Language, Interaction and Acquisition - Volume 2, Issue 2, 2011

Cet article présente un aperçu de plusieurs questions que se pose actuellement la recherche sur l’attrition. Dans la première section, nous nous intéresserons à des questions de terminologie et soulignerons la nécessité de distinguer l’attrition — en tant que phénomène individuel — des processus de changement linguistique collectifs, comme le glissement ou la mort d’une langue. Nous aborderons ensuite la question de l’influence de l’âge du début du processus, en opposant l’attrition à l’acquisition incomplète, d’une part, et aux effets du bilinguisme « normal », d’autre part. Nous traiterons ensuite des aspects neuropsycholinguistiques du processus d’attrition. L’hypothèse avancée est que les phénomènes linguistiques observés dans l’attrition ne peuvent pas être attribués à une érosion de la compétence linguistique sous-jacente, mais qu’ils s’expliquent de façon plus convaincante par l’activation et l’inhibition des connaissances linguistiques, comme le montrent notamment les difficultés observées dans l’accès lexical ou lors de dysfluences dans le discours spontané.

This paper compares results of two studies examining L2 English and L2 Dutch-induced syntactic changes that occur in L1 Turkish grammars of speakers living in North America and in the Netherlands, respectively. We examine potential restructuring in the L1 knowledge of binding properties of overt and null subject pronouns in first and second generation immigrants. The results of the L2 Dutch-speaking groups in the Netherlands are found to be similar to those of the L2 English-speaking group in North America, as reported in Gürel (2002), in the sense that all bilingual groups diverge, to some extent, from monolinguals in their judgments of pronoun binding. In line with our predictions, findings suggest that L2 English and L2 Dutch can influence L1 Turkish syntactic judgments in a similar fashion and that an L2 can induce inter- as well as intra-generational L1 change.

This study investigates potential changes or simplifications in the L1 grammar of late Turkish-Dutch bilinguals in a migrant setting and examines the non-linguistic factors that might have played a role in this process. In our analyses, the bilingual group’s production of embedded sentences in spontaneous speech was compared to that of a monolingual reference group. Based on previous frameworks, complex embeddings were ranked according to their morphological complexity, and it was investigated to what extent a change in preferential patterns (if any) could be explained by linguistic and socio-cultural preferences and demographic characteristics of the bilingual group. Statistical analyses revealed a slight tendency to underuse the most complex types of embeddings by the bilingual group, while their performance did not differ from the monolingual group for any of the other embedding types. Where a difference in performance was observed, the level of education turned out to be the only parameter that influenced the outcome, while language use patterns, age of immigration, length of residence or cultural orientations did not have any impact.

This case study illustrates the long-term effects of interrupted input and subsequent re-exposure to the first language in childhood in the adult linguistic competence of an internationally adopted individual. Alicia — the subject of the case study — is a 34-year-old Guatemalan adopted by an American family at age 9 and raised in a small Mid-America town with no Hispanic population at that time. In several sessions, Alicia completed oral production and written tasks (including interpretation, judgment and truth value judgment tasks) targeting knowledge and use of Spanish morphosyntax. On the overall proficiency measures, Alicia demonstrates native-like knowledge of English and significant attrition in Spanish, although not to the extent reported in recent studies of Korean adoptees. Alicia’s degree of L1 attrition and retention after several years of severed input challenges Pallier et al. (2003) and Ventureyra et al.’s (2004) Language Replacement and Impediment Hypothesis, and is more consistent with the view that there are age effects for L1 attrition (Hyltenstam et al. 2009; Montrul 2008).

This study investigates the vulnerability of mature native grammars at the interfaces in adult Spanish speakers who have been residing in the US for a mean period of five years but continue to use their L1 on a daily basis. Participants were tested on production and comprehension of subject-verb inversion on two wh-constructions: matrix questions and relative clauses. The crucial distinction between inversion in these two types of constructions is that in relative clauses it is regulated by extra-syntactic conditions such as pragmatic and/or phonological considerations, while inversion in matrix questions is syntactically obligatory. Results showed that pragmatic/phonological inversion is affected by language attrition in the bilingual speakers, whereas purely syntactic inversion remains intact. However, no optionality was found in the comprehension task and no differences in reaction times were attested between monolingual and bilingual speakers.