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The present article provides an overview of ongoing field-based research that deploys a variety of interactive experimental procedures in three strategically chosen bilingual contact environments, whose language dyads facilitate a partial separation of morphosyntactic factors in order to test the extent to which proposed grammatical constraints on intra-sentential code-switching are independent of language-specific factors. For purposes of illustration, the possibility of language switches between subject pronouns and verbs is compared for the three bilingual groups. The first scenario includes Ecuadoran Quichua and Media Lengua (entirely Quichua syntax and system morphology, all lexical roots replaced by Spanish items; both are null-subject languages). The second juxtaposes Spanish and the Afro-Colombian creole language Palenquero; the languages share highly cognate lexicons but differ substantially in grammatical structures (including null subjects in Spanish, only overt subjects in Palenquero). Spanish and Portuguese in north-eastern Argentina along the Brazilian border form the third focus: lexically and grammatically highly cognate languages that are nonetheless kept distinct by speakers (both null-subject languages, albeit with different usage patterns). Results from the three communities reveal a residual resistance against pronoun + verb switches irrespective of the subject-verb configuration, thereby motivating the application of similar techniques to other proposed grammatical constraints.
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This content will become publicly available on March 27, 2026
Heritage language gaps
Abstract This chapter examines the "Silent Problem" in heritage languages (HLs) - the systematic difficulty heritage speakers experience with silent grammatical elements compared to their overt counterparts. Through analysis of null pronouns and gaps in relative clauses, the study reveals consistent patterns where heritage speakers show reduced sensitivity to silent elements in both comprehension and production. The research demonstrates that heritage speakers maintain the basic licensing conditions for null elements but exhibit altered interpretive strategies. They show a stronger preference for subject antecedents in anaphoric dependencies than baseline speakers, following what the author terms the "Position of Antecedent Strategy" (PAS) - consistently choosing the highest structural argument as the antecedent regardless of pronoun type (null or overt). A pilot study on Russian relative clauses using weak crossover (WCO) effects reveals that baseline speakers exhibit bimodal grammar patterns - some using A-bar movement, others using coindexation - while heritage speakers uniformly employ coindexation structures, suggesting a shift from syntactic to anaphoric dependencies. This represents a preference for "Merge over Move" operations in heritage grammars. The chapter identifies several factors contributing to these patterns: (1) reduced perceptual salience of silent elements, (2) heritage speakers' aversion to scalar principles in favor of equipollent oppositions, and (3) difficulty establishing long-distance dependencies. Production data shows heritage speakers often use resumptive pronouns instead of gaps in relative clauses, reflecting the general avoidance of silent elements. The study draws parallels between heritage languages and endangered languages, suggesting these patterns reflect universal consequences of reduced linguistic exposure. The findings contribute to understanding how grammatical representations restructure under conditions of limited input, with implications for theories of bilingual language development and syntactic processing.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1941733
- PAR ID:
- 10624116
- Publisher / Repository:
- Oxford University PressOxford
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 9780198876182
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 54 to 70
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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