigration, with special
attention on the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe. The chapter
concludes with a brief introduction to the study of HLs from the speaker
perspective, which will be the main focus taken in this book. 

With a desire to place HLs in their social context, Chapter 3 centers on the
interrelated concepts of language maintenance and language shift, where the
authors return to the scenario approach. These specific scenarios align the
discussion with social factors that impact language maintenance and language
choice. Here the reader encounters factors related to language maintenance
such as interlocutors, generation of the speakers, family language use, social
networks, and communities of practice. To conclude this subject, the authors
focus on language shift and the endpoint of language death. The authors then
transition to Chapter 4 by briefly treating when language choice is not so
clear, homing in on bilingual language use. Here various forms of
codeswitching—from lexical insertions to alternations—are exemplified, with
numerous samples from Dutch and Turkish bilinguals being provided. The concept
of languaging is also presented, where they note that every language
decision—including bilingual language use—carries social meaning, and thus
impacts the way speakers portray themselves and are perceived by others. 

In Chapter 5, the authors concentrate on methods used to collect data
pertinent to HL investigations. To facilitate this discussion, they provide a
treatment of three types of validity—internal, external, and ecological—to be
weighed when making a methodological decision. Specifically, they mention
points to consider for collecting spoken and written data, participant
selection, research design, and data handling, including storage,
transcription, and annotation. Focusing on written data, they consider the
merits of data from chat sites and social media in heritage language studies.
The obligatory inclusion of surveys and questionnaires is also proffered, as
well as the use of experimental approaches such as grammatical judgement
tasks. The chapter concludes with various questions to aid in determining
which method to choose, stating that in many instances a combination of
methods is the best option for providing more robust analyses. 

The discussion then switches to variability and change in Chapter 6. Here the
authors further detail the drawback of using the monolingual native as a
baseline for HLs and delve into the idea of multiple baselines—including the
bilingual baseline—for studying variability and change. In this chapter they
investigate in greater detail the topic of age of onset and other factors that
lead to individual variability such as community and speaker characteristics.
The authors conclude the chapter by addressing ways to evaluate speaker
proficiency through cloze tests, lexical proficiency tasks, and
sociolinguistic background questionnaires. 

Chapter 7 is titled “Heritage language phenomena and what triggers them.” Here
the authors delineate areas where HL speakers might differ from a given
baseline, such as phonology, lexicon (e.g. loan translations and loan
extensions), morphology, and syntax. They explain how language internal
factors as well as how language contact—external factors—might each in turn
influence language change. Chapter 8 then provides a variety of research
paradigms and grammatical models that investigate these variations and
deviations. Provided with each of these models are case studies where methods
and data selection are discussed. These paradigms include generative grammar,
variationist sociolinguistics and optimality theory. Finally, they treat
usage-based models, and compare the paradigms and state how each can be used
to inform HL research. The focus on factors that influence language processing
in bilinguals is then presented in Chapter 9, where the authors introduce
findings from experimental psycholinguistics. 

Aalberse, Backus & Muysken’s then approach HLs in the specific setting of
post-colonization, focusing on the creole Papiamentu in Chapter 10. Here they
discuss the development of Papiamentu, and the influence Dutch has had on the
language in the ABC islands as well as in the Netherlands. 

Chapter 11 enters into the politics of HLs by investigating diversity
management. They couch this discussion in the various frames of reference
regarding language diversity. Included in this is the Babylon frame, where
language diversity is seen as a punishment to be avoided; the Tsunami frame,
where mass immigration is seen as a destructive, threatening force, especially
regarding the influx of new HLs; and finally, the Heritage frame, where a
strong tradition of immigration leads to greater acceptance of language
diversity. Specifically mentioned is the notion of reversing language shift
along with indigenous language revival. Of importance to this discussion is
the many forms of HL education, from bilingual education models to
community-based interactions in the HL. Codeswitching is revisited,
specifically treating the impact on language proficiency, purity and language
loss. Finally, the authors mention concerns with linguistic human rights and
overcoming linguistic discrimination. The chapter also serves as a conclusion,
where a brief overview of the concepts present throughout the book is
provided. Finally, Chapter 12 gives a list of technical terms used in the book
along with their definitions, provided in alphabetical order. 

