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Interfaces in the returnees' heritage language: Is the complete (re-)activation possible?

Antonova-Unlu, E; Wei, L; Kaya-Soykan, D; (2021) Interfaces in the returnees' heritage language: Is the complete (re-)activation possible? International Journal of Bilingualism 10.1177/13670069211043572. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The aim of this study is to examine whether the complete (re-)activation of interface domains in the heritage language (HL) is possible or whether interfaces are likely to preserve features typical for the HL even after many years of residing in the country of origin. Design/methodology/approach: We present the group analysis of direct object marking in Turkish, which is a morphology-syntax-pragmatics interface, of Turkish-German returnees, who returned to Turkey after puberty and have been residing in the country for a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 34 years, and compare them with the control group consisting of Turkish speakers who have been living in Turkey all their lives. Data and analysis: The data were collected using a narrative task, a completion task and a grammaticality judgement task, and analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Findings/conclusions: The analysis of the narrative task revealed that the returnee participants used case-marking on direct objects productively depending on the discourse and syntactic position of the direct object in their heritage Turkish. However, their performance on the completion and grammaticality judgement tasks diverged from those of the control group. These findings can be considered as a piece of evidence that interface domains stay obstinate to complete (re-)activation and may preserve features typical for the HL many years after the return to the country of origin. Originality: The study suggests relevance of the Interface Hypothesis to the process of HL (re-)activation. Significance/implications: The study contributes to the research on the HL development of returnees after their return to the country of origin.

Type: Article
Title: Interfaces in the returnees' heritage language: Is the complete (re-)activation possible?
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1177/13670069211043572
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069211043572
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Returnees, heritage language, Turkish-German bilingualism, interface, direct object marking in Turkish, WEAKER LANGUAGE, WORD-ORDER, TURKISH, ACQUISITION, ATTRITION, BILINGUALISM, MORPHOLOGY, SPEAKERS, AGE
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Culture, Communication and Media
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10135310
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