A Linguistic Analysis of the Bilingual Writing (Spanish-English) of Speakers of Spanish as a Heritage Language in the United States

Traditionally, Spanish heritage speakers (HELH) in the US learn Spanish at home & in their community. However, very few of them receive formal instruction in Spanish (ie., reading & writing). As a consequence, their written expression in both Spanish & English displays very relevant characteristics. The present study analyses the argumentative/persuasive essays of university-level students: Spanish heritage speakers (HELH), Spanish second language learners (EESL) who are English native speakers, & Spanish native speakers from Mexico (HNE). Our linguistic & statistical analysis suggests that there are very noteworthy differences in the way in which these three groups incorporate the diverse linguistic variables examined in this study when composing Spanish or English essays. This study also demonstrates that bilingual Spanish-heritage writing discourse has particular linguistic characteristics that make its written expression not only unique but also of great interest for both teaching & research. Adapted from the source document