Dual returnees: discordant harmonious bilingualism

Brennan, Jay Thomas

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125544 Copy

Description

Title

Dual returnees: discordant harmonious bilingualism

Author(s)

Brennan, Jay Thomas

Issue Date

2024-06-28

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Ionin, Tania

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

• Ionin, Tania
• Dressman, Mark A

Committee Member(s)

• McCarthey, Sarah J
• Montrul, Silvina
• Hirakawa, Makiko

Department of Study

Curriculum and Instruction

Discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Dual-returnee
• bilingual first language acquisition
• middle childhood
• returnee
• interdependent language development
• cumulative advantage
• cumulative input
• heritage speaker
• heritage languages
• Japanese
• English
• language dominance
• harmonious bilingualism
• Frog Stories
• lexical development
• input
• expressive vocabulary
• receptive vocabulary
• sojourn
• language experience

Abstract

The main research question of this study was twofold. First, to what degree do temporary changes/shifts in linguistic input impact the proficiency of the English-Japanese bilingual dual returnee participants? Second, how do temporary changes/shifts in linguistic input affect the language dominance of English-Japanese dual-returnees? The methods used to measure proficiency and language dominance in Japanese and English relied on language experience profiles, standardized lexical tests, and proficiency measures of frog story narrations. Lexical knowledge data were gathered longitudinally from 2019-2023, surrounding both short-term sojourns to Japan while living in the U.S. from 2019-2020 and after a permanent return to Japan from January 2021. Additionally, language proficiency was assessed in both languages surrounding two sojourns to Japan in 2018 and 2019. These data directly compared language proficiency in response to ca. 60-day sojourns to Japan in both English and Japanese. The prevailing results suggested variability. However, the variability was unpredictable and did not show patterns strictly in response to sojourns. Although the participants experienced heavily reduced Japanese input with current input patterns favoring English at a ratio of 80:20 the minority language consistently maintained proficiency and appeared to develop under reduced input. Language dominance seemed unclear, suggesting language parity. These results came from a unique type of bilingual, dubbed dual-returnees, who had by the end of the study experienced four returns relocating between Japan and the U.S. Each return resulted in two four-year periods in childhood foregrounding both English and Japanese. This meant that their cumulative language exposure remained chiefly symmetric. Crucially, each period terminated with high proficiency in either language ahead of the onset of a return. Due to high proficiency in the Japanese language preceding the return under investigation the participants maintained Japanese in middle childhood by way of 60-day sojourns to Japan and roughly 15% continuous input in the home. This suggests reduced input of ca. 20% can maintain a minority language that was highly proficient preceding heritage language reversal by way of minority language prioritization. This study provides a view into middle childhood bilingual development while shifting between monolingual majority societal environments. The results suggest that by maintaining high levels of minority language proficiency ahead of an anticipated return minority language loss was mitigated and supported minority language maintenance and acquisition by way of minority language prioritization. The participants are extraordinary among returnee studies because they have had continuous minority language input and possessed high proficiency in their minority language preceding each of their returns. By the end of the present study the participants had experienced two periods when English was the majority language and two periods when Japanese was their majority language and had maintained high proficiency in their two first languages into adolescence under shifting language environments where a return typically resulted in a reversal of input patterns in favor of the majority language 80:20. The dual-returnee is remarkable due to concurrent inversions of complementarity of language domains due to multiple returns. This study provides evidence that reduced input in supportive language environments can lead to age-appropriate proficiency under heavily reduced input patterns.

Graduation Semester

2024-08

Type of Resource

Thesis

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125544

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2024 Jay Brennan

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