heritage language
Family's native speech
A heritage language is a language spoken at home or by one's family that differs from the dominant language of the surrounding community.
The term typically describes the linguistic situation of children raised in immigrant families: She spoke Mandarin as a heritage language but English at school.
Heritage language programs aim to maintain these languages across generations.
Original word forms
- cultural identityBelonging through shared traditions
- ethnicityShared cultural heritage group
- bilingualismProficiency in two languages
- cultural prideAffection for one's heritage
vernacular · dialect · fluency · native speaker · cultural expression · multiculturalism · code-switching
Those from whom one descends
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- traditionCustom passed through generations
- intergenerationalInvolving multiple age groups
- eldersSenior community members
grandparents · oral tradition · storytelling · lullabies · proverbs · folk songs · immersion · Saturday school
linguistic roots
Original word forms
- cultural identityBelonging through shared traditions
- ethnicityShared cultural heritage group
- bilingualismProficiency in two languages
cultural pride · vernacular · dialect · fluency · native speaker · cultural expression · multiculturalism · code-switching
ancestors
Those from whom one descends
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- traditionCustom passed through generations
- intergenerationalInvolving multiple age groups
elders · grandparents · oral tradition · storytelling · lullabies · proverbs · folk songs · immersion · Saturday school · revitalization
- Native educationtribal schools, tribal colleges, boarding schools, day schools, mission schools
- language learningvocabulary lists, lessons, acquisition, basic vocabulary, grammar books
- heritagecultural traditions, museum, archive, monument, landmark
- language educationbilingual, biliteracy, immersion, literacy skills, reading
- Multilingualismbilingualism, code-switching, polyglot, lingua franca, immersion
- Asian diasporaVietnamese Americans, Japanese Americans, Filipino Americans, Korean community, ethnic enclaves
heritage languagedominant language
Most widely used tongue
national language · official language · lingua franca · colonial language · standard language
heritage languagetrade language
Simplified speech between groups
auxiliary language · artificial language · Esperanto · pidgin
language, tongue, heritage, inheritance, inherited, hereditary, inheritor, inheriting, inherits