Age and input effects in the acquisition of mood in Heritage Portuguese

Abstract

The present study analyses the effect of age and amount of input in the acquisition of European Portuguese as a heritage language. An elicited production task centred on mood choice in complement clauses was applied to a group of 50 bilingual children (6–16-year-olds), who are acquiring Portuguese as a minority language in a German dominant environment. The results show a significant effect of the age at testing and the amount of input in the acquisition of the subjunctive. In general, acquisition is delayed with respect to monolinguals, even though higher convergence with the monolingual grammar is observed after 12 years of age. Results also reveal that children with more exposure to the heritage language at home show faster acquisition than children from mixed households: the 8–9 year old age boundary seems relevant for those speakers with more exposure and the 12–13 year old age boundary for those with less exposure.