Childhood Heritage Languages: A Tangier Case Study
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis was a very interesting study, and choosing to focus on a life history narrative was a particularly unique approach to examining HL vitality in individuals. A few suggestions:
-Translate Spanish and French quotations, perhaps as footnotes. Along those lines, the formatting could also use adjustment, particularly for longer excerpts. Start them on a new line, idented.
-The authors mention both code-switching and translanguaging, and I think it would be useful to offer a distinction between these two concepts that get conflated. How are these terms operationalized for this study?
-I don't think enough contextual info about Jaquetía was provided in section 2.1, particularly in a contemporary setting. A few sources that may be useful here:
Bürki, Y. (2016). Haketia in Morocco. Or, the story of the decline of an idiom. International journal of the sociology of language, 2016(239), 121-155.
I also recommend the work of Bryan Kirschen, who has written a lot about Judeo-Spanish more broadly, but has included Haketia in his works, and also has focused on Sephardic diaspora.
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsSummary
This article analyzes how a Sephardic Jewish woman from Tangier, retained and emotionally related to her heritage language, Jaquetía (a Judeo-Spanish dialect), through multilingual experiences in Morocco and later in the United States. Via testimony, the study explores how family practices, community rituals, and emotional connections influenced her language maintenance despite formal education in French. The research highlights how multilingual childhoods are shaped not solely by language policies but also by lived experience.
Overall Comments
The paper is deeply grounded in both contemporary and foundational linguistic theory (e.g., translanguaging, affective culture, emotional diglossia), which enables the author to frame the work into broader work. The research also presents a human-centered account. The integration of personal memory is particularly effective, even with family policy. One area that I think could be improved upon is that several sections of the article are difficult to navigate due to complex phrasing and excessive theoretical jargon. I also would recommend paraphrasing the Spanish, French, etc. for English-reading audiences if it’s applicable. See my note on where this comes up a bit below.
Major Comments
Page 4, Lines 163-164: The claim that “emotional affinity defies limits of speech communities or nationalities” is conceptually engaging, but it risks oversimplifying the boundaries and social roles of linguistic communities.
Page 5, Line 218: “from the mother tongue(s) or L1” I don’t know that I agree with saying that an L1 can change and as the citation points out, it needs to be defined. A dominant language can change and does (as is the crux of a heritage speaker). An L1 cannot, as time is fixed. I would consider either changing this concept to reflect the dissociation between L1 (temporal) and dominant (frequency) language or at least re-define what you mean by L1 here. Mother tongue is also confusing here. Is it the dominant language? The first one?
Page 6, line 260: What is meant by ‘unconscious schooling’? A slightly more detailed account would be helpful here.
Page 7, Line 333: “She was the fourth of five siblings” << Curious if birth order here played a role or if it’s worth exploring. It can affect HS.
Section 5.1 in general could use more paraphrasing and/or direct translations (In an appendix perhaps?). It is very difficult to follow.
Page 12, Line 506: A feeling of loss which permeates the narrative: rompant ainsi pour moi encore un lien avec une existence anté- 502 503 504 505 506 507 rieure (37). << Having a hard time understanding what’s happening here. Would really appreciate some English translations, especially given the multi-modal form of this work.
Page 17, Lines 695: The mother’s prioritization of French as a parental decision is editorialized.
Minor comments
Page 2, Line 46, 58 (and throughout): The phrases in Spanish would benefit from translation or paraphrasing for English-language clarity.
Page 7, Line 311: ‘Maintening’ should be ‘maintaining’
Page 12, Table 3: Low resolution image. Consider revising for formal submission (This affects all tables and figures, really)
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
