Language attrition: mechanisms of occurrence, features of study and prospects for further research

336

Abstract

This theoretical review clarifies the concept of "language attrition " by defining the phenomenological and contextual features of its utilization, discussing the definition of contradictions, and suggesting potential directions for future research. Taking into account existing data, we regard the existing approaches to language attrition and analyze the mechanisms underlying the phenomenon. This analysis seems to be the first step in building up an integral theoretical model summarizing the available empirical data. It helps to apply a neurobiological approach, allowing to identify neural markers of language attrition at different levels of language processing and within different language categories. To this end, we propose specific experimental approaches to recording neural traces of attrition and formulate working hypotheses based on proposed experimental paradigms.

General Information

Keywords: language attrition, bilingualism, interlingual interactions, EEG/MEG, FMRI.

Journal rubric: Neurosciences

Article type: review article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/jmfp.2021100111

Funding. The study was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation, project No. 19-18-00550.

For citation: Malyshevskaya A.S., Gallо F., Bermudez-Margaretto B., Shtyrov Y.Y., Chitaya T.D., Petrova A.A., Myachykov A.V. Language attrition: mechanisms of occurrence, features of study and prospects for further research [Elektronnyi resurs]. Sovremennaia zarubezhnaia psikhologiia = Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology, 2021. Vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 111–124. DOI: 10.17759/jmfp.2021100111. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

