Heritage Languages and their Speakers
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
Published:2nd Apr '20
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
A pioneering study of heritage languages, from a leading scholar in this area of study world-wide.
A pioneering introduction to heritage languages that covers all the main components of grammar and shows easy familiarity with approaches ranging from formal grammar to typology, and from sociolinguistics to psycholinguistics. Written by a leading scholar in the study of heritage languages, it is the foundational book on the subject.This book provides a pioneering introduction to heritage languages and their speakers, written by one of the founders of this new field. Using examples from a wide range of languages, it covers all the main components of grammar, including phonetics and phonology, morphology and morphosyntax, semantics and pragmatics, and shows easy familiarity with approaches ranging from formal grammar to typology, from sociolinguistics to child language acquisition and other relevant aspects of psycholinguistics. The book offers analysis of resilient and vulnerable domains in heritage languages, with a special emphasis on recurrent structural properties that occur across multiple heritage languages. It is explicit about instances where, based on our current knowledge, we are unable to reach a clear decision on a particular claim or analytical point, and therefore provides a much-needed resource for future research.
'Maria Polinsky has written a comprehensive and authoritative work that will be an indispensable point of reference for future research on heritage languages. Her book takes a very detailed look at heritage languages, but it never loses sight of a central question for all linguists: what does it mean to be a speaker of a language?' Grant Goodall, University of California, San Diego
'This volume is thorough, comprehensive, and multifaceted, capturing the uniqueness, complexities and subtleties that characterize heritage language. A plethora of concrete research evidence from numerous languages is provided to illustrate the points made.' Mitsuyo Sakamoto, LINGUIST List
ISBN: 9781107642966
Dimensions: 228mm x 152mm x 28mm
Weight: 650g
432 pages