A Quantitative Assessment of L1 Attrition and Phonological Maintenance in Long Term Immigrant Communities

Abstract

Attraction to the first language (L1) attrition is a significant effect when dealing with immigrants, in which the long-term implications of a dominant second language (L2) may lead to certain types of linguistic change, particularly phonological. Despite the fact that research on language attrition has been on the rise in the recent past, very few studies have been carried out to give quantitative information on the dynamics of preserving and changing phonological characteristics. The study aims to establish the degree of L1 loss and phonological retention of the long-term immigrant speakers in a quantitative way. Phonological tests, speech acoustic analysis (vowel space and pitch), and language use and exposure structured questionnaires were used to collect data. The findings show that the phonological attrition is medium and manifested in the accuracy decline and further shift of norms with the increase in the length of residence. There was also a difference in generational aspect whereby the late migrants had greater phonological retention compared to the early migrants. L2 dominance was established to be a significant contributor in the phonological change. The paper highlights important implications of bilingual phonological systems and reasons why measures must be implemented to ensure that the immigrants maintain their languages.