User:Cchen310/Passive speaker (language)

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A passive speaker (also referred to as a receptive bilingual or passive bilingual) is a category of speaker who has had enough exposure to a language in childhood to have a native-like comprehension of it, but has little or no active command of it. Such passively fluent individuals are often raised in an environment where the language was spoken but did not become native speakers. This can be due to various factors such as a family-instituted language policy (also referred to as family language policy), where parental or authority figures either explicitly or implicitly plan out language usage within the household around family members in an effort to shape family language practices and dynamics.

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Such speakers are especially common in language shift communities where speakers of a declining language do not acquire active competence. Immigrant communities within the United States of America commonly contain large populations of speakers (examples including Spanish-speaking, Mandarin Chinese-speaking, and other communities) that shift from speaking their native language to English over multiple generations. Around 10% of the Ainu people who speak the language are considered passive speakers. Passive speakers are often targeted in language revival efforts to increase the number of speakers of a language quickly, as they are likely to gain active and near-native speaking skills more quickly than those with no knowledge of the language. They are also found in areas where people grow up hearing another language outside their family with no formal education.