This article provides a comprehensive synthesis of research on language attrition to date, with a view to establishing a theoretically sound basis for future research in the domain of second language (L2) attrition. We identify the variables that must be tracked in populations who experience language loss, and we develop a general model for the assessment of the processes involved. This critical review suggests that future research in this domain should establish baselines for attainment against which to measure attrition, and that learners must be compared to themselves in longitudinal designs that involve periodic assessment of both linguistic and extralinguistic factors. In the proposed model, populations are defined as sets of variables, which are subject to change following shifts in discrete time periods in the general process of acquisition and attrition. A working model is elaborated for the assessment of L2 attrition and retention, which, we hope, might encourage additional work in this area.

This article presents a generative analysis of the acquisition of formulaic language as an alternative to current usage-based proposals. One influential view of the role of formulaic expressions in second language (L2) development is that they are a bootstrapping mechanism into the L2 grammar; an initial repertoire of constructions allows for statistical induction of abstract grammatical categories, such that formulaic language is the data source from which syntactic rules are derived. This study brings evidence to bear on this debate from three studies of the acquisition of conventional expressions by L2 learners of English. A total of 271 learners and 58 native speakers completed either an oral conversation-simulation task or an aural-written elicited imitation task. The data show that while learners exhibit knowledge of both contextualized use and the lexical core of conventional expressions, production data reflect the morphosyntactic knowledge of learners at particular stages of development. Formulaic language does not drive the acquisition of syntax; rather, the acquisition of syntax as an independent process drives changes in the production of conventional expressions. Their gradual transformations allow for insights not only into the acquisition of syntax, but also into the nature of multi-word expressions in the mental lexicon.

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This chapter asks to what degree syntax and phonology appear to be impervious to second language (L2) attrition and examine the related question of whether there is a critical period for either acquisition or attrition in these domains. Previous research has indicated a critical juncture in development at around 8 to 10 years old, after which target-like L2 acquisition is no longer guaranteed, and before which dramatic reduction in input may lead to apparent global loss of any early-acquired (L1) languages. A comparative review of research in L1 and L2 acquisition and attrition reveals remarkable resilience for aspects of phonology not subject to cross-linguistic influence, but paints a more complicated picture for syntax, which is difficult to investigate independently of lexical retrieval and working memory constraints. The chapter suggests an alternative conceptualization of the critical period in terms of network stabilization of the mental lexicon.

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