Cypriot Heritage and Recording Maintenance (CHaRM):
Forays into Cypriot Greek as a Heritage Language in the English-Speaking Diaspora

The CHaRM Project

 

Background

Within the study of language acquisition, studies targeting the grammar of heritage language speakers have attracted scholarly interest in the last few decades. Among the many different aspects that have been investigated are questions that pertain to the nature of a heritage speaker profile (Benmamoun et al., 2013; Polinsky, 2018; Rothman, 2009), the question of incomplete acquisition as an explanation (Montrul, 2016), the quality of input and intake in speakers (Domínguez, 2009), and the effects of language contact between dominant and heritage languages (Andriani et al., 2022). The study of heritage languages can provide insights into the mechanisms of language change as a result of language contact in heritage contexts, as also investigated in the ERC-funded research project with adult speakers on ‘Microcontact: Language Variation and Change from the Italian Heritage Perspective’ (PI: Prof. Roberta D’Alessandro, https://microcontact.sites.uu.nl). With the addition of more heritage languages and independent linguistic environments, there is less work presenting comparisons between heritage speakers of the same language in different locations, possibly subject to different sociolinguistic and developmental variables. Yet, additional research is needed with adult heritage speakers from different background.

 

Overview

The CHaRM project addresses this gap in the literature. It will examine the outcome of linguistic heritage development and variation in three different Greek Cypriot communities in the diaspora, based on the following goals:

 

1. Collect and analyze elicited data in the grammar of adult Cypriot Greek speakers in the UK, US, and Australian diaspora, where the dominant language is English; data collection will be achieved through contacts in our network that currently reside in these areas and/or work with these communities. 

2. Provide a direct comparison between the three communities with respect to a variety of grammatical properties to provide a more detailed description of heritage Cypriot Greek grammar; by comparing findings from a series of experimental tasks, we aim to discuss (a) differences between the three communities with respect to their performance and (b) differences in speaker performance between different structures that relate to different components of grammar. 

3. Contribute with theoretical implications and empirical findings to the field of heritage language research; we will achieve our third goal with our participation in conferences and publication of the findings of the series of experiments we will conduct as well as a final project conference to be organized in Cyprus. 

 

Methodology

Measured observation and empirical experimentation relying on either web-based or in-person data collection have been the main methodology in language acquisition and heritage linguistics studies like this one. With a control group of 45 adult speakers in Cyprus, and three groups of 15 Cypriot Greek speakers each in London (UK), Chicago (USA), and Adelaide (Australia) as the target groups, we aim for a satisfactory sample to provide the results needed. With the CHaRM research project, we endeavour to show a direct relationship between formal linguistic theory and heritage bilingualism through the study of morphosyntactic characteristics at the interface levels. The overarching aim shall be of mutual benefit to both subfields and contribute to understanding heritage language use and maintenance. 

 

Outcomes

The proposed CHaRM research project will firstly provide the data for a novel, direct comparison of the grammars of three heritage populations with Cypriot Greek as the heritage language and (at least) English as their L1/ dominant language. It will thus contribute to the study of heritage linguistics within the larger area of bi-/multilingualism by identifying the relevant structures and grammatical variables affected by heritage language acquisition and use—or resilient to any observed changes. CHaRM will also address sociolinguistic variables in the development of heritage grammar in these populations, following up on the research team’s recent research projects (the internal GoL and the nationally funded LaVA postdoctoral projects, both directed by the PI), offering new insights into the interdisciplinary work between the fields of generative grammar, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics.

 

References

Andriani, L., D'Alessandro, R., Frasson, A., van Osch, B., Sorgini, L., & Terenghi, S. (2022). Adding the micro-dimension to the study of language change in contact: Three case studies. Glossa, 7(1).

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

Domínguez, L. (2009). Charting the route of bilingual development: Contributions from heritage speakers’ early acquisition. International Journal of Bilingualism, 13(2), 271–287.

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.​​​