First Language Attrition: What It Is, What It Isn’t, And What It Can Be

Federico Gallo (), Beatriz Bermudez-Margaretto (), Yury Shtyrov (), Jubin Abutalebi (), Hamutal Kreiner, Tamara Chitaya, Anna Petrova () and Andriy Myachykov ()
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Federico Gallo: National Research University Higher School of Economics, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University
Beatriz Bermudez-Margaretto: National Research University Higher School of Economics
Yury Shtyrov: National Research University Higher School of Economics, Aarhus University Hospital
Jubin Abutalebi: National Research University Higher School of Economics, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University
Hamutal Kreiner: National Research University Higher School of Economics, Ruppin Academic Center
Tamara Chitaya: National Research University Higher School of Economics
Anna Petrova: National Research University Higher School of Economics
Andriy Myachykov: National Research University Higher School of Economics, Northumbria University

HSE Working papers from National Research University Higher School of Economics

Abstract: This review aims at clarifying the concept of first language attrition by tracing its limits, identifying its phenomenological and contextual constraints, discussing controversies associated with its definition, and suggesting potential future directions. We start by reviewing different definitions of attrition as well as associated inconsistencies. We then discuss the underlying mechanisms of first language attrition and review available evidence supporting different background hypotheses. Finally, we attempt to provide the groundwork to build a unified theoretical framework allowing for generalizable results. To this end, we suggest the deployment of a rigorous neuroscientific approach, in search of neural markers of first language attrition in different linguistic domains, putting forward hypothetical experimental ways to identify attrition's neural traces and formulating predictions for each of the proposed experimental paradigms.

Keywords: first language attrition; bilingualism; cross-linguistic interactions; EEG/MEG; fMRI (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Z (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2019
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Published in WP BRP Series: Science, Psychology / PSY,December 2019, pages 1-41

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