Heritage learner pragmatics

Abstract The diversity of heritage language learners and inclusivity of pragmatics usher in a new era of research that explores the unique nature of “heritage learner pragmatics.” This article provides a review of this emerging field, drawing on a thematic analysis of the literature over the past decade. Major findings reveal that a high degree of hybridity underlies heritage learners’ pragmatic competence and performance and that the reasons for this hybridity are complex. The hegemony of the majority language, the assimilative pressure from the host society, the status of the heritage language in the home country, and access to formal education, together with learner factors such as proficiency, attitude, and agency, all appear to have meaningful impacts. We propose that the research of heritage learner pragmatics needs an extension beyond the binary convention of monolingualism and bilingualism to embrace intersectional inquiries that focus on identity, multiculturalism, translanguaging, and social justice for minoritized communities and their languages.