Primary Language Attrition in the Context of Bilingualism

Seliger, Herbert W.

doi:10.1016/b978-012589042-7/50020-7

Cited by 56 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…A similar question arises in other language contact situations, including pidgin and creole genesis, where phenomena like lexical borrowings and so-called areal features are the well known consequences of language contact. Research on bilingualism and language contact (both at the social and psycholinguistic level) also suggests that the second language can encroach on the structure of the native language in systematic ways (Cook 2003, Pavlenko & Jarvis 2002, Seliger 1996.…”

Section: Dominant Language Transfer?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Heritage languages and their speakers: Opportunities and challenges for linguistics

Benmamoun¹,

Montrul

Polinsky

2013

Theoretical Linguistics

446

318

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Native speaker competence is typically the result of normal first language acquisition in a predominantly monolingual environment, with optimal and continuous exposure to the language being acquired. In this article, we discuss the case of heritage speakers: receptive bilinguals, speakers of an ethnic or immigrant minority language, whose first language does not reach native-like attainment in adulthood. We present a brief overview of the heritage speaker's linguistic system and discuss competing factors that shape this system in adulthood. We examine several theoretically relevant notions from the standpoint of their representation in heritage language (including case and interface phenomena). The connection between theory and heritage language studies underscores the potential this population offers for linguistic research.

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Section: Dominant Language Transfer?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Heritage languages and their speakers: Opportunities and challenges for linguistics

Benmamoun¹,

Montrul

Polinsky

2013

Theoretical Linguistics

446

318

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Primary language attrition surface performance may resemble forms of language mixing, such as that of which occurs in normal bilingualism but can be distinguished from it on the basis of when and how it is used in a social context (see Seliger 1996: 610-4 for discussion of differences between code-mixing and language attrition). Pfaff (1979), Seliger (1996), Kuhberg (1992), and Cook (2003) among others provide strong evidence that the attrition manifests itself in syntax, morphology, and calquing of language material from various levels from L2 into L1. Seliger considers two internal sources of data or evidence for the construction of a grammar of L1: "One source of change is the other grammar that exists in the mind of the bilingual, the grammar of the L2 and the other source is what remains of UG abilities " (1996: 617).…”

Section: Sla As a Language-contact Phenomenonmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Seliger (1996) finds that bilinguals exhibit primary language attrition when they use mixed forms in situations that are not sociolinguistically appropriate and where the audience does not share or speak the L2. Primary language attrition surface performance may resemble forms of language mixing, such as that of which occurs in normal bilingualism but can be distinguished from it on the basis of when and how it is used in a social context (see Seliger 1996: 610-4 for discussion of differences between code-mixing and language attrition).…”

Section: Sla As a Language-contact Phenomenonmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Composite Nature of Interlanguage as a Developing System

Wei

2009

RiL

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The Composite Nature of Interlanguage as a Developing System This paper explores the nature of interlanguage (IL) as a developing system with a focus on the abstract lexical structure underlying IL construction. The developing system of IL is assumed to be ‘composite’ in that in second language acquisition (SLA) several linguistic systems are in contact, each of which may contribute different amounts to the developing system. The lexical structure is assumed to be ‘abstract’ in that the mental lexicon contains abstract elements called ‘lemmas’, which contain information about individual lexemes, and lemmas in the bilingual mental lexicon are language-specific and are in contact in IL production. Based on the research findings, it concludes that language transfer in IL production should be understood as lemma transfer of the learner's first language (L1) lexical structure at three abstract levels: lexical-conceptual structure, predicate-argument structure, and morphological realization patterns, and IL construction is driven by an incompletely acquired abstract lexical structure of a target language (TL) item.

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“…ix It is also worth noting the lack of evidence for L2-to-L1 transfer, or L1 attrition (Pavlenko 2000;Seliger 1996), given the social dominance of the L2.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Phonetic transfer in language contact: Evidence for equivalence classification in the mid-vowels of Occitan–French bilinguals

Mooney¹

2017

Journal of the International Phonetic Association

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This article examines first to second language (L1-to-L2) phonetic transfer in the speech of ten Occitan–French bilinguals, focusing on the mid-vowels in each of their languages. Investigating transfer in a situation of long-term societal language contact aims to shed light on the emergence of regional French phonological features from contact with Occitan. Using a sociophonetic methodology, the concept of equivalence classification (Flege 1988) is investigated, that is, that L2 words will be (initially) decomposed into familiar L2 sound categories, causing L1 and L2 sounds to resemble each other phonetically. The consequences of language contact are modelled statistically using an original corpus of over 1200 vowel tokens. The findings show that equivalence classification may not lead to equated sounds coming to resemble each other phonetically, suggesting necessary revisions to the speech learning model (SLM) hypothesis, and the need to consider the influence of sociolinguistic factors in situations of long-term language contact is emphasised.

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Primary Language Attrition in the Context of Bilingualism

Cited by 56 publications

References 11 publications

Heritage languages and their speakers: Opportunities and challenges for linguistics

Heritage languages and their speakers: Opportunities and challenges for linguistics

The Composite Nature of Interlanguage as a Developing System

Phonetic transfer in language contact: Evidence for equivalence classification in the mid-vowels of Occitan–French bilinguals

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