Detecting paths of change in the heritage context

Abstract This study examines path encoding in motion event expression in Cantonese spoken in Toronto and Hong Kong using a comparative variationist methodology informed by motion event typology. It investigates the linguistic and social factors relevant to variation in directional self-motion event expression in Cantonese as spoken by two generations of speakers in Toronto and homeland speakers in Hong Kong. All relevant examples of self-motion event descriptions found in the spontaneous speech of 23 speakers in sociolinguistic interviews from the Heritage Language Documentation Corpus are compared intergenerationally and diatopically. The results suggest stable variation in Hong Kong but change in Toronto. Changes in Toronto are best explained as language-internal change following universal principles rather than simplification or contact with English. This study contributes to literature on the effect of language contact on motion event expression in multilinguals, while also highlighting the importance of considering first-generation immigrants as the baseline for second-generation speakers in addition to homeland speakers.