CAN WE FORGET OUR MOTHER TONGUE?

The assignment is being compiled as an individual assignment of Psycholinguistics course

Lecturer: Dr. Sholihatul Hamidah Daulay, S.Ag, M.Hum

Compiled by

RABI’ATUN ADAWIYAH
0333213002

MAGISTER TADRIS’ ENGLISH

PROGRAM
FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND
TEACHERS TRAINING
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE PROGRAM
NORTH SUMATERA
2021
 PREFACE

First of all, thanks to Allah SWT because of the help of Allah, writer finished writing
the assignment entitled “Can We Forget Our Mother Tongue?” right in the calculated time.
The purpose in writing this assignment is to fulfill the assignment that given by Dr.
Sholihatul Hamidah Daulay, S.Ag, M.Hum as a lecturer in Psycholinguistics major. 
In arranging this assignment, the writer truly get lots challenges and obstructions
but with help of many individuals, those obstructions could passed. Writer also realized
there are still many mistakes in process of writing this assignment.
Because of that, the writer says thank you to all individuals who helps in the process
of writing this assignment. Hopefully Allah replies all helps and bless you all. The writer
realized that this assignment still imperfect in arrangement and the content. Then the
writer hope the criticism from the readers can help the writer in perfecting the next
assignment. Hopefully, this assignment can helps the readers to gain more knowledge
about Psycholinguistics major.

