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“I no longer count in German.” On dominance shift in returnee heritage speakers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2022

Cristina Flores Open the ORCID record for Cristina Flores [Opens in a new window] ,
Chao Zhou Open the ORCID record for Chao Zhou [Opens in a new window]  and
Carina Eira
Cristina Flores*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Estudos Germanísticos e Eslavos, Centro de Estudos Humanísticos, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, Braga 4710-057, Portugal
Chao Zhou
Affiliation:
Centro de Estudos Humanísticos, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, Braga 4710-057, Portugal Center of Linguistics, School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon, Lisbon 1600-214, Portugal
Carina Eira
Affiliation:
Departamento de Estudos Germanísticos e Eslavos, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, Braga 4710-057, Portugal
*
*Corresponding author. Email: cflores@elach.uminho.pt
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Abstract

This study analyzes the degree of language balance in three groups of bilingual speakers of Portuguese and German: a group of Portuguese heritage speakers (HSs) living in Germany, another who returned to Portugal, and Portuguese late learners of German L2. Based on the DIALANG vocabulary size placement test, applied in German and in Portuguese, and on extralinguistic variables extracted from a background questionnaire, the results confirm high degrees of unbalanced language dominance favoring the societal language (SL) in HSs without the experience of return, and a leveling of language dominance in returnees. Language balance in returnees is the consequence of some loss of proficiency in the former SL (German) and reactivation of the heritage language (Portuguese). Current relative amount of contact with the two languages is correlated with language dominance only in the HSs and the late L2 speaker groups, whereas age of return and length of residence in Portugal explain language dominance in returnees. Self-reported proficiency is also predictive of language dominance and may be taken as complementary indicator.

Keywords

returneeslanguage (im)balanceproficiency-based measureexperienced-based measurePortugueseGerman
Type
Original Article
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 43 , Issue 5 , September 2022 , pp. 1019 - 1043
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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