References

  1. Abutalebi J., Chang-Smith M. Second Language Representation in the Brain. In Chapelle C.A. (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwel, 2012. DOI:10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal1054
  2. Altenberg E.P. Assessing first language vulnerability to attrition. In Seliger H.W., Vago R.M. (eds.), First Language Attrition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 189–206.
  3. Altenberg E.P. Assessing first language vulnerability to attrition. In Seliger H.W., Vago R.M. (eds.), First Language Attrition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 189–206.
  4. Shtyrov Y. et al. Background acoustic noise and the hemispheric lateralization of speech processing in the human brain: Magnetic mismatch negativity study. Neuroscience Letters, 1998. Vol. 251, no. 2, pp. 141–144. DOI:10.1016/S0304-3940(98)00529-1
  5. Batterink L., Neville H. Implicit and explicit second language training recruit common neural mechanisms for syntactic processing. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2013. Vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 936–951. DOI:10.1162/jocn_a_00354
  6. Ben Rafael M. Contact de langues: le français parlé des francophones israéliens. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. University of Tel Aviv, 2001.
  7. Bergmann C., Sprenger S.A., Schmid M.S. The impact of language co-activation on L1 and L2 speech fluency. Acta Psychologica, 2015. Vol. 161, pp. 25–35. DOI:10.1016/j.actpsy.2015.07.015
  8. Winkler I. et al. Brain responses reveal the learning of foreign language phonemes. Psychophysiology, 1999. Vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 638–642. DOI:10.1111/1469-8986.3650638
  9. Callan D., Callan A., Jones J.A. Speech motor brain regions are differentially recruited during perception of native and foreign-accented phonemes for first and second language listeners. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2014. Vol. 8, article ID 275, 15 p. DOI:10.3389/fnins.2014.00275
  10. Cappa S.F. Imaging semantics and syntax. NeuroImage, 2012. Vol. 61, no. 2, pp. 427–431. DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.10.006
  11. Celata C., Cancila J. Phonological attrition and the perception of geminate consonants in the Lucchese community of San Francisco (CA). International Journal of Bilingualism, 2010. Vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 185–209. DOI:10.1177/1367006910363058
  12. Chamorro G., Sorace A., Sturt P. What is the source of L1 attrition? the effect of recent L1 re-exposure on Spanish speakers under L1 attrition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2016. Vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 520–532. DOI:10.1017/S1366728915000152
  13. De Bot K. Language Use as an Interface between Sociolinguistic and Psycholinguistic Processes in Language Attribution and Language Shift. In Folmer J., Van Avermaet P. (eds.), Theories on maintenance and loss of minority languages. Toward a more integrated explanatory framework. Munster: Waxmann, 2000, pp. 65–81.
  14. De Leeuw E., Mennen I., Scobbie J.M. Singing a different tune in your native language: first language attrition of prosody. International Journal of Bilingualism, 2012. Vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 101–116. DOI:10.1177/1367006911405576
  15. De Leeuw E., Schmid M.S., Mennen I. The effects of contact on native language pronunciation in an L2 migrant setting. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2010. Vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 33–40. DOI:10.1017/S1366728909990289
  16. Dehaene-Lambertz G. Electrophysiological correlates of categorical phoneme perception in adults. NeuroReport, 1997. Vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 919–924. DOI:10.1097/00001756-199703030-00021
  17. Dehaene-Lambertz G., Dehaene S., Hertz-Pannier L. Functional neuroimaging of speech perception in infants. Science, 2002. Vol. 298, no. 5600, pp. 2013–2015. DOI:10.1126/science.1077066
  18. Cheour M. et al. Development of language-specific phoneme representations in the infant brain. Nature Neuroscience, 1998. Vol. 1, no. 5, pp. 351–353. DOI:10.1038/1561
  19. Dikker S., Pylkkanen L. Before the N400: Effects of lexical-semantic violations in visual cortex. Brain and Language, 2011. Vol. 118, no. 1–2, pp. 23–28. DOI:10.1016/j.bandl.2011.02.006
  20. Shtyrov Y. et al. Discrimination of speech and of complex nonspeech sounds of different temporal structure in the left and right cerebral hemispheres. NeuroImage, 2000. Vol. 12, no. 6, pp. 657–663. DOI:10.1006/nimg.2000.0646
  21. Palva S. et al. Distinct gamma-band evoked responses to speech and non-speech sounds in humans. The Journal of Neuroscience : The Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2002. Vol. 22, no. 4, 5 p. article ID RC211, DOI:10.1523/jneurosci.22-04-j0003.2002
  22. Laganaro M. et al. Electrophysiological correlates of different anomic patterns in comparison with normal word production. Cortex, 2009. Vol. 45, no. 6, pp. 697–707. DOI:10.1016/j.cortex.2008.09.007
  23. Schmitt B.M. et al. Electrophysiological estimates of semantic and syntactic information access during tacit picture naming and listening to words. Neuroscience Research, 2001. Vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 293–298. DOI:10.1016/S0168-0102(01)00286-3
  24. Rodriguez-Fornells A. et al. Electrophysiological estimates of the time course of semantic and phonological encoding during listening and naming. Neuropsychologia, 2002. Vol. 40, no. 7, pp. 778–787. DOI:10.1016/S0028-3932(01)00188-9
  25. Dell’Acqua R. et al. ERP Evidence for Ultra-Fast Semantic Processing in the Picture–Word Interference Paradigm. Frontiers in Psychology, 2010. Vol. 1, article ID 177, 10 p. DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00177
  26. Fonteneau E. Structural syntactic prediction measured with ELAN: Evidence from ERPs. Neuroscience Letters, 2013. Vol. 534, pp. 211–216. DOI:10.1016/j.neulet.2012.11.055
  27. Friederici A.D. The cortical language circuit: From auditory perception to sentence comprehension. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2012. Vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 262–268. DOI:10.1016/j.tics.2012.04.001
  28. Friederici A.D. Towards a neural basis of auditory sentence processing. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2002. Vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 78–84. DOI:10.1016/S1364-6613(00)01839-8
  29. Friederici A.D., Frisch S. Verb Argument Structure Processing: The Role of Verb-Specific and Argument-Specific Information. Journal of Memory and Language, 2000. Vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 476–507. DOI:10.1006/jmla.2000.2709
  30. Friederici A.D., Pfeifer E., Hahne A. Event-related brain potentials during natural speech processing: effects of semantic, morphological and syntactic violations. Cognitive Brain Research, 1993. Vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 183–192. DOI:10.1016/0926-6410(93)90026-2
  31. Frisch S., Hahne A., Friederici A.D. Word category and verb-argument structure information in the dynamics of parsing. Cognition, 2004. Vol. 91, no. 3, pp. 191–219. DOI:10.1016/j.cognition.2003.09.009
  32. Gunnewiek M.S.K. Taalverlies door taalcontact? Een onderzoek bij Portugese migranten. Tilburg: Tilburg University Press, 1998. 250 p.
  33. Hahne A., Friederici A.D. Differential task effects on semantic and syntactic processes as revealed by ERPs. Cognitive Brain Research, 2002. Vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 339–356. DOI:10.1016/S0926-6410(01)00127-6
  34. Holcomb P.J., Neville H.J. Natural speech processing: An analysis using event-related brain potentials. Psychobiology, 1991. Vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 286–300. DOI:10.3758/BF03332082
  35. Kropotov J.D. et al. Human auditory-cortex mechanisms of preattentive sound discrimination. Neuroscience Letters, 2000. Vol. 280, no. 2, pp. 87–90. DOI:10.1016/S0304-3940(00)00765-5
