Toward a Theory of Heritage Language Acquisition: Spanish in the United States

Andrew Lynch, University of Miami

Abstract

The sociolinguistic realities of English and Spanish, at the national and world levels, have evolved in fundamental ways since the 1960s. Traditional theoretical models of language variation, bilingualism, and language shift in the US must be reconceptualized with the post-2000 context, and Spanish language educators must respond to the contemporary demands of their profession. In this essay, I give thought to the theoretical principles of Spanish heritage language acquisition in the US in the twenty-first century.