Article published in:
ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 166:2 (2015) ► pp. 229–253

First language attrition without second language acquisition

An exploratory study

| University of Haifa
We investigate whether Russian immigrants in Israel with little or no knowledge of Hebrew (L2) experience attrition of Russian (L1). We compared immigrants with no knowledge of Hebrew (−Hebrew), immigrants who knew Hebrew (+Hebrew), and monolingual controls on correctness judgment of collocations and of complex grammatical constructions. On collocations, the −Hebrew immigrants performed similarly to the +Hebrew immigrants. On grammatical constructions, they performed worse. Results of grammatical constructions correlated positively with Hebrew proficiency and usage. We conclude that immigrants with no L2 knowledge can experience just as much, or even more, attrition of L1 as immigrants with L2 knowledge. Moreover, higher L2 proficiency may positively affect L1 maintenance.
Keywords: Russian, “second-hand” attrition, Israel, Hebrew, L1 attrition, attrition without acquisition
Published online: 21 January 2016
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.166.2.02lau
References
Altenberg, E.P., & Vago, R.M
(2004) The role of grammaticality judgments in investigating first language attrition: A cross-disciplinary perspective. In M.S. Schmid, B. Köpke, M. Keijzer, & L. Weilemar (Eds.), First language attrition: Interdisciplinary perspectives on methodology issues (pp. 105–129). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ammerlaan, T
(1996) “You get a bit wobbly…” – Exploring bilingual lexical retrieval processes in the context of first language attrition. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands.Google Scholar
Ammar, A., & Lightbown, P.M
(2005) Teaching marked linguistics structures – more about the acquisition of relative clauses by Arab learners of English. In A. Housen & M. Pierrard (Eds), Investigations in instructed second language acquisition (pp. 167–198). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Auty R
(1981) The Russian language. In R. Auty, D. Obolensky, & A. Kingsford (Eds.) Companion to Russian studies, Volume 2, An introduction to Russian language and literature (pp. 35–37). London: CUP Archive.Google Scholar
Ben-Rafael, M., & Schmid, M.S
(2007) Language attrition and ideology: Two groups of immigrants in Israel. In B. Köpke, M.S. Schmid, M. Keijzer, & S. Dostert (Eds.), Language attrition: Theoretical perspectives (pp. 205–226). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F.I.M., Klein, R., & Viswanathan, M
(2004) Bilingualism, aging, and cognitive control: Evidence from the Simon task. Psychology and Aging, 19(2), 290–303. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bylund, E., Abrahamsson, N., & Hyltenstam, K
(2010) The role of language aptitude in first language attrition: The case of pre-pubescent attriters. Applied Linguistics, 311, 443–464. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2012) Does second language maintenance hamper nativelikeness in a second language? Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 341, 215–241. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, R., & Sais, E
(1995) Accelerated metalinguistic (phonological) awareness in bilingual children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 131, 61–68. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS)
(2014) Tourism and hotel services statistics quarterly. http://​www1​.cbs​.gov​.il​/reader​/?MIval​=cw​_usr​_view​_SHTML​&ID​=432
Chang, C.B
(2010) First language phonetic drift during second language acquisition. Unpublished PhD dissertation. University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Cherciov, M
(2013) Investigating the impact of attitude on first language attrition and second language acquisition from a Dynamic Systems Theory perspective. International Journal of Bilingualism, 171, 716–733. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
De Bot, K
(2001) Language use as an interface between sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic processes in language attrition and language shift. In J. Klatter-Folmer & P. Van Avermaet (Eds.), Theories on maintenance and loss of minority languages. Towards a more integrated explanatory framework (pp. 65–82). Munster: Waxmann.Google Scholar
De Bot, K., Lowie, W., & Verspoor, M
(2007) A Dynamic Systems Theory approach to second language acquisition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 101, 7–21. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
De Leeuw, E., Mennen, I., & Scobbie, J.M
(2013) Dynamic systems, maturational constraints and L1 phonetic attrition. International Journal of Bilingualism, 171, 683–700. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Evans, N
(2009) Dying words: Endangered languages and what they have to tell us. Oxford, UK: Willey-Blackwell. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, Z
(1997) First language attrition in Russian immigrants: Focus on the lexicon. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Bar-Ilan University, Bar-Ilan.Google Scholar
Frenck-Mestre, C
(1993) Use of orthographic redundancies and word identification speed in bilinguals. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 221, 397–410. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gürel, A
(2002) Linguistic characteristics of second-language acquisition and first language attrition. Turkish overt versus null pronouns. Unpublished PhD dissertation. McGill University, Montreal.Google Scholar
(2008) Review article: Research on first language attrition of morphosyntax in adult bilinguals. Second Language Research, 241, 431–449. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Herdina, P., & Jessner, U
(2002) A dynamic model of multilingualism: Perspectives of change in psycholinguistics. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hutz, M
(2004) Is there a natural process of decay? A longitudinal study of language attrition. In M.S. Schmid, B. Köpke, M. Keijzer, & L. Weilemar (Eds.), First language attrition: Interdisciplinary perspectives on methodological issues (pp. 189–206). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jaspaert, K., & Kroon, S
