Predictors of home heritage language use in Dutch bilingual children
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2025-08-18
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en
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Many bilingual children understand their heritage language (HL) but use it infrequently, favouring the societal language (SL). Few studies have examined predictors of HL use at home, despite its importance for long-term maintenance. This study investigates parental and sibling input, children’s HL proficiency, and language distance across three family language policies (FLPs): HL-speaking, one-parent-one-language (OPOL), and mixed-language families. Data come from 331 Dutch bilingual children representing six HLs, analysed with separate regression models for each FLP. Sibling HL use was the strongest predictor in OPOL and mixed families, while children’s HL proficiency, measured through sentence repetition, showed a consistent but small effect. In mixed families, both parents’ HL input contributed to children’s HL use, with evidence of an additional combined effect. Parents’ SL proficiency had FLP-specific patterns, whereas language distance had no effect. The findings underscore siblings’ central role and highlight how parental effects depend on family language strategy.
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