ABSTRACT
People who learn a second language (L2) in later adolescence or adulthood do not usually aspire or expect to become perfectly native-like. We accept as a normal fact of life that we will probably retain a foreign accent and make the occasional lexical or grammatical mistake. Foreign language speakers are rarely confronted over such indicators of non-nativeness – on the contrary, people often congratulate them on how proficient they are. What mature language learners, in particular migrants who live in a new linguistic environment, usually do not expect is for similar “deviations” to creep into their native language (L1). If they begin to notice any changes in how they use their L1, this often results in feelings of embarrassment, shame or guilt; while people close to them – such as their friends or family back home – tend to view it with affectation and not as a genuine language problem.
This chapter argues that phenomena associated with the process called first language attrition, such as disfluency, word-finding difficulties, changes in grammar and a foreign accent, are a ubiquitous and natural outcome of a multilingual existence and should not be stigmatized or belittled.
