Attrition

• Effect of age of acquisition on 2nd language - Flege et al. (1995)

  • investigates accent production in 2nd language speakers
  • examine if L2 learners retain phonetic characteristics of native language when speaking 2nd
• Effect of age of acquisition on 2nd language - Flege et al 1995 - findings

  • suggest L2 speakers often retain some phonetic features of L1 accent when speaking 2nd language
  • degree of accent transfer varies among individuals & influenced by factors - age of acquisition, length of exposure, motivation
• Effect of age of acquisition on 2nd language - Johnson & Newport 1998

  • explores acquisition of English grammar in Korean immigrants to USA
  • investigate if age individuals exposed to a 2nd language affects ability to acquire its grammatical structures
• Effect of age of acquisition on 2nd language - Johnson & Newport 1998 - findings

  • indicate that individuals who arrived in USA before 7 demonstrated native-like proficiency in English grammar
  • immigrated after this critical period = showed marked difficulties acquiring certain aspects of grammar
  • = particularly related to morphological & syntactic rules
• Age effect on L2 acquisition - loss of plasticity

  • crystallisation - neural circuits become more stable & less flexible over time = harder to acquire new languages
  • In neural circuits for language due to maturation
• Age effects on L2 acquisition - Interference

  • 1st language competes with acquisition of 2nd
  • Active use of L1 may hinder learning of L2
  • stability of L1 linguistic system = harder for L2 to integrate into existing linguistic framework
  • later L2 acquired = more difficult to disrupt established linguistic system
• Language attrition

  • gradual loss of proficiency or fluency = not used regularly
  • L1 crystallised during acquisition = traces of L1, L2 still processes as non-native