Language Processing in Spanish Heritage Speakers

Dear Colleagues,

Research on Spanish as a Heritage Language has gained important weight over recent years as a unique way to atain insight into the linguistic, social, and cognitive underpinnings of the intergenerational transmission of languages. Furthermore, the mobility of large groups of Spanish speakers across geographical areas has put research on Spanish as a Heritage Language in the spotlight of current research, specifically concerned with how it is learnt, taught, and used. The spread of Spanish as a Heritage Language, specifically witnessed in the United States (Potowski, 2018a), has so far resulted in an extensive repertoire of demolinguistic, sociolinguistic, and applied research, aimed at understanding what factors are involved in its transmission, acquisition, and use (cf. Bowles, 2022; Pascual y Cabo and Torres, 2021; Potowski, 2018b; Pozzi et al., 2021). At the same time, the growing expansion of migratory flows in both Europe and Asia (cf. Loureda et al., 2023), and across the Spanish-speaking communities themselves, is steadily increasing interest in how the Spanish language—and its different varieties—are supported and learned (Fairclough and Loureda, in press).

Compared to extensive inquiry into communicative practices and educational activities, the cognitive perspective on Spanish as a heritage language has so far occupied a less prominent place. However, approaching the cognitive correlates of Spanish processing in heritage speakers can significantly nourish our understanding of mental processes in bilingualism, cognitive constraints in language acquisition, and the relationship between cognition and language levels. In this sense, heritage speakers represent a unique model for studying how different linguistic structures and functions are embedded in cognitive processing. Heritage speakers are heterogeneous in their linguistic development and competence (Pascual y Cabo, 2016), which is frequently predicted not only by the intensity of language input but also by the family language policy, parents’ attitudes, and the degree of implication of different agents in language transmission (Ivanova, 2024). In this scenario, approaching Spanish as a Heritage Language from the point of view of cognitive processing can make it possible to answer such intriguing questions as which language structures are more robust or available, against the ones that are not, or how such structures are hierarchically organized on an easy–difficult scale in heritage languages. All in all, we need these insights to understand how language processing in heritage speakers is different from what we can observe in L1 or L2 speakers (Chomón Zamora, 2022), and how to relate these differences in processing to modern theories on language competence in bilingualism (cf. Bolger and Zapata, 2011).

The purpose of this Special Issue is to create a forum for sharing empirical evidence on how speakers of Spanish as a Heritage Language process different types of linguistic input and our aim is to bring together contributions from researchers who study the processing of Spanish as a Heritage Language from different theoretical perspectives, psycholinguistic paradigms, and language structures. In so doing, we want to create a unique space from which to gain a comprehensive insight into how speakers process their heritage language in the light of their linguistic nature, the impact of social factors, and the typology of the contact situations.

Furthermore, we invite all scholars working on Spanish as a Heritage Language processing from any theoretical or experimental perspective to contribute their research to this Special Issue . We believe that this Special Issue will be an important step forward in the field of the psycholinguistics of heritage languages by filling an important niche currently existing in the literature.

List of main references

Bolger, Patrick A. & Gabriela C. Zapata (2011). Psycholinguistic Approaches to Language Processing in Heritage Speakers. Heritage Language Journal, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.8.1.2

Bowles, Melissa A. (ed.) (2022). Outcomes of University Spanish Heritage Language Instruction in the United States. Georgetown: Georgetown University Press.

Chomón Zamora, Celia (2022). The Secret Is in the Processing: Categorizing How Heritage Learners of Spanish Process. In Melissa A. Bowles (ed.), Outcomes of University Spanish Heritage Language Instruction in the United States (pp. 81-102). Georgetown: Georgetown University Press.

Fairclough, Marta, & Loureda Óscar (in press). Spanish as a Heritage Language: A Global Perspective.

Ivanova, Olga (2024). Attitudes and Agents in the Transmission of Russian as a Heritage Language in Spain. Slavic Language Education, 4/2024, 202-224. https://doi.org/10.18452/28704

Loureda Lamas, Óscar, Francisco Moreno-Fernández & Héctor Álvarez Mella (2023). Spanish as a heritage language in Europe: a demolinguistic perspective. Journal of World Languages, 9(1), 27-46. https://doi.org/10.1515/jwl-2022-0059

Pascual y Cabo, Diego (2016). Charting the past, present, and future of Spanish heritage language research. In D. Pascual y Cabo (ed.), Advances in Spanish as a Heritage Language (pp. 1-12). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Pascual y Cabo, Diego & Julio Torres (eds.) (2021). Aproximaciones Al Estudio Del Español Como Lengua de Herencia. London: Routledge.

Potowski, Kim (2018a). Spanish as a heritage / minority language: a multifaceted look at ten nations. In K. Potowski (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Spanish as a Heritage Language. Oxon/New York: Routledge.

Potowski, Kim (ed.) (2018b). The Routledge Handbook of Spanish as a Heritage Language. Oxon / New York: Routledge.

Pozzi, Rebecca, Tracy Quan & Chelsea Escalante (eds.) (2021). Heritage Speakers of Spanish and Study Abroad. London: Routledge

Tentative Completion Schedule
Abstract Submission Deadline: 15 November 2024
Notification of Abstract Acceptance: 1 December 2024
Full Manuscript Deadline: 20 April 2025

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to both guest editors to [email protected] and [email protected], or to Languages editorial office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the special issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

Prof. Dr. Óscar Loureda
Dr. Olga Ivanova
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Spanish as heritage language language processing
• experimental psycholinguistics
• bilingualism