Beyond Exposure: Emotional Attachment in Heritage Language Retention Among Bilingual Families

Author Information

Venera Kildyusheva, Campus CA, Türkiye
Anna Volkova, Moscow City University, Russia

Abstract

Heritage language retention in bilingual children has traditionally been attributed to factors such as exposure, schooling context, and community practices. Emerging interdisciplinary research suggests that emotional attachment also influences children’s language preferences and identity formation (Ghimenton, Cohen, & Minniear, 2023; Vidrine-Isbell, 2017). This study aims to evaluate the role of attachment dynamics in heritage language use among bilingual children from migrant, single-parent households. This research was motivated by the observation of a recurring phenomenon: a bilingual child consistently preferred the heritage language despite full immersion in the dominant societal language. This led to a systematic review of literature on bilingual development, attachment theory, and heritage language maintenance. The review revealed a significant conceptual gap: although family structure is occasionally addressed in heritage language research, single-parent contexts remain largely underexplored. Notably, only one empirical study (Vorobeva, 2021) has examined heritage language transmission in single-parent families without incorporating emotional attachment as an analytical factor. To address this gap, the study presents an exploratory qualitative case analysis of a Russian-Turkish bilingual child raised in Turkey by a single mother. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and attachment-informed projective methods. Findings suggest that the child’s preference for Russian is associated with emotionally significant relationships and repeated person-language associations. Recognizing these dynamics may inform more nuanced approaches to heritage language learning, teaching practices, and educational policy in multilingual contexts.

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• Category: Challenging & Preserving: Culture, Inter/Multiculturalism & Language

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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