Mechanisms of First Language Forgetting.

The present research explored the processes and mechanisms of first language forgetting from linguistic and psychological perspectives. Two studies, one---a case study, another---a controlled experimental study, yielded evidence on L1 loss. The case study involved a 9 year old Russian girl who was adopted by an American family, brought to the US and completely taken out of a Russian-speaking environment. Over the course of one year, changes in L1 morphology, syntax, and vocabulary were investigated using various tasks, e.g. picture description, picture naming, story telling. Data on L1 retention, L2 acquisition, and reaction time were gathered. The results of the study suggested that L2 transfer may cause certain morphological and syntactic errors. However, the major findings in this study involved vocabulary, where three groups of words showed high vulnerability to loss, i.e. cognates, non-distinguished categories (pairs of words lexically distinguished in L2 and non-distinguished in L1), and high-frequency words. Fast loss of these lexical items was related to the acquisition of their equivalents in L2. Thus, this semantic overlap between L1 and L2 labels may cause L1 forgetting. The experimental study further investigated semantic overlap by comparing the performance of the experimental group who learned lexical labels in two languages for the same concepts and the control group who learned lexical labels for non-overlapping concepts. The number of L1 learning trials remained the same, while the number of L2 trials varied across groups. Reaction time was precisely measured in this study. The results of this study confirmed the hypothesis of semantic overlap as a cause of L1 loss: that is, experimental participants showed more forgetting than control participants, particularly with a high number of L2 trials. Thus, both studies converged on the conclusions that L1 loss is determined by L2 interference, and that semantic overlap is a mechanism of L1 loss and is noticeable with high amounts of L2 learning. The findings of this research may have implications for studies on L1 loss, L2 acquisition, and psychological studies on retroactive interference

Neurolinguistic aspects of attrition

International audienceThe aim of this paper is to provide the reader with a general overview of the field of attrition. Having situated this relatively new research domain with respect to related fields and approaches, a brief summary of the most important research questions and preliminary findings is given. The discussion then focuses on two issues that are of particular interest with respect to neurolinguistics: the role of the subject's age and of the influence of L2. Concerning the former, a summary of research on the critical period hypothesis is given and discussed in the light of findings from attrition research. Another issue concerns the principal mechanisms involved in L1 attrition, i.e. whether attrition occurs because of lack of L1 use or because of its replacement by the competing L2 structures. Research issues of such scope need integrative approaches and greatly benefit from comparisons with related fields such as normal aging, acquisition and aphasia

First Language Attrition as a Function of Age at Onset of Bilingualism: First Language Attainment of Turkish–English Bilinguals in the United Kingdom

This investigation aimed to provide insights into the controversial debate on the role that age at onset of bilingualism plays in human language capacity with a focus on what it entails for first language (L1) attrition. L1 performance of Turkish immigrants (n = 57) in the United Kingdom with age at onset ranging between 7 and 34 years was compared to that of Turkish monolingual controls (n = 29) across two linguistic properties: structural complexity and accent. Findings generally showed that although the immigrants achieved nativelike proficiency with respect to the overall structural complexity of their L1, this was not the case for accent as those with an earlier age of onset were less likely to sound like native Turkish speakers. We discuss these findings in relation to two competing theoretical models of age effects and suggest that attrition data need to be better accommodated within these models. Open Practices: This article has been awarded an Open Materials badge. All materials are publicly accessible via the IRIS Repository at https://www.iris-database.org. Learn more about the Open Practices badges from the Center for Open Science: https://osf.io/tvyxz/wiki

Multidisciplinary approaches to code switching/ Edit.: Ludmila Isurin; Donald Winford; Kees de Bot

vi, 366 p.: tab.; 27 cm

Mershon Faculty 2018-19 Ludmila Isurin

Home Department: Slavic and East European Languages and Culture