Esther Rinke

Scopus Publications

The other side of the coin: Linguistic complexity as a potential cause for selective reinforcement in the heritage language of returnee speakers
Esther Rinke, Aldona Sopata
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 2026
Resumption in clitic left dislocation: An experimental study of Peninsular and Rioplatense Spanish
Carolina A. Gattei, Gabriel Martínez Vera, Esther Rinke
Journal of Linguistics, 2026
This paper investigates the extent to which clitic resumption in clitic left dislocation (CLLD) of accusative and dative objects is compulsory in two varieties of Spanish, namely, Peninsular and Rioplatense Spanish. We report the findings of an acceptability judgment task that compares sentences with dislocated direct and indirect objects with and without resumption. The study is motivated by two observations in cases without dislocation. First, in Peninsular Spanish, clitic doubling with dative objects is optional but doubling of accusative objects is very marginal. Second, in Rioplatense Spanish, doubling of accusatives is available under specific conditions. Although the results confirm that resumption in CLLD structures is strongly preferred across varieties and object types, differences between dative vs. accusative clitics are reflected to some extent in CLLD structures in Peninsular Spanish. Concerning cross-dialectal differences between Peninsular vs. Rioplatense Spanish, we propose an account that relies on the availability of null accusative clitics in Rioplatense in contrast to Peninsular Spanish.
“a branca Schere” or “a tesoura weiβe”? Adjective placement in Portuguese–German code-switching by bilingual children and adolescents
Cristina Flores, Esther Rinke, Jacopo Torregrossa, M. Carmen Parafita Couto
Journal of Child Language, 2026
This study investigates code-switching (CS) within the noun phrase in Portuguese–German bilingual children and adolescents (aged 8–16) in German-speaking Switzerland. Using an elicited imitation task with 49 participants, we examine how linguistic and extralinguistic factors shape CS behaviour. The experiment manipulated matrix language (German vs. Portuguese), insertion type (adjective vs. noun), and adjective position (prenominal vs. postnominal). The results show that CS strategies vary depending on the grammatical properties of the matrix language. In German, prenominal adjective position—regardless of the language of the inserted adjective—was the strongest predictor of repetition accuracy. In Portuguese, the language of the adjective played a central role. We propose the Constraint Integration Model to account for the interaction between matrix-language properties and lexical features. Additionally, older age and more positive attitudes towards German increased the likelihood of producing switched utterances.
Systematic and predictable variation in heritage grammars: The role of complexity, diachronic change, and linguistic ambiguity in the input
Roberta D’Alessandro, Luigi Andriani, Alberto Frasson, Manuela Pinto, Luana Sorgini, et al.
Heritage Languages and Syntactic Theory, 2025
This first chapter presents an overview of the microcontact methodology and what is needed to compare as well as distinguish change in contact from change in diachrony, also known as endogenous change. After an outline of the methodology, the chapter shares findings from the project Microcontact. Language variation and change from the Italian heritage perspective, carried out at Utrecht University between 2017 and 2022. This project focused on various syntactic phenomena, encompassing both purely grammatical aspects and those situated at the intersection of grammar and discourse. In so doing, the chapter highlights the insights into grammatical theory that the microcontact methodology provides. Section 1.4 presents data from several phenomena, in contact and in diachrony: demonstratives, auxiliary selection, differential object marking, subject clitics, and null subjects. Section 1.5 highlights the main theoretical contributions of each of the four case studies. Section 1.6 concludes the chapter.
The relevance of instruction, language exposure and age for heritage children's development of complex morphosyntax: triangulating data from narratives and cloze-tests
Jacopo Torregrossa, Cristina Flores, Esther Rinke
Frontiers in Language Sciences, 2025
For children speaking a heritage language, the onset of schooling may induce a shift in dominance of language exposure from the heritage language to the societal language. This shift may affect the acquisition of morphosyntactic structures in the heritage language, especially of those that, due to their morphosyntactic complexity, tend to be acquired in school age even by monolingual children. The present study investigates the morphosyntactic abilities of 59 children aged 7 to 16 living in Switzerland, speaking European Portuguese as heritage language and German as societal language. Children's morphosyntactic abilities were measured using a written cloze-test and a narration task. By triangulating the results from both tasks, we examined which factors influenced morphosyntactic development in the heritage language, focusing on the role of task type, age, amount of heritage language instruction and variety of heritage language exposure at home, and their interaction with the complexity of the target structures. The results revealed a clear effect of complexity, with more complex structures being produced less accurately, and a task effect, with narratives yielding fewer accurate productions than cloze-tests. Additionally, we found a general effect of age, particularly for less complex structures. Crucially, the amount of years attending heritage language classes emerged as a key factor in the mastery of the most complex structures, whereas the variety of exposure to the heritage language at home showed no significant effect. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of exposure to formal registers of European Portuguese, provided by the heritage language courses in Switzerland, for the consolidation of more complex morphosyntactic abilities.
