What is the source of L1 attrition? The effect of recent L1 re-exposure on Spanish speakers under L1 attrition*. Issue 3 (29th April 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: CHAMORRO, GLORIA; SORACE, ANTONELLA; STURT, PATRICK
• Is Part Of: Bilingualism. Volume 19:Issue 3(2016)
• Page Start: 520
• Page End: 532
• Publication Date: 2015-04-29
• Subjects: L1 attrition, -- L1 re-exposure, -- eye-tracking, -- subject pronouns, -- Spanish; Bilingualism -- Periodicals; Psycholinguistics -- Periodicals; Language acquisition -- Periodicals; 404.2
• DOI: 10.1017/S1366728915000152
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1366-7289

Abstract

Abstract : The recent hypothesis that L1 attrition affects the ability to process interface structures but not knowledge representations (Sorace, 2011) is tested by investigating the effects of recent L1 re-exposure on antecedent preferences for Spanish pronominal subjects, using offline judgements and online eye-tracking measures. Participants included a group of native Spanish speakers experiencing L1 attrition ('attriters'), a second group of attriters exposed exclusively to Spanish before they were tested ('re-exposed'), and a control group of Spanish monolinguals. The judgement data shows no significant differences between the groups. Moreover, the monolingual and re-exposed groups are not significantly different from each other in the eye-tracking data. The results of this novel manipulation indicate that attrition effects decrease due to L1 re-exposure, and that bilinguals are sensitive to input changes. Taken together, the findings suggest that attrition affects online sensitivity with interface structures rather than causing a permanent change in speakers' L1 knowledge representations.