| The acquisition of a second language (L2) in a young child (2;6), who is placed in an L2-dominant environment, has been accompanied by a gradual disintegration of the lexical and morphological systems of the first language (L1). The acquisition-attrition process has been studied longitudinally and the typological differences between L1 (Hebrew) and L2 (English) resulted in data that allow firm conclusions about the child's command of the morphology of each of the languages at different stages of the study.;Attrition of L1, in this case, is an interplay between two languages which results in the creation of a productive interlingual system that produces hybrid morphological innovations. These are highlighted and exemplified in the L1 nominal and verbal systems. Code blending, the merging of morphemes from each of the languages at the word level, is responsible for this morphological interaction. Code blending plays a crucial role in child language attrition as a morphological gap filler. It allows for grammatical morphemes of the dominant language (L2) to replace those of the eroding language (L1), thereby promoting non use and consequent loss of these morphemes. On the other hand it allows the retention of the L1 lexical morphemes within L2 dominated discourse.;Attrition is a diminishing interlanguage wherein ubiquitous linguistic innovations are constrained by the structures that have been acquired in L2, those that remain from the eroding L1, and the extent to which these structures are communicative in the child's L1 environment. The child's metalinguistic awareness, motivation, and socio-psychological pressure from the L1 and L2 environments all conspire together in determining attrition patterns. |
