Vulnerable native grammars: the effects of limited input in native language attrition

本研究旨在探讨学习第二语言（L2）对母语（L1）的影响。母语磨蚀是指母语使用者的母语技能或知识在迁移后不再经常接触母语时发生的变化。这可能表现在单词检索困难，理解延迟，缺乏信心，等等。最不理解的方面的磨损涉及的脆弱性，一个扬声器的L1语法：他们的潜意识知识的语言的结构，这是在儿童时期。虽然相对罕见和有限的，磨蚀在成人L1语法得到证实。然而，令人惊讶的是，它与当前的语言习得模型不相容，这些模型假设说话者的语法在童年之后保持不变。我们的观点是，这种习得模式，假设稳定的L1输入在成年期，忽略了一个潜在的重大影响的实质性变化的L1输入。为了阐明语法磨蚀的本质，我们希望研究并回答以下问题：1。语法的哪些方面容易受到磨损？2.什么样的语言输入条件有利于磨蚀？3.如何建立一个适应自然减员的母语习得模式？4.“母语人士”的概念对学者和公众有何影响？两个研究者最近开始研究一个习得模型，该模型预测当第二语言在类型上接近第一语言时，损耗更有可能发生。本项目通过实验探讨了这一点，比较了三组在成年期广泛接触另一种语言的说话者的语法磨蚀潜力。第一组包括暴露于他们的L1的句法上不同的方言的扬声器（已搬到贝尔法斯特的南方英语扬声器）;第二组包括暴露于类型和历时相关的语言的扬声器（已搬到荷兰的德语扬声器）;第三组包括暴露于类型上不同的语言的扬声器（已搬到英国的西班牙语扬声器）。为了寻找对磨蚀敏感或有弹性的语法属性的本质的有力证据，我们将对所讨论的句法现象进行详细的比较理论分析。项目组的组成证明了实验性的第二语言习得方法与比较句法的理论方法的结合。三个实验组将进行一系列的任务，以揭示他们的知识，使用，并通过与单语控制，包括口头采访（这将形成一个主要的新语料库的转录和标记的磨损数据），离线可接受性判断任务，在线处理任务和语言背景和语言使用问卷的看法。我们的分析将比较组内和组间的流失模式，确定与上下文特征，自我评价，暴露于L1/L2输入的数量和质量的相关性。将这些数据与单语L1说话者的磨蚀者的原生感知任务相结合，使我们能够对“母语者”的概念提出问题，研究L1磨蚀为更广泛的公众及其在语言理论中的地位所提出的细微差别和新的理解。该项目将创建第一个开放获取的本族语磨蚀知识库，允许双语使用者分享磨蚀经验，并允许网站访问者参与辩论。总之，该项目进一步加深了我们对成人双语使用者不同层次语法磨蚀的理解。它确立了自然减员的性质和范围，推进了语言能力及其在个人内部成熟的主要理论的新视野，并探讨了公众和学术界对“母语者”的理解的影响。

This project investigates the potential impact of learning a second language (L2) on a speaker's native language (L1). Native language attrition describes a change in speakers' L1 skills or knowledge when they are no longer exposed to it as frequently, for instance after migrating. This may manifest in word retrieval difficulties, comprehension delays, lack of confidence, etc. The least understood aspect of attrition concerns the vulnerability of a speaker's L1 grammar: their subconscious knowledge of the language's structure which is set during childhood. While relatively rare and restricted, attrition in adult L1 grammar is attested. Yet strikingly, it is incompatible with current models of language acquisition which assume that speakers' grammars remain unaltered beyond childhood. Our view is that such acquisition models, assuming stable L1 input in adulthood, have overlooked a potentially significant influence of substantive changes in L1 input. To elucidate the nature of grammatical attrition, we wish to investigate and provide answers to these questions: 1. Which aspects of the grammar are susceptible to attrition?2. What language input conditions favour attrition?3. How can a model of L1 acquisition be articulated to accommodate attrition?4. What are the implications for the concept of the 'native speaker' for both academics and the general public? Two of the investigators have recently begun to work towards an acquisition model entailing a prediction that attrition is more likely where the L2 is typologically close to the L1. The present project explores this experimentally, comparing the potential for grammatical attrition across three groups of speakers extensively exposed to another language variety during adulthood. The first group comprises speakers exposed to a syntactically distinct dialect of their L1 (Southern English speakers who have moved to Belfast); the second comprises speakers exposed to a typologically and diachronically related language (German speakers who have moved to the Netherlands); the third comprises speakers exposed to a typologically distinct language (Spanish speakers who have moved to Britain). Seeking robust evidence for the nature of the grammatical properties susceptible or resilient to attrition, we will undertake detailed comparative theoretical analyses of the syntactic phenomena in question. The composition of the project team bears out this integration of experimental L2 acquisition methods with theoretical approaches to comparative syntax. The three experimental groups will undertake a set of tasks to reveal their knowledge, use, and perceptions of their L1 by comparison with monolingual controls, including oral interviews (which will form a major new corpus of transcribed and tagged attrition data), off-line acceptability judgement tasks, an online processing task and a linguistic background and language use questionnaire. Our analysis will compare attrition patterns within and across the groups, identifying correlations with contextual characteristics, self-evaluation, quantity and quality of exposure to L1/L2 input. Combining these data with a nativeness perception task of attriters by monolingual L1 speakers allows us to problematise the concept of the 'native speaker', examining nuances and new understandings raised by L1 attrition both for the wider public and for its status within linguistic theory. This project will create the first open-access repository of attrited native speech will allow bilingual speakers to share experiences of attrition and website visitors to engage in debate.In summary, this project furthers our understanding of grammatical attrition in adult bilingual speakers on various levels. It establishes the nature and scope of attrition, advances new visions for major theories of the language faculty and its maturation within individuals, and explores implications for public and academic understandings of the 'native speaker'.