  36. Indefrey P., Levelt P. The neural correlates of language production [Elektronnyi resurs]. In Gazzaniga M.S. (ed.), The new cognitive neurosciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000, pp. 845–866. URL: https://pure.mpg.de/pubman/faces/ViewItemOverviewPage.jsp?itemId=item_148271 (Accessed 23.03.2021).
  37. Indefrey P., Levelt W.J.M. The spatial and temporal signatures of word production components. Cognition, 2004. Vol. 92, no. 1–2, pp. 101–144. DOI:10.1016/j.cognition.2002.06.001
  38. Karayayla T., Schmid M.S. First Language Attrition as a Function of Age at Onset of Bilingualism: First Language Attainment of Turkish-English Bilinguals in the United Kingdom. Language Learning, 2019. Vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 106–142. DOI:10.1111/lang.12316
  39. Köpke B. Activation thresholds and non-pathological first language attrition. In Fabbro F. (ed.), Advances in the neurolinguistics of bilingualism. Essays in honor of Michael Paradis. Udine: Forum, 2002, pp. 119–142.
  40. Köpke B. Attrition is not a unitary phenomenon: On different possible outcomes of language contact situations [Elektronnyi resurs]. In Suárez A.M.L., Ramallo F., Yáñez X.P.R. (eds.), Bilingual Socialization and Bilingual Language Acquisition: Proceedings from the Second International Symposium on Bilingualism. Servizo de Publicacións da Universidade de Vigo, 2004, pp. 1331–1347. URL: http://ssl.webs.uvigo.es/actas2002/06/06.%20Barbara%20Kopke.pdf (Accessed 23.03.2021).
  41. Köpke B., Keijzer M., Keijzer M. Introduction to Psycholinguistic and Neurolinguistic Approaches to Language Attrition. In Schmid M.S., Köpke B. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Language Attrition. Oxford University Press, 2019, pp. 61–72. DOI:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198793595.013.6
  42. Köpke B., Schmid M.S. Language attrition: The next phase. In Schmid M.S. et al. (eds.), First language attrition: Interdisciplinary perspectives on methodological. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing, 2004, pp. 1–45. DOI:10.1075/sibil.28.02kop
  43. Kreiner H., Degani T. Tip-of-the-tongue in a second language: The effects of brief first-language exposure and long-term use. Cognition, 2015. Vol. 137, pp. 106–114. DOI:10.1016/j.cognition.2014.12.011
  44. Kutas M., Hillyard S.A. Reading senseless sentences: Brain potentials reflect semantic incongruity. Science, 1980. Vol. 207, no. 4427, pp. 203-205. DOI:10.1126/science.7350657
  45. Bergmann C. et al. L2 immersion causes non-native-like L1 pronunciation in German attriters. Journal of Phonetics, 2016. Vol. 58, pp. 71–86. DOI:10.1016/j.wocn.2016.07.001
  46. Laganaro M., Valente A., Perret C. Time course of word production in fast and slow speakers: A high density ERP topographic study. NeuroImage, 2012. Vol. 59, no. 4, pp. 3881–3888. DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.10.082
  47. Lau E.F., Phillips C., Poeppel D. A cortical network for semantics: (De)constructing the N400. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2008. Vol. 9, no. 12, pp. 920–933. DOI:10.1038/nrn2532
  48. Laufer B. The influence of L2 on L1 collocational knowledge and on L1 lexical diversity in free written expression. In Cook V. (eds.), Effects of the second language on the first. Multilingual Matters, 2003, pp. 19–31.
  49. Linck J.A., Kroll J.F., Sunderman G. Losing access to the native language while immersed in a second language: Evidence for the role of inhibition in second-language learning. Psychological Science, 2009. Vol. 20, no. 12, pp. 1507–1515. DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02480.x
  50. Major R.C., Baptista B.O. First Language Attrition in Foreign Accent Detection [Elektronnyi resurs]. Recent Research in Second Language Phonetics/Phonology: Perception and Production, 2009, pp. 256–267. URL: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.501.2630&rep=rep1&type=pdf (Accessed 23.03.2021).
  51. Kropotov J.D. et al. Mismatch negativity to auditory stimulus change recorded directly from the human temporal cortex. Psychophysiology, 1995. Vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 418–422. DOI:10.1111/j.1469-8986.1995.tb01226.x
  52. Kirmse U. et al. Modulation of the mismatch negativity (MMN) to vowel duration changes in native speakers of Finnish and German as a result of language experience. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 2008. Vol. 67, no. 2, pp. 131–143. DOI:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2007.10.012
  53. Molinaro N., Barber H.A., Carreiras M. Grammatical agreement processing in reading: ERP findings and future directions. Cortex, 2011. Vol. 47, no. 8, pp. 908–930. DOI:10.1016/j.cortex.2011.02.019
  54. Olshtain E., Barzilay M. Lexical retrieval difficulties in adult language attrition. In Seliger H.W., Vago R.M. (eds.), First Language Attrition. Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 139–150. DOI:10.1017/cbo9780511620720.010
  55. Haller S. et al. Overt sentence production in event-related fMRI. Neuropsychologia, 2005. Vol. 43, no. 5, pp. 807–814. DOI:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2004.09.007
  56. Pelc L. L1 Lexical, Morphological and Morphosyntactic Attrition in Greek-English Bilinguals. Ph. D. (Linguistics) diss. [Elektronnyi resurs]. City University of New York, 2001. 210 p. URL: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1782 (Accessed 23.03.2021).
  57. Penolazzi B., Hauk O., Pulvermüller F. Early semantic context integration and lexical access as revealed by event-related brain potentials. Biological Psychology, 2007. Vol. 74, no. 3, pp. 374–388. DOI:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2006.09.008
  58. Saloranta A., Alku P., Peltola M.S. Listen-and-repeat training improves perception of second language vowel duration: Evidence from mismatch negativity (MMN) and N1 responses and behavioral discrimination. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 2020. Vol. 147, pp. 72–82. DOI:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2019.11.005
  59. Schmid M.S. Language Attrition and Identity. In Han S., Pöppel E. (eds.), Culture and Neural Frames of Cognition and Communication. Springer, 2011, pp. 185–198. DOI:10.1007/978-3-642-15423-2_12
  60. Schmid M.S., Jarvis S. Lexical access and lexical diversity in first language attrition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2014. Vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 729–748. DOI:10.1017/S1366728913000771
  61. Steinhauer K., Drury J.E. On the early left-anterior negativity (ELAN) in syntax studies. Brain and Language, 2012. Vol. 120, no. 2, pp. 135–162. DOI:10.1016/j.bandl.2011.07.001
  62. Gouvea A.C. et al. The linguistic processes underlying the P600. Language and Cognitive Processes, 2010. Vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 149–188. DOI:10.1080/01690960902965951
  63. Näätänen R. et al. The mismatch negativity (MMN) in basic research of central auditory processing: A review. Clinical Neurophysiology, 2007. Vol. 118, no. 12, pp. 2544–2590. DOI:10.1016/j.clinph.2007.04.026
  64. Schmid M.E. et al. The Oxford Handbook of Language Attrition. Oxford; New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2019. 627 p.
  65. Tremblay P., Small S.L. Motor Response Selection in Overt Sentence Production: A Functional MRI Study. Frontiers in Psychology, 2011. Vol. 2, article ID 253, 15 p. DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00253
  66. Valente A., Bürki A., Laganaro M. ERP correlates of word production predictors in picture naming: A trial by trial multiple regression analysis from stimulus onset to response. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2014. Vol. 8, article ID 390, 13 p. DOI:10.3389/fnins.2014.00390
  67. Van Petten C., Luka B.J. Neural localization of semantic context effects in electromagnetic and hemodynamic studies. Brain and Language, 2006. Vol. 97, no. 3, pp. 279–293. DOI:10.1016/j.bandl.2005.11.003

