Losing a Language in Childhood: A Longitudinal Case Study on Language Attrition

Autor/in	Flores, Cristina
Titel	Losing a Language in Childhood: A Longitudinal Case Study on Language Attrition
Quelle	In: Journal of Child Language, 42 (2015) 3, S.562-590 (29 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0305-0009
DOI	10.1017/S0305000914000233
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; German; Bilingualism; Immigrants; Children; Portuguese; Language Skill Attrition; Language Skills; Memory; Germany; Portugal + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Deutscher; Bilingualismus; Immigrant; Immigrantin; Immigranten; Child; Kind; Kinder; Portugiesischunterricht; Sprachverfall; Language skill; Sprachkompetenz; Gedächtnis; Deutschland
Abstract	This paper is based upon a longitudinal study of L2 attrition in a bilingual child who grew up in an L2 migration background (Germany) and moved to the country of origin (Portugal) at the age of nine, experiencing a "dominance shift from the L2 to the L1." The study aims to analyze the effects of language loss in L2 German. Data collection started 3 weeks after the child's immersion in the Portuguese setting and ended 18 months later. Results show first effects of language attrition after 5 months of reduced exposure to German; 18 months later the informant showed severe word retrieval difficulties and was unable to produce complete sentences in her L2. The findings thus confirm the conclusions of other studies on child language attrition, which attest to strong effects of attrition when the loss of contact with the target language occurs in childhood. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01