Phonetic patterns of pre-adolescent English speakers' production of Italian as a Heritage Language

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This study examines the sound properties of Italian as a Heritage Language (HL) by pre-adolescent Englishspeakers. The target population are children of Italian families who are born and raised in Newcastle uponTyne. The main aim is to investigate how Age of Onset (AO) of acquisition and exposure to the HL influenceHeritage Speakers' (HS) phonological acquisition of complex (or 'marked') sounds like affricates, e.g. themiddle sound in pizza and initial sound in gioco. Results will inform theories oflanguage maintenance and will allow for evidence-based impact activities with the Italian community in thenorth east.