Indefinite object drop is lexically constrained
Carlos Martínez-García, Esther Rinke, Nelli Kerezova
Glossa, 2025
This paper discusses the lexical constraints regulating the occurrence of indefinite null objects in European Spanish in comparison to European Portuguese. Based on previous research and corpus data, we suggest that the distribution of indefinite null objects is determined by the lexical constraints governing the distribution of object bare nouns. We propose that a predicate’s ability to allow for certain types of bare nouns predicts its capacity to permit corresponding indefinite null objects. Specifically, predicates that allow for object bare plurals and object mass nouns also allow for indefinite null objects referring to these types of bare nouns, while those permitting bare singulars allow for indefinite null objects referring to all types of bare nouns. Conversely, predicates that do not allow for any kind of object bare nouns do also not allow for indefinite null objects. The theoretical advantage of this proposal is that the distribution of indefinite object drop in Spanish is derived from the distribution of object bare nouns, not from a newly posited grammatical mechanism. Additionally, we propose a universal implicational hierarchy wherein languages with fewer restrictions on object bare nouns are more likely to allow for indefinite null objects. Our examination of European Portuguese data shows that EP is more permissive with regard to indefinite null objects and supports this hierarchy account, demonstrating its applicability to crosslinguistic patterns of different types of null objects and object bare nouns.
The impact of change of environment on Polish-German returnees' childhood languages. Effects of attrition and reinforcement on lexical knowledge
Cristina Flores, Aldona Sopata, Esther Rinke
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2025
Are heritage speakers one step ahead in ongoing processes of diachronic change?: Comparing heritage speakers with speakers of two varieties of Portuguese in their comprehension of null object constructions
Esther Rinke, Daniel M. K. Weingärtner, Cristina Flores, Mercedes Martinez Bruera, Andrea Listanti, et al.
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 2025
This study investigates whether heritage speakers of European Portuguese (EP) show a diachronically advanced behaviour in their comprehension of null object constructions. Based on a comprehension experiment, we compared heritage speakers to homeland speakers of EP, on the one hand and homeland speakers of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) on the other, the latter representing a variety in which null objects have diachronically spread. Our results confirm significant differences between EP homeland speakers and the two other groups but not between heritage speakers and BP homeland speakers, indicating an acceleration of diachronic change in the heritage speaker group. In addition, our study confirms that null objects in islands are available to homeland speakers of EP, challenging earlier analyses of null objects in this variety.
Null objects in Polish heritage language acquisition in contact with German
Aldona Sopata, Esther Rinke, Cristina Flores
International Journal of Bilingualism, 2024
Aims and objectives: This study investigates the acquisition of referential expressions for direct objects by child heritage speakers of Polish living in Germany. Our main research questions are how object expression develops in bilingual children and whether their path or pace of acquisition differs from monolingual children. Methodology: We investigate the use of referential expressions in an elicited production task. In all, 39 Polish-German bilingual children participated in the test. Data and analysis: We compare the data of four age groups of bilingual children – 3- to 4-year-olds, 5- to 6-year-olds, 7- to 8-year-olds, and 9- to 10-year-olds – to each other and to monolingual children at the respective ages. For the analysis of participants’ responses, we ran a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) with a multinominal dependent variable. Findings: The results show that child heritage language (HL) speakers of Polish display knowledge of semantic and pragmatic constraints of object realization from early stages on. However, from age 5 and up to age 9 to 10, they still produce high rates of inappropriate null objects and show a deceleration in the development of this knowledge, compared to monolingual children. This protracted development is attributed to reduced input in the HL, mainly due to the enrolment in the majority language school. Originality: This study is the first to investigate the development of referential expressions for direct objects in child heritage speakers of Polish in the age span 3 to 10 years. Significance: The study relates the higher rates of null objects in the bilingual production to the varying degrees of exposure to the HL during language development. Deceleration in the pace of object acquisition by the HL speakers at the age of 5 to 6 years is attributed to a prolonged stage of acquisition of integrating rules of syntactic and pragmatic knowledge.
OVERT PRONOUNS ARE CHALLENGING: SUBJECT REALIZATION IN WRITTEN NARRATIVES OF PORTUGUESE-FRENCH BILINGUAL SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN
Cristina Flores, Esther Rinke
Romanica Cracoviensia, 2024
This paper examines the use of referential expressions in the subject position in European Portuguese (EP) in a corpus of narratives written by two groups of Portuguese-speaking school-age children: monolingually-raised children living in Portugal and bilingual French-Portuguese children living in Switzerland. We focus on the children’s choice of null and overt subjects, considering both the syntactic context (inter- and intrasentential) and the pragmatic context (topic continuity and topic shift). Additionally, we explore potential age and proficiency effects within the group of bilinguals. Results show an overuse of overt pronouns in intersentential topic continuity contexts in the narratives of the bilingual children, modulated by proficiency and age. This confirms that potential changes to heritage language grammars in EP may affect, in particular, the use of overt subject pronouns. The overuse of strong pronouns reflects that their acquisition is challenging for monolingual and for bilingual children alike, probably due to the complexity and variability of overt subject pronouns in the adult grammar.
