Modulation of brain responses while learning words in a minoritized heritage language: An ERP study

Abstract

Abstract This study employed electrophysiological measures to investigate the extent to which early exposure to a minoritized language (Otomi) influences the learning of its written words. Participants were adult heritage speakers who acquired Otomi and Spanish either simultaneously or sequentially during childhood but had never learned to read or write in Otomi. Their neural and behavioral responses were compared to those of Spanish-speaking L2 learners of Otomi. During two training sessions, all participants completed an association task pairing auditory Otomi words with images depicting their meanings and their written forms. In a third session, participants’ brain activity was recorded using event-related potentials (ERPs) during a no-go task that required evaluation of semantic congruency between Otomi written words and preceding images. Heritage speakers responded faster and more accurately than L2 learners. ERP results revealed an N400 effect for semantically incongruent word-image pairs in heritage speakers, but not in L2 learners. The N400 modulation observed in heritage speakers suggests reliance on lexical knowledge of their heritage language during written-word processing, reflecting the influence of early language exposure. These findings provide insight into how linguistic knowledge is maintained among heritage speakers of minoritized languages in contexts of social restriction and limited daily use.