Unbridled Attrition?

Abstract

A model that can accommodate several “distinct” language development scenarios seems to be a step in the right direction. After all, to the extent that Universal Grammar is considered a biological component of the human condition, a unified treatment of language acquisition should be preferable, particularly for those who subscribe to the view that the human language capacity remains at work throughout the lifespan. This unification has (at least) two desirable outcomes. First, the theoretical underpinnings are simplified: for example, multilingual language acquisition may be considered just a generalized extension of monolingual language acquisition, with the same underlying mechanisms at work. Second, it provides us with a new normal, under which phenomena such as attrition, even if ecologically rare, are not unexpected. The Attrition via Acquisition model proposed by Hicks and Domínguez (this issue; henceforth H&D) exhibits the necessary ambition, as it accounts for attrition even beyond a processing/use level, but couches this in a larger model of acquisition. However, without applying some brakes to the mechanisms, it leaves me wondering why we aren’t all attriting all the time.