EVALUATION

Aalberse, Backus & Muysken’s tome is a welcomed addition to the study of HLs.
The authors’ goal of introducing HLs in connection to the field of language
contact is insightful and overall presented in a highly digestible manner for
those new to this topic. It also serves the veteran linguist with current
analyses of concrete examples of language contact manifestations in the HL
world. 

The authors skillfully transition from relevant topic to relevant topic,
aiding the reader in the progress of understanding the material at hand. For
example, the authors adeptly introduce bilingual language usage in Chapter 3
and then in Chapter 4 delve headlong into the subject. Such transitions appear
throughout the book. 

The breadth of topics covered—from defining HL to a history of HL research to
variability in HL speakers—is precisely what one would expect in this type of
book. An unexpected and applauded addition to this list is Chapter 8’s
discussion on four research paradigms and how each informs research on HLs.
Each chapter is well balanced—amazingly each covers approximately 20 pages—and
thoroughly developed. A potential exception was the lack of inclusion in
Chapter 7 of pragmatic change as a result of language contact. And while the
last section of Chapter 11 provides a great summary of the book, this wrap up
does merit its own concluding chapter. 

Although the authors never state who the target audience is, this book would
be appropriate for those pursuing advanced degrees in various fields of
linguistics, especially areas dealing with bilingualism and language contact.
This is evident in their discussion of the methods used to investigate HLs and
language contact. And while said section is well written, one area of omission
includes how data could be analyzed once collected. While this perhaps is out
of the scope of the present book, a discussion on available resources such as
statistical packages and tests for carrying out such analyses would be
beneficial to the target audience. 

As stated in Chapter 12, the authors have made an attempt to define any
technical terms in the text itself, but at times they missed their mark.
Thankfully, the 
chapter—which perhaps should have been renamed as an appendix—provides several
definitions that help clarify any confusion. However, one of the shortcomings
of the book is the open-ended nature of some of the definitions posed by the
authors. 

Of greatest concern was the definition of heritage language itself. In Chapter
1 the authors present numerous ways in which HLs have been defined, and
accurately introduce key dimensions of the definition of HLs used by other
researchers. However, they never provide a concrete working definition of how
they themselves will define HLs. It is necessary to state explicitly if all
six dimensions are important to their definition, if some will be excluded or
further dimensions added. This is particularly troubling in light of the
inclusion of Papiamentu in the ABC islands in Chapter 10, where language
contact (particularly with Dutch) is evident but HL status—based on the six
dimensions—is questionable. Papiamentu has official status in Aruba and
Curaçao, and as such fails to meet the criterion of dimension number one:
non-official language status. Likewise, as a native creole language in the
Caribbean it would be hard to argue that the language meets the criteria of
shift in language dominance or of being divergent from a baseline grammar.
When the authors shift the discussion to Papiamentu in the Netherlands, which
composes only a minority of the chapter, only then does the inclusion become
relevant to the current tome. Similarly, the authors use terms like ‘minority
language’ without indicating whether this is synonymous with HL. In a similar
light, there is concern with the authors equating ‘heritage speakers’ with
‘semi-speakers’ (p. 59-60), a term that has been seen as pejorative and
detrimental to academic achievement in bilinguals (MacSwan 2000). 

