Turkish-German heritage speakers’ predictive use of case: webcam-based vs. in-lab eye-tracking

Authors

Onur Özsoy, Leibniz Center for General LinguisticsFollow
Büsra Çiçek, Humboldt-University BerlinFollow
Zeynep Özal, Leibniz Center for General LinguisticsFollow
Natalia Gagarina, Leibniz Center for General LinguisticsFollow
Irina A. Sekerina, CUNY College of Staten IslandFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2023

Abstract

Recently, Özge et al. have argued that Turkish and German monolingual 4-year- old children can interpret case-marking predictively disregarding word order. Heritage speakers (HSs) acquire a heritage language at home and a majority societal language which usually becomes dominant after school enrollment. Our study directly compares two elicitation modes: in-lab and (remote) webcam- based eye-tracking data collection. We test the extent to which in-lab e􀀀ects can be replicated in webcam-based eye-tracking using the exact same design. Previous research indicates that Turkish HSs vary more in the comprehension and production of case-marking compared to monolinguals. Data from 49 participants–22 Turkishmonolinguals and 27 HSs–were analyzed using a binomial generalized linear mixed-e􀀀ects regression model. In the Accusative condition, participants looked for the suitable Agent before it is appeared in speech. In the Nominative condition, participants looked for the suitable Patient before it is appeared in speech. HSs were able to usemorphosyntactic cues on NP1 to predict the thematic role of NP2. This study supports views in which core grammatical features of languages, such as case, remain robust in HSs, in line with the Interface Hypothesis. We were able to replicate the e􀀀ect of the predictive use of case in monolinguals using webcam-based eye-tracking, but the replication with heritage speakers was not successful due to variability in data collection contexts. A by- participant analysis of the results revealed individual variation in that there were some speakers who do not use case-marking predictively in the same way asmost monolinguals and most HSs do. These findings suggest that the predictive use of case in heritage speakers is influenced by di􀀀erent factors, whichmay di􀀀er across individuals and a􀀀ect their language abilities. We argue that HSs should be placed on a native-speaker continuum to explain variability in language outcomes.