(1992).From the typewriter of A. L.: A case study in language loss. In W. Face, K. Jaspaert, & S. Kroon (Eds.), Maintenance and loss of minority languages (pp. 137–147). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jessner, U
(1999) Metalinguistic awareness in multilinguals: Cognitive aspects of third language learning. Language Awareness, 81, 201–209. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ivanitskaya, E.N
(2013) Русская диалектология [Russian dialectology]. Moscow: Academia.Google Scholar
Kupferberg, I
(1999) The cognitive turn of contrastive analysis: Empirical evidence. Language Awareness, 81, 210–222. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kopeliovich, S
(2009) Reversing language shift in the immigrant family: A case study of a Russian-speaking community in Israel. Berlin: VDM Verlag.Google Scholar
Köpke, B
(2004a) Attrition is not a unitary phenomenon. On different possible outcomes of language contac situations. In A.M.L. Suarez, F. Ramallo, & X-P. Rodiguez-Yanez (Eds.), Bilingual socialization and bilingual language acquisition: Proceedings from the Second International Symposium on Bilingualism (pp.1331–1347). Vigo: Servizo de Publicacions da Universitdade de Vigo.Google Scholar
Köpke, B., & Schmid, M.S
(2004) Language attrition: The next phase. In M.S. Schmid, B. Köpke, M. Keijzer, & L. Weilemar (Eds.), First language attrition: Interdisciplinary perspectives on methodological issues (pp. 1–43). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Laufer, B
(2003) The influence of L2 on L1 collocational knowledge and on L1 Lexical diversity in free written expression. In V.J. Cook (Ed.), Effects of the second language on the first (pp. 19–31). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Laufer, B., & Girsai, N
(2008) Form-focused instruction in second language vocabulary learning: a case for contrastive analysis and translation. Applied Linguistics 291, 694–716. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S
(2008) Incomplete acquisition in bilingualism: Re-examining the age factor. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Opitz, C
(2013) A dynamic perspective on late bilinguals’ linguistics development in an L2 environment. International Journal of Bilingualism, 171, 701–715. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Paradis, M
(2007) L1 attrition features predicted by a neurolinguistic theory of bilingualism. In B. Köpke, M.S. Schmid, M. Keijzer, & S. Dostert (Eds.), Language attrition: Theoretical perspectives (pp. 121–133). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pavlenko, A
(2003) “I feel clumsy speaking Russian”: L2 influence on L1 in narratives of Russian L2 users of English. In V. Cook (Ed.), Effects of the second language on the first (pp. 32–61). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2004) L2 influence and L1 attrition in adult bilingualism. In M.S. Schmid, B. Kopke, M. Keijzer, & L. Weilemar (Eds.), First language attrition: Interdisciplinary perspectives on methodological issues (pp. 48–59). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2010) Verbs of motion in L1 Russian of Russian-English bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 131, 49–62. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pavlenko, A., & Jarvis, S
(2002) Bidirectional transfer. Applied Linguistics, 231, 190–214. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Remennick, L
(2003) From Russian to Hebrew via HebRush: Intergenerational patterns of language use among former Soviet immigrants in Israel. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 241, 431–453. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sharwood Smith, M.A., & Van Buren, P
(1991) First language attrition and the parameter setting model. In H.W. Seliger & R.M. Vago (Eds.), First language attrition (pp. 17–30). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sheen, R
(1996) The advantage of exploiting contrastive analysis in teaching and learning a foreign language. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 241, 183–197.Google Scholar
Schmid, M.S
(2002) First language attrition, use and maintenance. The case of German jews in Anglophone countries. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2011) Language attrition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2012) The impact of age and exposure on forgetting and retention of the birth language in international adoptees: A perspective from Holocaust survivors. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 21, 177–208. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2013) First language attrition. WIREs Cognitive Science, 41, 117–123. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schmid, M.S., & Köpke, B
(2007) Bilingualism and attrition. In B. Köpke, M.S. Schmid, M. Keijzer, & S. Dostert (Eds.), Language attrition: Theoretical perspectives (pp. 1–7). Amsterdam: John Benjamins CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2009) L1 Attrition and the Mental Lexicon. In A. Pavlenko (Ed.), The bilingual mental lexicon: Interdisciplinary approaches (pp. 209–238). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Seliger, H.W., & Vago, R.M
(1991) The study of first language attrition: An overview. In H.W. Seliger & R.M. Vago (Eds.), First language attrition (pp. 3–15). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 4 other publications

Chang, Charles B.
2019. Language change and linguistic inquiry in a world of multicompetence: Sustained phonetic drift and its implications for behavioral linguistic research. Journal of Phonetics 74 ► pp. 96 ff. Crossref logo
Gallo, Federico, Keerthi Ramanujan, Yury Shtyrov & Andriy Myachykov
2021. Attriters and Bilinguals: What’s in a Name?. Frontiers in Psychology 12 Crossref logo
Mirvahedi, Seyed Hadi & Rasoul Jafari
2021. Family language policy in the City of Zanjan: a city for the forlorn Azerbaijani. International Journal of Multilingualism 18:1 ► pp. 1 ff. Crossref logo
Román, Patricia & Irene Gómez-Gómez
2022. Changes in Native Sentence Processing Related to Bilingualism: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in Psychology 13 Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 15 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.