On 6th of May, Greta Aleksandravičiūtė from the Department for Scandinavian Studies in Vilnius University will present her work on the neurophysiological markers of first language attrition in adult speakers of Scandinavian languages living in a non-native language environment.

This study explores first language (L1) attrition among Scandinavian native speakers living in Lithuania, with a particular focus on word order processing. The investigation examines whether attrition is influenced more significantly by the age at which individuals were first exposed to Lithuanian, their proficiency in Lithuanian, or their length of residence in Lithuania. Initially seen as a slow erosion of L1 skills occurring after extensive immersion in an L2 environment (Seliger & Vago 1991), recent research has redefined attrition as a dynamic interplay of cross-linguistic influence (Schmid & Köpke 2017), potentially observable even after brief exposure to another language. This evolving understanding of attrition inspired the choice of EEG as a method due to its sensitivity to early and subtle changes in language processing that may not yet be evident in overt behavior.

Eleven multilingual Scandinavian (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) participants, varying in Lithuanian proficiency, age of acquisition, and length of residence, were presented with word order stimuli in their native language. Sentences beginning with temporal (Idag) or spatial (Hemma) adverbs were followed by either verb-subject (V2) or subject-verb (V3) constructions to test sensitivity to syntactic anomalies. EEG data revealed the presence of ELAN and P600 components, indicating early morphosyntactic category violations and later attempts at structural reanalysis. The strength of these ERP responses correlated with participants’ length of residence, suggesting that L1 attrition may be primarily time-dependent. However, neither age of L2 acquisition nor Lithuanian proficiency showed statistically significant effects. These findings may help to increase understanding of language attrition and contribute to broader discussions on cognitive flexibility, neural adaptation in multilinguals, and the long-term effects of language contact in a globalized world.
 

All welcome!