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

这个项目调查了学习第二语言（L2）对说话者母语（L1）的潜在影响。母语流失指的是当使用者不再经常接触母语技能或知识时，例如在移民之后，他们的母语技能或知识发生了变化。这可能表现为单词检索困难、理解迟缓、缺乏自信等。最不为人所知的摩擦学方面涉及说话者母语语法的脆弱性：他们对语言结构的潜意识知识是在童年时期建立的。虽然相对罕见和有限，但成人母语语法的磨损得到了证实。然而，引人注目的是，它与当前的语言习得模型不相容，该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，这样的习得模型，假设L1输入在成年期稳定，忽略了L1输入实质性变化的潜在重大影响。为了阐明语法磨耗的本质，我们希望调查并回答这些问题：1。语法的哪些方面容易磨损？什么语言输入条件有利于消耗？如何建立母语习得模型来适应母语流失？对于学术界和公众来说，“母语人士”的概念意味着什么？两位研究者最近开始研究一种习得模型，该模型包含了一种预测，即当第二语言在类型上接近第一语言时，磨耗更有可能发生。本项目通过实验探讨了这一点，比较了三组说话者在成年期广泛接触另一种语言的可能性。第一组包括接触母语语法上不同的方言的人（已经搬到贝尔法斯特的南方英语使用者）；第二类包括接触类型学和历时相关语言的说话者（移居荷兰的德语说话者）；第三类包括接触到不同类型语言的人（移居英国的说西班牙语的人）。我们将对相关句法现象进行详细的比较理论分析，以寻求对易受磨损或有弹性的语法属性的性质的有力证据。项目团队的组成证实了实验二语习得方法与比较语法理论方法的结合。三个实验组将承担一系列任务，通过与单语对照组进行比较，揭示他们对母语的知识、使用和感知，包括口头访谈（这将形成一个主要的转录和标记损耗数据的新语料库）、离线可接受性判断任务、在线处理任务以及语言背景和语言使用问卷。我们的分析将比较小组内部和小组之间的人员流失模式，确定背景特征、自我评价、接触L1/L2输入的数量和质量之间的相关性。将这些数据与单语母语者对属性的母语感知任务相结合，使我们能够对“母语者”的概念提出质疑，并为更广泛的公众及其在语言学理论中的地位检查母语磨损所带来的细微差别和新理解。该项目将创建第一个开放访问的母语损耗库，使双语者能够分享损耗的经验，并使网站访问者能够参与辩论。综上所述，这个项目进一步加深了我们对成年双语者语法磨损的不同层次的理解。它确立了损耗的性质和范围，为语言能力的主要理论及其在个体内部的成熟提出了新的愿景，并探讨了公众和学术对“母语人士”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'.