Different variables hold varying significance from childhood to adolescence

The current study examined the comprehension and production of classifiers, case marking, and morphological passive structures among 414 child Japanese heritage speakers (mean age = 10.01 years; range = 4.02 – 18.18). Focusing on individual differences, we extracted latent experiential factors via t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inStudies in second language acquisition Vol. 47; no. 1; pp. 104 - 135
Main Authors Kubota, Maki, Goto, Yuka, Kurokawa, Satsuki, Matsuoka, Yuko, Otani, Masashi, Rothman, Jason
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.03.2025
Subjects
classifier
Japanese
case marking
child heritage bilingualism
individual differences
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Summary:The current study examined the comprehension and production of classifiers, case marking, and morphological passive structures among 414 child Japanese heritage speakers (mean age = 10.01 years; range = 4.02 – 18.18). Focusing on individual differences, we extracted latent experiential factors via the Q-BEx questionnaire (De Cat, Kašćelan, Prévost, Serratrice, Tuller, Unsworth, & The Q.-Be Consortium, 2022), which were then used to predict knowledge and use of these grammatical structures. The findings reveal that: (i) experiential factors such as heritage language (HL) engagement at home and within the community modulate grammatical performance differentially from childhood through adolescence, and (ii) HL proficiency, immersion experiences, and literacy systematically predict HL grammatical outcomes. These results indicate that particular language background factors hold differential significance at distinct developmental stages and that higher proficiency, richer immersion experiences, and literacy engagement in the HL are crucial for the development of core grammatical structures.
ISSN:0272-2631
1470-1545
DOI:10.1017/S0272263124000615