Age Effects in First Language Attrition: Speech Perception by Korean‐English Bilinguals

Abstract

This study investigated how bilinguals’ perception of their first language (L1) differs according to age of reduced contact with L1 after immersion in a second language (L2). Twenty‐one L1 Korean‐L2 English bilinguals in the United States, ranging in age of reduced contact from 3 to 15 years, and 17 control participants in Korea were tested perceptually on three L1 contrasts differing in similarity to L2 contrasts. Compared to control participants, bilinguals were less accurate on L1‐specific contrasts, and their accuracy was significantly correlated with age of reduced contact, an effect most pronounced for the contrast most dissimilar to L2. These findings suggest that the earlier bilinguals are extensively exposed to L2, the less likely they are to perceive L1 sounds accurately. However, this relationship is modulated by crosslinguistic similarity, and a turning point in L2 acquisition and L1 attrition of phonology appears to occur at around age 12. Open Practices This article has been awarded Open Materials and Open Data badges. All materials and data are publicly accessible via the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/B2478 and at https://osf.io/G4C7Z. Learn more about the Open Practices badges from the Center for Open Science: https://osf.io/tvyxz/wiki.

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

“…Unlike what Gürel's study revealed, a recent study investigating the role of age at onset in a group of Korean–English pre‐ and postpuberty learners showed that prepuberty learners with ages at onset up to 12 years failed to perceive L1‐specific phonemic contrasts, but they did not have problems with the contrasts that are similar to the L2 sounds (Ahn et al., ). Therefore, it appears that even phonological competence might be subject to a selective process determined by age at onset of bilingualism, but how the level of crosslinguistic similarity or competition between the L1 and L2 influences this outcome might vary based on the language pairs and the linguistic domain.…”

“…Echoing the above findings, a handful of studies that have attempted to fill the age‐at‐onset gap between adult heritage speakers and late bilinguals have demonstrated a discontinuity around puberty by plotting slopes for L1 proficiency by age at onset. Although participants with ages at onset over 10 to 12 years were found to be indistinguishable from monolingual controls in L1 pronunciation (Yeni‐Komshian, Flege, & Liu, ), perception of L1 speech sounds (Ahn et al., ), general proficiency (Hakuta & D'Andrea, ), verbal morphology (Silva‐Corvalán, ), and conceptualization patterns of goal‐oriented events (Bylund, ), those with ages at onset below this range were reported to show more variability, with the majority performing outside the monolingual control range.…”

Plasticity, Variability and Age in Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism

“…The latter possibility relates L1 loss and L2 gain under a unified view of plasticity in early childhood development: “the ease with which an L2 is acquired and the L1 undergoes attrition can be said to be manifestations of a generally heightened responsiveness to language exposure, which works both in acquisitional and attritional directions” ( Bylund et al, 2012 , p. 237). For a recent empirical study and review of age effects on L1 attrition, see Ahn et al (2017) .…”

Language change and linguistic inquiry in a world of multicompetence: Sustained phonetic drift and its implications for behavioral linguistic research

“…Profile (Birdsong et al, 2012), the Bilingual Language Experience Calculator (Unsworth, 2013), the Language History Questionnaire (Li et al, 2014), and the custom-designed questionnaire for heritage Korean speakers used by Ahn et al (2017). Such questionnaires do not take very long to administer and provide a wealth of data about participants' language backgrounds, which are useful for determining whether study participants are representative of the target population.…”