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ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 168:2 (2017) ► pp.278–304

The attrition of Turkish as a third language

A preliminary case study investigation

| University of Westminster
| Yeditepe University

This longitudinal study investigates an English-French-Turkish-speaking seven-years-old female child’s repertoire combining two Indo-European languages, English and French, and Turkish, which is an Altaic language. Language attrition has mostly focused on first language (L1) attrition, and to a lesser extent on second language (L2) attrition. Third language (L3) attrition, however, has been mostly overlooked, and more attention has gone to adult language attrition after migration or after institutional language learning. Most research has in addition focused on only a subset of target languages (TL). This paper therefore addresses the attrition of child L3 (Turkish) attrition ‘after remigration’. The findings show selective regression with structurally assigned morphology and confirm the findings of previous studies showing that the younger the informant, the more attrition is likely to occur.

Keywords: Turkish, third language attrition, multilingualism
Article outline
  • The attrition of Turkish as a third language: A preliminary case study investigation
  • 1.Language attrition
  • 2.Explanatory framework
    • 2.1Language attrition research
  • 3.The study
    • 3.1Participant
    • 3.2Instruments
      • Free conversations via Skype
      • Biographical questionnaire
    • 3.3Data collection procedures
    • 3.4Data analysis procedures
  • 4.Findings
    • 4.1Examples of attrited morphology
    • 4.2Examples of attrited vocabulary
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Limitations and future research directions
  • 7.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 30 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.16006.yil
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