Introduction

Primary language attrition in adults is likely to occur when the subjects have been uprooted from their natural mother tongue context and transferred to a new language environment. From the point of view of the speakers, a second language is now the dominant language in the new context while their first language has become a restricted mode of communication. The degree of such restriction, the prestige of the first language in the new environment, the level of social distance between the immigrant community and the host community, and the individual degree of acculturation into the new speech community may all have an impact on the degree of erosion which takes place in the subjects' level of competence in their first language.

This chapter will attempt to describe some features of attrition in a context least conducive to primary language erosion and yet exhibiting interesting changes in linguistic competence. The subjects in our study are American speaking immigrants to Israel who continue to maintain English as their dominant language even ten and twenty years after immigration. Although some of the subjects have attained near native proficiency in Hebrew, most have only acquired the language to an extent that fulfills their immediate needs. All subjects continue to use English for reading, entertainment and professional functions.

An important feature of the new environment is the fact that English, the primary language of the attriters, happens to be considered a language of high prestige and utilitarian value in the new community.