Study On L1Subject Attrition By Advanced Chinese EFL Learners

Language attrition generally refers to the loss or decrease of language competence bybilinguals or multi-linguals due to ceased or reduced language use. Based on empirical research,the present study aims to analyze first language (L1) subject attrition by advanced Chinese EFL(English as a Foreign Language) learners through a combination of qualitative and quantitativeanalysis and verify Activation Threshold Theory and Selectivity of language attrition andsummarize characteristics, reasons, degree and rules of Chinese language attrition and ways toavoid it. In order to explore whether the advanced Chinese EFL learners’ Chinese subjectbehavior is affected by attrition, the study attempts to discuss the problems from the followingthree aspects:1) Non-subject sentences are allowed in Chinese, whereas subjects in English areindispensable.2) While subjects of Chinese sentences embrace a wide range of part of speech,subjects of English sentences are either nouns or noun phrases.3) Null subject in Chinesesubordinate clauses can either refer to the subject in main clause or other elements of thesentence, whereas null subject in English subordinate clauses can only refer to the subject inmain clause. In the present study,10speeded Grammaticality Judgment Task (GJT) and6Sentence Interpretation Task (SIT) are used to test whether advanced EFL learners undergoattrition or not. We find that non-subject sentences and null subject in subordinate clauses aremore vulnerable to attrition whereas the part of speech remain intact. By means of which, weconclude that linguistic items of Chinese are vulnerable to attrition if similar to that of Englishand are not vulnerable to attrition if different from that of English.