Heritage bilingualism and language processing disparities: Spanish influence on Kaqchikel Mayan word production and sentence structures

Abstract

This study examined the enduring influence of societal Spanish dominance on the indigenous Kaqchikel Mayan heritage language through three experiments with native Kaqchikel speakers. The experiments assessed word production and the processing of transitive and interrogative sentences in both Kaqchikel and Spanish. In Experiment 1, Kaqchikel speakers produced more words in Spanish than in their heritage language, indicating Spanish dominance in lexical access and suggesting a possible shift in language dominance. Given Kaqchikel’s traditional VOS (verb–object–subject) order and Spanish’s predominant SVO (subject–verb–object) order, Experiment 2a showed that in Kaqchikel, SVO sentences were processed with slightly higher accuracy than VOS sentences. In Experiment 2b for Spanish, SVO sentences were processed significantly faster than VOS sentences. Experiment 3 investigated subject (who, SquestVO) and object (whom, OquestVS) questions. In Kaqchikel (Experiment 3a), no significant differences were found in accuracy or reaction time between the two structures. In Spanish (Experiment 3b), SquestVO sentences were processed more accurately and quickly than OquestVS sentences. Overall, Kaqchikel appears to be influenced by Spanish with a general reduction in the VOS advantage and becoming more sensitive to SVO instead. These findings highlight the strong influence of Spanish on language processing among Kaqchikel speakers and reveal clear disparities between the two languages.