Series | LiVVaL
Edited book | Heritage Languages and Variation
Chapter | Definiteness in Levantine Arabic Heritage Speakers of English
Definiteness in Levantine Arabic Heritage Speakers of English
How Heritage Language Affects Cognition
Abstract
Definiteness depends on crosslinguistic semantic variables, including count/mass distinction, which correlates with cognitive individuation of discrete entities and attention to shape rather than substance. Count/mass distinction is represented by definiteness markers in English but not in Levantine Arabic (LA). Replicating experiments by Liu and Gleason, Middleton, and Lucy and Gaskins, this study tested grammar of definiteness, cognitive individuation, and attention to shape vs. substance in LA heritage speakers of English (LAHSEs, aged 18‑25). The results show that LA definiteness parameters affect LAHSEs’ cognition but not their grammar of definiteness.
Submitted: July 26, 2023 | Accepted: Nov. 16, 2023 | Published July 18, 2024 | Language: en
Keywords Heritage language • Definiteness • English • Count/mass nouns • Levantine Arabic • Language-to-cognition correlation
Copyright © 2024 Letizia Cerqueglini. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-800-2/003
