Second-language attrition refers to atrophy of second-language skills. It is commonly found in individuals who live in environments in which the presence of the attrited language is limited.
Overview It is common for people who have learned a foreign language to gradually forget much of the acquired language skills once the period of formal instruction is over. Thus, second language attrition refers to non-pathological declines in second language skills. Beginning in the 1970s, a new and especially young field in the area of second-language acquisition was developed. It is connected cross-sectionally throughout different research areas. Language attrition, in general, is concerned with what is lost (linguistic focus), how it is lost (psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic focus) and why it is lost (sociolinguistic, sociologistic and anthropologistic focus) (Hansen 1999). Over 25 years research has been concentrated on studying the attrition of second languages. First studies, dealing with the topic of language loss or language attrition, were published in the late 1970s (de Bot & Weltens 1989: 127). In 1980, the University of Pennsylvania hosted the conference "The Loss of Language Skills", and language attrition was recognized as a field in the research of second-language acquisition. Since then, various scientific research papers – mainly within America – have been published. Later, several studies in Europe – especially the Netherlands – followed. In other countries, however, language attrition research was paid hardly any attention (de Bot & Weltens 1995). Compared to the field of second-language acquisition, language attrition is still relatively young; so much is still unknown.
Purpose and development The purpose of language attrition research, in general, is to discover how, why and what is lost when a language is forgotten. The aim in foreign or second-language attrition research, more specifically, is to find out why, after an active learning process, the language competence changes or even stops (Gleason 1982). Further, results from research in this area could, as Van Els and Weltens (1989) counter, contribute to the understanding of relations between acquisition and attrition (van Els 1989). L2/FL attrition research is particularly important because it provides results for foreign language instruction. De Bot and Weltens state, "[r]esearch on language attrition can also have a considerable impact on curriculum planning or foreign language teaching" (1995: 152). The theoretical grounding of the language attrition research derives primarily from cognitive and psychological theories. Research in the area of language attrition concentrates generally on the loss of the L1 and L2. The first distinction that can be made is between pathological and natural language attrition. The former concentrates on language loss caused by a damage of the brain, injury, age or illness. However, this topic will not be investigated any further, because the language attrition in these cases is not caused by natural circumstances. Weltens (1987: 24) states another possible distinction, inter and intra generational language attrition. Inter generational language attrition is concerned with attrition within individuals, whereas intra generational language attrition concentrates on the attrition across different generations. Van Els (1986) distinguishes types of attrition in terms of which language is lost and in which environment it is being lost. Therefore, he classifies:
loss of L1 in L1 environment, e.g. dialect loss loss of L1 in L2 environment, e.g. immigrants losing their mother tongue loss of L2/FL in L1 environment, e.g. loss of foreign languages learned at school loss of L2/FL in L2 environment, e.g. aging migrants losing their L2.
Relationship between the first and second languages in the mind It is not exactly known how different languages are stored in the mind. A researcher, Vivian Cook, proposes that the languages are separated into distinct compartments. This is termed the separation model. An L2 speaker will speak one of the languages, but no connection is made between them in the mind (Cook 2003: 7). Another proposed model is the integration model, which suggests that rather than having two separate mental lexicons, an L2 speaker has one lexicon where words from one language are stored from one language alongside words from the other. Regarding phonology, it has been found that L2 speakers sometimes have one merged system for producing speech, not distinguished by L1 or L2. The integration model focuses on how there is a balance between the unique elements of both languages, and how they form one system. Though these two proposed models offering different perspectives, it is impossible to have total separation because both languages exist in the same mind. Total integration is impossible because we are able to keep the languages apart in our minds (Cook 2003: 7). Another proposed model is the link language model. This model illustrates the idea that two languages within the same mind are able to influence and interact with one another. Further, the partial integration model illustrates the idea of partial overlapping between two languages in one mind. It doesn't differentiate between the languages in the overlap, but it shows how it functions as a single, conjoined system. These systems illustrate the point that vocabulary, syntax, and other aspects of language knowledge can be shared or overlapped between different languages within one mind (Cook 2003: 8). Finally, all of the models function together to create the integration continuum, an illustration that shows the possible relationships in "multi-competence" (Cook 2003: 9).
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