Project description
Children of immigrants learning second language at home
A subfield of bilingualism studies, heritage languages are learned at home but never fully developed because of insufficient input from the social environment. Accordingly, heritage speakers are children of first- and second-generation immigrants. In this context, the EU-funded HeLA project will investigate why heritage grammars develop the way they do. It will focus on the qualitative aspect of input, comparing Spanish in two different linguistic contexts in Europe: the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Specifically, it will explore how parents’ use of their first language might change due to prolonged exposure to the second language and how this gets passed on to their children – the next generation of heritage speakers.
Objective
This project aims to fill important gaps in our existing knowledge of Heritage Language (HL) acquisition, a subfield of bilingualism studies. While most previous research has focused on describing how HLs diverge from their monolingual baselines, the main objective of HeLA is to understand why heritage grammars develop the way they do. To this end, we focus on the severely understudied population of pre-teenage heritage speakers (HSs) of Spanish. While much attention has been paid to the role of input quantity in HL acquisition, relatively little is known about the qualitative nature of that input. This project investigates input quality by focusing on cross-generational attrition: the situation where HSs’ parents might exhibit changes in their L1 use –due to prolonged exposure to a second language and lack of activation in their first language– which get passed on to the next generation of HSs. We will approach this topic in a unique and novel way, namely by including individual analyses of children and their respective parents, and establishing a one-to-one connection between the two. Thus far, the majority of research on heritage Spanish, has been carried out in the context of the US. HeLA offers a valuable contribution to the field by comparing Spanish in two different linguistic contexts in Europe: the UK and The Netherlands. By looking at phenomena that are instantiated differently in English and Dutch –grammatical gender and subject expression– we will gain more insight into the role of cross-linguistic influence from the majority language. We furthermore combine behavioural and online measures of competence to examine whether the type of task brings anything to bear on the participants’ performances. Gaining a deep understanding of the factors that shape heritage grammars is of considerable importance for the maintenance of immigrant languages and cultures, as well as for stakeholders in the public and private sector charged with supporting such efforts.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
9019 Tromso
Norway
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.