It has been suggested that the parents of heritage speakers (2nd generation immigrants), who are the main source of input to them, may exhibit first-language (L1) attrition in their language, thereby directly transmitting different structural properties or “errors” to the heritage speakers. Given the state of current knowledge of inconsistent input in L1 acquisition, age of acquisition effects in bilingualism, and how long it takes children to master different properties of their native language, it is highly unlikely that immigrant parents are directly transmitting patterns of language attrition to their heritage language children. The argument advanced in this article is that if the patterns evident in heritage speakers and first-generation immigrants are related, reverse transmission may be at play instead, when the heritage speakers might be influencing the language of the parents rather than the other way around. Theoretical and empirical evidence for this proposal may explain the emergence of the variety of Spanish spoken in the United States.

中文翻译：

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代际流失：直接还是反向语言传递？


有人建议，传统语言使用者（第二代移民）的父母是他们的主要输入来源，可能会在他们的语言中表现出第一语言 （L1） 的流失，从而直接将不同的结构特性或“错误”传递给传统语言使用者。考虑到目前对 L1 习得输入不一致的了解状况、双语习得效应的年龄以及儿童掌握母语的不同属性需要多长时间，移民父母极不可能将语言流失模式直接传递给他们的传统语言孩子。本文提出的论点是，如果传统使用者和第一代移民的明显模式是相关的，那么当传统使用者可能影响父母的语言时，反向传播可能反而起作用，而不是相反。这一提议的理论和实证证据可以解释美国出现的各种西班牙语。