An experimental study on the loss of VS order in monolingual and bilingual speakers of Brazilian Portuguese
Esther Rinke, Cristina Flores, Priscila Oliveira, Liliana Correia
Probus, 2024
How unique is the linguistic situation of endangered language speakers?
Aldona Sopata, Esther Rinke, Cristina Flores
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 2023
What modulates the acquisition of difficult structures in a heritage language? A study on Portuguese in contact with French, German and Italian
Jacopo Torregrossa, Cristina Flores, Esther Rinke
Bilingualism, 2023
Diachronic change and variation in use: Judgments of clitic doubling in Peninsular vs. Rioplatense Spanish
Esther Rinke, Sol Lago, Carolina Andrea Gattei
Isogloss, 2023
Pinning down the interaction between animacy and syntactic function in the interpretation of German and Italian personal and demonstrative pronouns
Markus Bader, Jacopo Torregrossa, Esther Rinke
Discourse Processes, 2023
To hón ich imma insistieat Syntactic stability in heritage Hunsrückisch German spoken in Brazil
Cristina Flores, Esther Rinke, Claudia Wagner
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 2022
Multiple perspectives on the bilingual competence of Portuguese-descendant children living in Switzerland: Linguistics in dialogue with didactics
Cristina Flores, Maria Lurdes Gonçalves, Esther Rinke, Jacopo Torregrossa
Revista Portuguesa De Educacao, 2022
Language separation and stable syntactic knowledge: verbs and verb phrases in bilingual children’s narratives
Cristina Flores, Esther Rinke, Jacopo Torregrossa, Daniel Weingärtner
Journal of Portuguese Linguistics, 2022
Portuguese as heritage language in germany—a linguistic perspective
Esther Rinke, Cristina Flores
Languages, 2021
Dialectal Variation in European Portuguese Central Vowel Perception
Valerie Horn, Esther Rinke, Cristina Flores
Journal of Portuguese Linguistics, 2020
The relevance of language-internal variation in predicting heritage language grammars
Cristina Flores, Esther Rinke
Bilingualism, 2020
Possessive modifiers in serbian: Coreference with clitics and strong pronouns
Sanja Srdanović, Esther Rinke
Journal of Slavic Linguistics, 2020
Acquiring the distribution of null and overt direct objects in European Portuguese
Cristina Flores, Esther Rinke, Aldona Sopata
Journal of Portuguese Linguistics, 2020
Heritage Portuguese and heritage polish in contact with german: More evidence on the production of objects
Esther Rinke, Cristina Flores, Aldona Sopata
Languages, 2019
Another look at the interpretation of overt and null pronominal subjects in bilingual language acquisition: Heritage Portuguese in contact with German and Spanish
Esther Rinke, Cristina Flores
Glossa, 2019
Editorial: Bilingual language development: The role of dominance
Cornelia Hamann, Esther Rinke, Dobrinka Genevska-Hanke
Frontiers in Psychology, 2019
Clitic doubling in Peninsular and Rioplatense Spanish: a comparative corpus investigation
Esther Rinke, Martin Elsig, Judith Wieprecht
Isogloss, 2019
Null objects in the spontaneous speech of monolingual and bilingual speakers of European Portuguese
Esther Rinke, Cristina Flores, Pilar Barbosa
Probus, 2018
The role of the interfaces in syntactic change
Manual of Grammatical Interfaces in Romance, 2016
Designing a long lasting linguistic project: The case study of ASIt
Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation Lrec 2016, 2016
Morphosyntactic knowledge of clitics by Portuguese heritage bilinguals
ESTHER RINKE, CRISTINA FLORES
Bilingualism, 2014
Language acquisition and change: A morphosyntactic perspective
Language Acquisition and Change A Morphosyntactic Perspective, 2013
The diachronic development of article-possessor complementarity in the history of Italian and Portuguese
Linguistic Universals and Language Variation, 2011
On the licensing of null subjects in Old French
Esther Rinke
Syntactic Structures and Morphological Information, 2011
The combination of defi nite article and possessive pronoun in the history of Portuguese
Estudos De Linguistica Galega, 2010
Quantitative evidence and diachronic syntax
Esther Rinke, Martin Elsig
Lingua, 2010
Introduction
Gisella Ferraresi, Esther Rinke
Stuf Language Typology and Universals, 2010
Information Packaging and the Rise of Clitic Doubling in the History of Spanish
Christoph Gabriel, Esther Rinke
Diachronic Studies on Information Structure Language Acquisition and Change, 2010
Introduction
Gisella Ferraresi, Esther Rinke
Stuf Language Typology and Universals, 2009

Esther Rinke

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Scopus Publications