This paper reviews some of the predictions and assumptions made by different versions of the Critical Period Hypothesis which assumes that language acquisition will in principle be more successful in younger subjects. Findings from investigations of early vs. delayed acquisition of both a first and a second language which support this claim are presented. The question is then addressed whether the overall difference in ultimate attainment is a consequence of a loss of neural plasticity, or of the stabilizing of neural connections through the language learning process itself. The findings from a study of the L1 attrition of Korean adoptees in France are presented in support of the latter explanation.
Constantinescu, Ionut, Tiago Pimentel, Ryan Cotterell & Alex Warstadt
2025. Investigating Critical Period Effects in Language Acquisition through Neural Language Models. Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics 13 ► pp. 96 ff.
Hernández Gallego, Milena Adriana & Anna Doquin de Saint-Preux
2024. First-language interference without bilingualism? Evidence from second language vowel production in international adoptees. Applied Psycholinguistics 45:5 ► pp. 767 ff.
Rodríguez García, Cristina
2024. La erosión lingüística en profesores nativos de español en la República Checa. Itinerarios. Revista de estudios lingüísticos, literarios, históricos y antropológicos :40 ► pp. 239 ff.
Smeets, Liz
2024. L1 grammatical attrition through the acquisition of competing L2 discourse features. Frontiers in Psychology 15
Sorokina, Anastasia & Raymond Mugno
2024. Embracing bilingualism: L1 retention amidst L2 acquisition. The Language Learning Journal 52:2 ► pp. 186 ff.
Guercini, Simone & Christian Lechner
2023. Competence Attrition: A linguistic theory of the effects of external competence acquisition for organizations. Organization Theory 4:2
Scharp, Kristina M, Cimmiaron F Alvarez & Brittan A Barker
2023. Conceptualizing other-resilience: exploring how hearing parents enact resilience for themselves and their children who use cochlear implants. Human Communication Research 49:4 ► pp. 345 ff.
Kim, Kitaek & Hyunwoo Kim
2022. Sequential bilingual heritage children's L1 attrition in lexical retrieval: Age of acquisition versus language experience. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 25:4 ► pp. 537 ff.
Malik-Moraleda, Saima, Manuel Roca & Edward Gibson
2022. Color naming in Tsimane’–Spanish bilinguals indicates that differential experience with content domains affects lexical access. Scientific Reports 12:1
Kotzor, Sandra, Swetlana Schuster & Aditi Lahiri
2021. Still ‘native’? Morphological processing in second-language-immersed speakers. International Journal of Bilingualism 25:5 ► pp. 1389 ff.
Ramonaitė, Jogilė Teresa & Meilutė Ramonienė
2021. How, when and why can the mother-tongue language be forgotten? The case of international adoption. Taikomoji kalbotyra 16 ► pp. 1 ff.
2020. Türk İşaret Dilinde Anlamsal Bağlantılığın ve Gösterimselliğin Sözlüksel Erişime Etkisi. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 37:2 ► pp. 276 ff.
Polinsky, Maria & Gregory Scontras
2020. Understanding heritage languages. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 23:1 ► pp. 4 ff.
Steinhauer, Karsten & Kristina Kasparian
2020. Brain Plasticity in Adulthood—ERP Evidence for L1‐attrition in Lexicon and Morphosyntax After Predominant L2 Use. Language Learning 70:S2 ► pp. 171 ff.
Karayayla, Tuğba & Monika S. Schmid
2019. First Language Attrition as a Function of Age at Onset of Bilingualism: First Language Attainment of Turkish–English Bilinguals in the United Kingdom. Language Learning 69:1 ► pp. 106 ff.
Birdsong, David
2018. Plasticity, Variability and Age in Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism. Frontiers in Psychology 9
Paradowski, Michał B. & Aleksandra Bator
2018. Perceived effectiveness of language acquisition in the process of multilingual upbringing by parents of different nationalities. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 21:6 ► pp. 647 ff.
