fossilization [Lat. fossilis ‘obtained by digging’]

Permanent retention of linguistic habits which, when taken together, constitute a language-learner’s interlanguage (e.g. French uvular /r/ in the English interlanguage of native speakers of French, American English retroflex /r/ in the French of native speakers of American English, German time-place word order in the English interlanguage of native speakers of German, etc.). Fossilization may occur despite optimal learning factors and corrective feedback; it may result, in particular, when a language learner perceives that his communicative strategies are effective and adequate.