Dominant-language replacement: The case of international adoptees

• Published in: Bilingualism (Cambridge, England) Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 121 - 140
• Main Authors: HYLTENSTAM, KENNETH, BYLUND, EMANUEL, ABRAHAMSSON, NICLAS, PARK, HYEON-SOOK
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.04.2009
• Subjects: Adoption; Age; Age Differences; Age of Acquisition; Bilingualism; Case Studies; Children; Children & youth; Code Switching (Language); Foreign Countries; HUMANIORA och RELIGIONSVETENSKAP; HUMANITIES and RELIGION; Interference (Language); Interlanguage; Korea; Korean; Korean language; Language Acquisition; Language Attrition; Language change; Language Maintenance; Language Proficiency; Language Skill Attrition; Language Skills; Languages and linguistics; Latin America; Latin Americans; Linguistic Interference; Linguistic subjects; Linguistics; Lingvistikämnen; Native language acquisition; Neural Basis of Language; Neurological Organization; Otolaryngology; Phonetics; Second Language Learning; Språkvetenskap; Sweden; Swedish; Swedish language; Tvåspråkighet; tvåspråkighetsforskning; South Korea; Sweden; Canada; United States > US
• ISSN: 1366-7289; 1469-1841; 1469-1841
• DOI: 10.1017/S1366728908004008

This article challenges a recent proposal for the theoretical interpretation of L1 and L2 interaction that results from the abrupt change of language environment in internationally adopted children. According to this proposal (Pallier, Dehaene, Poline, LeBihan, Argenti, Depoux and Mehler, 2003; Ventureyra, Pallier and Yoo, 2004), such children experience a total loss of their L1, while, as adults, they exhibit a nativelike ultimate attainment of their L2. These authors suggest that what they see as a total loss of L1 allows a resetting of the neural network that normally subserves L1 retention and hence permits a complete acquisition of the L2. Data from two of our own research projects, one on L1 remnants in Korean adoptees in Sweden (see Park, forthcoming), and the other on age of acquisition and ultimate L2 attainment of Swedish (see Abrahamsson and Hyltenstam, in press), which included data from Latin American adoptees in Sweden among other participants, suggest (i) that L1 remnants are indeed maintained, (ii) that L2 attainment is not enhanced by severe L1 attrition, and (iii) that there is an age dimension to both the degree of L1 attrition and the level of L2 ultimate attainment in international adoptees. We therefore contend that a maturational interpretation of language replacement data is preferable.