scholarly journals Syntactic L1-Attrition and Re-Exposure

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Cairncross ◽  
Magreet Vogelzang ◽  
Ianthi Tsimpli
Keyword(s):  
L1 Attrition

scholarly journals What is the source of L1 attrition? The effect of recent L1 re-exposure on Spanish speakers under L1 attrition

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 520-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
GLORIA CHAMORRO ◽  
ANTONELLA SORACE ◽  
PATRICK STURT
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Tracking Data ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Knowledge Representations ◽  
Permanent Change ◽  
L1 Attrition ◽  
Interface Structures

The recent hypothesis that L1 attrition affects the ability to process interface structures but not knowledge representations (Sorace, 2011) is tested by investigating the effects of recent L1 re-exposure on antecedent preferences for Spanish pronominal subjects, using offline judgements and online eye-tracking measures. Participants included a group of native Spanish speakers experiencing L1 attrition (‘attriters’), a second group of attriters exposed exclusively to Spanish before they were tested (‘re-exposed’), and a control group of Spanish monolinguals. The judgement data shows no significant differences between the groups. Moreover, the monolingual and re-exposed groups are not significantly different from each other in the eye-tracking data. The results of this novel manipulation indicate that attrition effects decrease due to L1 re-exposure, and that bilinguals are sensitive to input changes. Taken together, the findings suggest that attrition affects online sensitivity with interface structures rather than causing a permanent change in speakers’ L1 knowledge representations.

Korean adoptees in Sweden: Have they lost their first language completely?

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 773-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
HYEON-SOOK PARK
Keyword(s):  
First Language ◽  
Phonetic Perception ◽  
Korean Adoptees ◽  
L1 Attrition ◽  
Better Than

ABSTRACTTwo current issues in research on first language (L1) attrition among adoptees are explored: whether adoptees have lost their L1 completely and whether relearning can help them recover their L1 if it is not completely lost. These issues are investigated by examining whether Swedish monolingual Korean adoptees’ preexisting knowledge of L1 Korean has an impact on their relearning of Korean as adults. The results suggest that Korean adoptees’ early L1 experience has left traces of the language and that these traces can have an effect on their phonetic perception when relearning the language. The finding that reexposed adoptees performed better than native Swedish learners indicates that the greatest impact on retrieving L1 knowledge comes from relearning. Given the lack of the statistically significant findings, the results demonstrate possibilities but remain open to discussion.

L1 attrition and L2 acquisition

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 248-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Conny Opitz
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Host Community ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Verbal Fluency Task ◽  
L1 Attrition ◽  
Global Language ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Fluency Task

L1 attrition is increasingly being studied as a feature of bilingualism, taking into account the parallel process of L2 language acquisition in a migrant situation. Such situations may foster L1 attrition as a result of insufficient L1 input and competition or interaction with the language of the host community. In a study of 27 German late bilinguals resident in Ireland, the question of a possible interaction between the two language systems (German and English) is addressed. This paper reports on the results of two of the elicitation instruments used – a C-test as a measure of global language proficiency, and a verbal fluency task as a measure of lexical retrieval and bilingual dominance. The former is an unspeeded integrative task, while the latter taps lexical access as a function of the relative activation levels of the languages. The analysis focuses on the proficiency profiles of the bilingual participants vis-à-vis a German and an Irish control group to establish the level of L1 attrition and L2 acquisition, and the degree with which L1 and L2 proficiency correlate.

“I Don’t Fit in Here and I Don’t Fit in There:” Understanding the Connections between L1 Attrition and Feelings of Identity in 1.5 Generation Russian Australians

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatrice Venturin
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
First Language ◽  
Language And Identity ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
1.5 Generation ◽  
L1 Attrition ◽  
Identity Perception ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
The Relationship

The present study analyzes four adult Russian-Australian 1.5ers, heritage bilinguals whose first language is Russian, and who immigrated to Australia or New Zealand during their primary school years. Semi-structured interviews conducted with the case-study participants examined their attitudes toward their Russian, their L1, and English, their L2. The interviews explored the participants’ schooling history, language use, perceived language proficiency, dominance and use, perceived L1 attrition, and feelings about their identity. The aim of the study was to understand the connections between language, particularly L1 attrition, and identity for this cohort of 1.5 generation speakers, as well as factors that may influence their identity perception. The results emerging from the study’s data reconfirm the role played by language in identity construction. At the same time, they suggest that for 1.5ers the relationship between language and identity also needs to be considered in relation to L1 attrition. This factor, in fact, might contribute to identity conflicts and trigger the desire to return to one’s roots.

A Complex Dynamic Systems Perspective on Personal Background Variables in L1 Attrition

2019 ◽  
pp. 48-60
Author(s):  
Conny Opitz
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Dynamic Systems ◽  
First Language ◽  
Dynamic Systems Theory ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
Complex Dynamic Systems ◽  
L1 Attrition ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Analytical Approaches

This chapter discusses the methodological challenges associated with studying personal background variables in first language (L1) attrition from the perspective of Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST). It starts with a review of extant research which, despite concerted efforts to design rigorous, comparable studies, to date has not turned up strong, unambiguous predictors for L1 attrition. I argue that this failure lies in the nature of language as a complex dynamic system, and consequently in the properties of variables, their interaction, and varying contribution to the process and outcome of L1 attrition, and indeed to L1 and L2 (second language) acquisition in the larger context of multilingual development. CDST provides a challenge not just for common empirical and analytical approaches to attrition, but for the very notion of ‘predictor’. The chapter concludes by discussing some ways in which the current stalemate may be overcome.

Language Loss and Language Learning in Internationally Adopted Children

2019 ◽  
pp. 469-480
Author(s):  
Lara J. Pierce ◽  
Fred Genesee ◽  
Denise Klein
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Adopted Children ◽  
Language Attrition ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
L1 Attrition ◽  
Internationally Adopted Children ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Internationally Adopted

Internationally adopted (IA) children begin acquiring one language from birth (L1), but typically discontinue it in favour of their adoption language (L2). Language attrition occurs quickly with IA children unable to speak/understand their L1 within months of adoption. However, as adults IA test participants show certain advantages in this language compared to monolingual speakers never exposed to it, suggesting that certain elements of the L1 may be retained. Neuroimaging studies have found that IA participants exhibit brain activation patterns reflecting the retention of L1 representations and their influence on L2 processing. This chapter reviews research on L1 attrition in IA children, discussing whether/how elements of the L1 may be retained. It discusses how L1 attrition versus retention might influence subsequent language processing in the L1 and L2. Implications of language attrition versus retention patterns observed in IA participants for neuroplasticity and language acquisition are also discussed beyond this specific group.

Age Effects in Language Attrition

2019 ◽  
pp. 276-287
Author(s):  
Emanuel Bylund
Keyword(s):  
First Language ◽  
Age Effects ◽  
Cognitive Factors ◽  
Language Attrition ◽  
L1 Attrition ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

The present chapter discusses age effects in first language (L1) attrition. In particular, focus is placed on the age-related decline in attrition susceptibility, the extent to which age effects be counterbalanced by other factors, and the underlying mechanisms of age effects. In view of extant evidence, it is suggested that the change in heightened attrition susceptibility occurs at around 12 years of age (or puberty) (though this by no means implies that attrition does not occur past puberty). Relatedly, it is suggests that socio-psychological and cognitive factors have greater compensatory potential for prepubescent than postpubescent attriters. As to the underlying mechanisms of age effects, the impediment account, the psychosocial account, and the maturational account are discussed. It is suggested that out of these, the maturational account has the greatest explanatory potential. The chapter concludes with a number of testable principles of age effects on L1 attrition.

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