Description
Native Speakers, Interrupted explores the phenomenon of differential object marking (DOM) in heritage Spanish, analyzing how this grammatical feature is acquired, maintained, and lost across generations of bilingual speakers in the United States.
Silvina Montrul presents empirical research on heritage language attrition, demonstrating that heritage speakers often show incomplete acquisition or erosion of DOM despite native-like exposure in childhood. The book investigates the cognitive and social factors that influence these patterns, including age of acquisition, exposure duration, and language dominance shifts.
Through comprehensive linguistic analysis and experimental methodology, Montrul challenges traditional assumptions about native speaker competence and language stability. The work contributes significantly to understanding language change, bilingualism, and the mechanisms of grammatical erosion in minority language contexts.
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