Park, Eun Sung
2018. Language Attrition. In The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, ► pp. 1 ff.
Scharp, Kristina M, Brittan A Barker, Sidney N Rucker & Hannah D Jones
2018. Exploring the Identities of Hearing Parents who Chose Cochlear Implantation for their Children with Hearing Loss. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 23:2 ► pp. 131 ff.
Veríssimo, João, Vera Heyer, Gunnar Jacob & Harald Clahsen
2018. Selective Effects of Age of Acquisition on Morphological Priming: Evidence for a Sensitive Period. Language Acquisition 25:3 ► pp. 315 ff.
Kasparian, Kristina, Francesco Vespignani & Karsten Steinhauer
2017. First Language Attrition Induces Changes in Online Morphosyntactic Processing and Re‐Analysis: An ERP Study of Number Agreement in Complex Italian Sentences. Cognitive Science 41:7 ► pp. 1760 ff.
Kasparian, Kristina & Karsten Steinhauer
2016. Confusing similar words: ERP correlates of lexical-semantic processing in first language attrition and late second language acquisition. Neuropsychologia 93 ► pp. 200 ff.
Kasparian, Kristina & Karsten Steinhauer
2017. When the Second Language Takes the Lead: Neurocognitive Processing Changes in the First Language of Adult Attriters. Frontiers in Psychology 08
Norrman, Gunnar & Emanuel Bylund
2016. The irreversibility of sensitive period effects in language development: evidence from second language acquisition in international adoptees. Developmental Science 19:3 ► pp. 513 ff.
Flaherty, Mary
2015. What We Can Learn From Hearing Parents of Deaf Children. Australasian Journal of Special Education 39:1 ► pp. 67 ff.
PARK, HYEON-SOOK
2015. Korean adoptees in Sweden: Have they lost their first language completely?. Applied Psycholinguistics 36:4 ► pp. 773 ff.
Scontras, Gregory, Zuzanna Fuchs & Maria Polinsky
2015. Heritage language and linguistic theory. Frontiers in Psychology 6
Slavkov, Nikolay
2015. Language attrition and reactivation in the context of bilingual first language acquisition. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 18:6 ► pp. 715 ff.
Van Amerongen, Saskia, Mónica Sanaphre Villanueva & Eduardo P. Velázquez Patiño
2015. Perception des voyelles françaises [e], [] et [ə] par des universitaires mexicains. Neophilologica 27 ► pp. 253 ff.
Montrul, Silvina & Rebecca Foote
2014. Age of acquisition interactions in bilingual lexical access: A study of the weaker language of L2 learners and heritage speakers. International Journal of Bilingualism 18:3 ► pp. 274 ff.
Ahlsén, Elisabeth
2012. Language Attrition. In The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics,
2011. To what extent does neurolinguistics embody EFL teaching methods?. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 15 ► pp. 681 ff.
Bardovi-Harlig, Kathleen & David Stringer
2010. VARIABLES IN SECOND LANGUAGE ATTRITION. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 32:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Schmid, Monika S. & Elise Dusseldorp
2010. Quantitative analyses in a multivariate study of language attrition: the impact of extralinguistic factors. Second Language Research 26:1 ► pp. 125 ff.
Bylund, Emanuel
2009. Maturational Constraints and First Language Attrition. Language Learning 59:3 ► pp. 687 ff.
Herschensohn, Julia
2009. FUNDAMENTAL AND GRADIENT DIFFERENCES IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 31:2 ► pp. 259 ff.
Montrul, Silvina
2009. Knowledge of tense-aspect and mood in Spanish heritage speakers. International Journal of Bilingualism 13:2 ► pp. 239 ff.
Tracy, Rosemarie
2009. Multitasking: Mehrsprachigkeit jenseits des „Streitfalls“. In Streitfall Zweisprachigkeit – The Bilingualism Controversy, ► pp. 163 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.