Information About the Authors

Anastasia S. Malyshevskaya, graduate student, Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8082-711X, e-mail: malyshevskaya.com@gmail.com

Federico Gallо, graduate student, Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4343-4664, e-mail: fgallo@hse.ru

Beatriz Bermudez-Margaretto, PhD, research fellow, Centre for Cognition and Decision making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3687-3634, e-mail: bermudezmargaretto@gmail.com

Yury Y. Shtyrov, PhD, Professor, leading research fellow, Aarhus Universitet, leading research fellow, Centre for Cognition and Decision making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Aarhus, Denmark, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7203-4902, e-mail: yury@cfin.au.dk

Tamara D. Chitaya, bachelor’s degree, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8223-4705, e-mail: chitaya.tam@gmail.com

Anna A. Petrova, PhD, Research Fellow, Centre for Cognition and Decision making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0899-4583, e-mail: lirinka@gmail.com

Andriy V. Myachykov, PhD, Professor, leading research fellow, Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, leading research fellow, Centre for Cognition and Decision making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, leading research fellow, Centre for Cognition and Decision making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, Newcastle upon Tyne, Great Britain, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1489-8582, e-mail: andriy.myachykov@northumbria.ac.uk

Metrics

Views

Total: 804
Previous month: 15
Current month: 15

Downloads

Total: 336
Previous month: 2
Current month: 5