Lexical gap-filling strategies in heritage speakers of Russian in Finland

Abstract

Heritage speakers (HSs) often receive limited input in the heritage language (HL), leading to vocabulary deficiencies (Polinsky & Kagan 2007). In this presentation, we explore the linguistic creativity of HSs and the compensatory strategies they use in situations where they can not find the right word due to their inadequate knowledge of Russian or due to their inability to activate it in time. Our findings reveal that HSs employ various strategies when faced with lexical challenges. They often substitute one word for another or use an explanatory strategy to convey the word's meaning. Occasionally, they create innovations by combining a root from the dominant language with Russian affixes. The children also demonstrate a borrowing strategy, utilizing words from both languages for lexical gap-filling. 16 compensatory strategies are further explored, providing insights into the dynamic and creative nature of language acquisition and development in multilingual environments.