Workshop on Bilingualism with Minority Languages

The Research Group ALLENCAM (SGR 2021 SGR 00472) and the Department of Translation and Language Sciences at Universitat Pompeu Fabra are pleased to host the 2nd MULTILINGUA Network Workshop this coming winter (17-19 January, 2024). The purpose of this workshop is to bring together world-renowned and early-career researchers working on bi/multilingualism with a minority or minoritized language from a variety of approaches, including linguistic, psycholinguistic, psychometric, neurolinguistic, sociolinguistic, and educational approaches.

The main topic of this workshop is to compare regional bilingualism and bidialectalism with heritage bilingualism. The format of the workshop will be dynamic, with thematic sessions with plenary talks from invited speakers followed by a discussion moderated by a researcher from the MULTILINGUA network.

In the last two decades, the study of heritage languages and heritage bilingualism has gained significant momentum, driven by a growing recognition of the cultural and linguistic diversity within societies, as well as their key role in advancing our knowledge on linguistic theory (Benmamoun et al., 2013). Several of the widely accepted definitions of heritage languages emphasize the fact that these are minority languages acquired early in life but are not the dominant or stronger language in the society (see Montrul, 2016; Polinsky, 2018; Rothman, 2009). These definitions unexpectedly encompass minority regional or indigenous languages in cases of societal bilingualism, such as Quechua, Welsh, Catalan, Euskera, Galician, Venetan, or Sicilian. This raises the question of whether these types of bilingualism, –i.e.: regional bilingualism and heritage bilingualism–, typically investigated from different perspectives and as two different entities, might be more scientifically comparable that previously assumed. 

Some questions that we will discuss in this workshop are the following: To what extent do these different types of bilingualism constitute the same linguistic phenomena? Do heritage and regional languages develop similarly? Do they produce the same linguistic, psycholinguistic, and neurolinguistic outcomes? Are they both motors of linguistic change? Is it scientifically sound to treat them as diverse entities? Should these situations instead be treated as continuum? What is the role of the sociolinguistic context and schooling in the development of regional and heritage bilingualism? Can we employ the same assessment tools to evaluate their knowledge? What is the future of these types of bilingualism? 

 

Programme:

(All the speeches are available at the following links)

Introduction

Introduction to the Workshop: Heritage and Regional Languages, different types of biligualisms? (PI: Sílvia Perpiñán, Universitat Pompeu Fabra)

Session I: Setting the Stage

Eider Etxebarria (Northwestern University) & Silvina Montrul (University of Illinois Urbana Champaign)- Production and interpretation of null/overt subjects in Basque bilinguals.

M.Carme ParafitaCouto (Leiden University), Brechje van Osch (The Arctic University of Norway) & Kate Bellamy (Leiden University)- Problematising the ‘heritage’ labels in bilingualism research.

Session II: Linguistic Processes in Bilingual Communities

Leire Diaz de Gereñu & María José Ezeizabarrena (Universidad del País Vasco, EHU)- Immigration and education in the Basque Autonomous Community.

Aurora Bel & Rut Benito (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)- Bilingual Catalan and Bilingual Spanish: Evidence from DOM.

Session III: Social and Cognitive Factors

Johanne Paradis (University of Alberta)- How well-being, identity and language environment modulate bilingual development in first-generation refugee youth.

Evelina Leivada (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)- Bilingual adaptations in the shadow of standard languages.

Session IV: Quantity and Quality Effects

Tanja Kupisch (University of Konstanz)- Assessing proficiency in regional minority languages: The why, the how and the challenges.

Evangelia Daskalaki (University of Alberta)- How cross-linguistic influence and input affect heritage language development.

Session V: Schooling Contexts

Naymé Salas (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)- When the minority language is the language of instruction: Effects on literacy development.

Adriana Soto-Corominas (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)- Minority language exposure predicts receptive abilities in Catalan-Spanish bilingual children at the onset of schooling.

Session VI: Migrant contexts

Raquel Fernández Fuertes (Universidad de Valladolid)- English as a heritage language in Spain: an analysis of the bilingual child's internal grammar.

Iban Mañas (Universitat de les Illes Balears)- The acquisition of copula alternation as a deep dive into L1 Russian Spanish heritage speakers.

 

References:

Benmamoun, E., Montrul, S., & Polinsky, M. (2013). Heritage languages and their speakers: Opportunities and challenges for linguistics. Theoretical Linguistics, 39(3–4), 129–181.

Montrul, S. (2016). The Acquisition of Heritage Languages. Cambridge University Press.

Polinsky, M. (2018). Heritage languages and their speakers. Cambridge University Press. 

Rothman, J. (2009). Understanding the nature and outcomes of early bilingualism: Romance languages as heritage languages. International Journal of Bilingualism, 13(2), 155–163.
 

Thematic Panels:

  • Heritage vs. Regional Bilingualism: similarities and differences
  • Linguistic Processes in Minority Bilingualism
  • Literacy and Schooling Effects
  • Cognitive Effects of Bilingualism
  • Social Factors
  • Assessment Tools
  • Quantity and Quality Effects