Similarly, the definition of codeswitching (CS) is so broad that it includes
almost any element that might proceed from another language. While it is true
that “there exists debate in the literature concerning the precise
characterization of CS” (Bullock & Toribio, 2, 2009), Aalberse, Backus &
Muysken again fail to provide a working definition of CS. Of specific concern
is whether any word or phrase of foreign origin, regardless of duration in the
language and level of phonological adaption, will still be considered CS. It
is unclear if it is still CS when a bilingual uses a word of foreign origin
that is fully incorporated in the majority language, say for example the
Spanish-origin word ‘ranch’ in the English of the United States. Adding to
this concern, the authors note that “Many of the global food staples go by
names that betray where they originally came from: tomato and chocolate both
come from Nahuatl words, for example” (p. 70). However, they provide no
evidence that folk linguists would be aware that these highly incorporated and
fully phonologically adapted words were from a foreign origin, let alone from
Nahuatl. The authors later add that it is “likely that most or all foreign
words are widely recognized as foreign-origin” (p. 82), similarly without
providing any evidence that bilinguals (or monolinguals) know the status of
such lexical borrowings. 

The book contains several tables and figures that help to exemplify the topics
at hand, and the majority are incorporated nicely. However, some were
minimally referenced and explained. The image on page 68, for example, shows a
handwritten advertisement reading ‘Take what you need’ with phrases like
‘forgiveness,’ ‘faith,’ and ‘love’ written on slips of paper intended to be
torn off. While the authors include this image at the end of their
presentation of bilingual use, arguing for bilinguals being able to take from
each language whatever they need in order to convey their message, the image
seems unmerited (it is the only image in the book) and is never referenced.
Likewise, Table 1.1, which is provided to summarize the definition of HL,
contains lower case x, upper case X and parenthetical (x). It is unclear as to
what these symbols indicate. Similarly, Figure 6.2 attempts to illustrate the
study of cross-generational families, and although the caption explains the
different degrees of shading, it is impossible to follow what is being
demonstrated. And Figure 7.1 contains information that is intended to clarify
the relationship between HLs and the baseline varieties, showing incomplete
acquisition. However, more explanation of what the figure illustrates is
merited. 

In spite of the generally ample review of the literature for the majority of
the topics, several important subjects seemed scarce and underdeveloped.
Perhaps most salient was the theme of reversing language shift, a topic of
great concern to HL communities. Not only does their discussion only cover a
little over two pages, it failed to include the principles presented in
perhaps the most seminal research on this subject by Fishman (e.g. 1991,
2001), among others. 

In Chapter 1 the concept of ‘scenario approach’ was introduced, and it was
alluded that this would form a central part of the book. However, the concept
was never truly revisited in the book. Yes, the authors provide ample
scenarios and case studies, but never did they indicate how these contributed
to Table 1.2 in predicting linguistic outcomes of the scenario or the possible
historic contexts that lead to a given language contact outcome. 

While it would be untenable to anticipate a manuscript of this length to have
no errata, there are more in this tome than should be expected. These appear
in the form of punctation errors, spelling errors, repeated words/phrases,
incorrect word usage, omitted words and errors in calculation of dates.
However, very few of these affect comprehension.

These limitations aside, Aalberse, Backus & Muysken provide a very
informative, well researched dive into the field of heritage language through
the lens of language contact. The concrete examples of understudied languages
taken from recorded language corpora as well as the global perspective of the
research makes this an especially distinctive work. This book will make a
great addition to anyone interested in heritage languages and their speakers
and language contact phenomena. 

REFERENCES

Bullock, B. E., & Toribio, A. J. (2009). The Cambridge handbook of linguistic
code-switching. Cambridge University Press.

Fishman, J. A. (1991). Reversing language shift: Theoretical and empirical
foundations of assistance to threatened languages. Multilingual matters.

Fishman, J. A. (Ed.). (2001). Can threatened languages be saved?: Reversing
language shift, revisited: A 21st century perspective. Multilingual Matters.

MacSwan, J. (2000). The threshold hypothesis, semilingualism, and other
contributions to a deficit view of linguistic minorities. Hispanic Journal of
Behavioral Sciences, 22(1), 3-45.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Tyler K. Anderson is Professor of Spanish at Colorado Mesa University, where
he teaches courses in language, linguistics and second language acquisition.
His research interests include language attitudes toward manifestations of
contact linguistics, including the acceptability of lexical borrowing and
code-switching in Spanish and English contact situations. He is currently
researching the perceptions of phonetic interference in second language
acquisition.





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