Gayo Lues, December 12th 2021

Writers
 ABSTRACT

Abstract. The purpose of writing this assignment is to find out “Can We Forget Our
Mother Tongue?” Research on children adopted abroad found that a nine-year-old
can almost completely forget their first language when they are moved from their
country of birth. But in adults, first language seems impossible to completely forget
except in extreme conditions. Such loss of language skills is an exception. In most
migrants, the mother tongue is more or less present with the new language in
memory. How well a mother tongue is defended has a lot to do with talent in a
person: people who tend to be good at languages tend to be better at defending their
mother tongue, no matter how long they are away from home. But mother tongue
proficiency is also very strongly linked to how we regulate language differences in
our brains. This study aims to find out how you can forget your mother tongue, even
as an adult. But why and how this happens is complicated and beyond reason.
Keywords: first language, second language, and loss of first language
INTRODUCTION
Humans have a biological heritage that is innate from birth in the form of their
ability to communicate with a special human language and it has nothing to do with
intelligence or thought. Language ability has little correlation with human IQ. Normal
children's language skills are the same as children with disabilities. Language ability is
closely related to parts of human anatomy and physiology, such as certain parts of the
brain that underlie language and the cortical topography that is specific to language. The
level of language development of children is the same for all normal children; all children
can be said to follow the same pattern of language development, namely first mastering the
principles of division and patterns of perception. Lack of just a little can symbolize the
development of a child's language. Language cannot be taught to other creatures. Language
is universal. The acquisition of a first language is closely related to the gradual beginnings
that arise from pre-linguistic motor, social, and cognitive achievements.
The process of learning a language develops through several stages. The
intermediate level of competence is called transitional competence or intermediate
language. Each intermediate language represents a level of competence that contains both
true and false forms in the language being studied. There are four competencies, namely
formal competence, semantic competence, communication competence, and creativity. The
four competencies are mastered gradually. There are four acquisitions in language
learning, namely mastering the sounds of the language, mastering the form of words,
mastering sentences, and mastering meaning. These four acquisitions gradually take place
automatically and are eventually used by students to communicate in everyday life.
When we learn a foreign language, we do it through our mother tongue (often
termed the L1). The L1 is the linguistic system that we acquire during infancy, and it
constitutes the intermediary that enables us to tame a foreign, unknown language. We
translate unfamiliar words and often insert them into familiar grammatical structures.
Little by little, the new language takes root in our minds. We start to become accustomed to
the new sounds, and we begin to use the language in a more direct and automatic way,
without necessarily having to reference the original language. We start to speak the new
language with a degree of fluency.
Multiple linguistic systems can be active simultaneously in the brain of someone
who becomes bilingual, or multilingual, later in life. Language attrition can occur due to
these languages impacting upon and interfering with one another. Depending on the
frequency with which the linguistic systems are activated, one can become dominant while
the other sinks into the depths of our memory in such a way that it becomes difficult for
our brain to recall it (or aspects of it).
 L1 attrition, or first language attrition, is governed by two main factors: the
increasing use and dominance of the L2, or learned language, and the reduction of exposure
to the L1. This attrition tends to make itself evident in the constriction of the speaker’s
vocabulary, while knowledge of grammar (structure) and phonology (sound) remains more
stable. A speaker’s attitude and motivation toward his or her new and native languages can
also have an effect on language attrition.
THEORITICAL LITERATURE
First Language Acquisition Process
The process of children starting to recognize verbal communication with their
environment is called child language acquisition. The acquisition of the first language (L1)
(children) occurs when the child who was originally without a language has now acquired
one language. During the acquisition of children's language, children are more focused on
the function of communication than the form of language. Children's language acquisition
can be said to have the characteristics of continuity, having a continuum, which moves from
simple one-word utterances to more complex word combinations.
There are two definitions of language acquisition. First, language acquisition has a
sudden, sudden beginning. Second, language acquisition has a gradual beginning that arises
from pre-linguistic motor, social, and cognitive achievements. The acquisition of the first
language (L1) is closely related to cognitive development, namely first, if the child can
produce utterances based on a well-ordered grammar, it does not automatically imply that
the child has mastered the language in question well. Second, the speaker must acquire the
'cognitive categories' that underlie the various expressive meanings of natural languages,
such as words, spaces, modalities, causality, and so on. Cognitive requirements for language
acquisition are more demanded in second language acquisition (L2) than in first language
acquisition (L1).
The acquisition of the first language is closely related to the social development of
children and therefore also closely related to the formation of social identity. Learning a
first language is one of the overall developments of a child to become a full member of a
society. Language makes it easy for children to express their ideas, desires in a way that is
truly socially acceptable. Language is a medium that children can use to acquire cultural,
moral, religious, and other values in society. In pursuing a language acquisition, children
are guided by the principle or philosophy of 'be someone else with a little difference', or
'get or get a social identity and within it, and develop your own personal identity'.
From an early age, babies have interacted in their social environment. A mother
often gives the baby the opportunity to participate in social communication with him.
That's when babies first recognize socialization, that this world is a place where people
share their feelings with each other. Through the special language of the first language (L1),
a child learns to become a member of society. L1 becomes one of the means to express
feelings, desires, and opinions, in the forms of language that are considered to exist. He also
learns that there are forms that are unacceptable to members of his community, he is not
always allowed to express his feelings clearly.
Second Language Acquisition Process
 Language acquisition is different from language learning. Adults have two distinct,
independent, and independent ways of developing competence in a second language. First,
language acquisition is a process that coincides with the way children do. Develop skills in
their first language. Language acquisition is a subconscious process. Language acquirers
are not always aware of the fact that they use language to communicate.
Second, to develop competence in a second language can be done by learning the
language. Children acquire language, whereas adults can only learn it. However, there is an
acquired learning hypothesis which demands that as adults also acquire language, the
ability to pick up language does not disappear at puberty. Adults can also take advantage of
the same natural language acquisition tools that children use. Acquisition is a very
powerful process in adults. Acquisition and learning can be distinguished in five ways,
namely acquisition:
1. Has the same characteristics as the acquisition of a first language, a native speaker child,
while language learning is formal knowledge.
2. Subconsciously, while learning is conscious and intentional.
3. A second language is like picking up a second language, while learning to know a second
language.
4. Get knowledge implicitly, while learning gets knowledge explicitly.
5. Acquisition does not help children's abilities, while learning helps a lot.
There are two ways of acquiring a second language, namely guided acquisition of a
second language and natural acquisition of a second language. The acquisition of a second
language taught to students by presenting material that has been understood. The material
depends on the criteria determined by the teacher. The strategies used by a teacher are in
accordance with what is considered the most suitable for the students.
The acquisition of a second language naturally is the acquisition of a second/foreign
language that occurs in daily communication, free from teaching or leadership, teachers.
There is no uniformity of way. Each individual acquires a second language in their own
way. Interaction demands language communication and encourages language acquisition.
Two important features of natural second language acquisition or spontaneous interaction
are that they occur in everyday communication, and are free from deliberate systematic
leadership.
Relationship between First Language Acquisition and Second Language Acquisition
Language acquisition features include overall vocabulary, overall morphology,
overall syntax, and mostly phonology. The term second language acquisition or second
language acquisition is the acquisition that begins at or after the age of 3 or 4 years. There
is second language acquisition for children and second language acquisition for adults.
There are five main points regarding the relationship between first language
acquisition and second language acquisition. One of the differences between first language
acquisition and second language acquisition is that first language acquisition is an essential
component of a child's cognitive and social development, while second language
acquisition occurs after a child's cognitive and social development has been completed.
errors, while in second language acquisition it rarely occurs, in first language acquisition
and second language there are similarities in the order of acquisition of grammatical items,
many different variables between first language acquisition and language acquisition.
Second, a distinctive feature between the acquisition of the first language and the second
language does not necessarily exist even though there are similarities between the two
acquisitions.
There are three kinds of influences on the second language learning process, namely the
effect on word order and due to the translation process, the effect on bound morphemes,
and the influence of the first language although the content effect is very weak (small).
Input and Interaction in Language Acquisition Process
A child will be faced with two mastery of languages in learning a second language
(L2), namely acquiring the first language while he himself will try to learn a second
language. Intermediate language is a form of speech that has not or there is no model in
both languages, both first language and second language, source language and target
language, mother tongue and language studied. Idieosincretion is a form of speech that is
not found in the second or learned language model. The process of learning a language
develops through several stages. The intermediate level of competence is called
transitional competence or intermediate language. Each intermediate language represents
a level of competence that contains both true and false forms in the language being studied.
There are four competencies, namely formal competence, semantic competence,
communication competence, and creativity. The four competencies are mastered gradually.
There are four acquisitions in language learning, namely mastering the sounds of the
language, mastering the form of words, mastering sentences, and mastering meaning.
These four acquisitions gradually take place automatically and are eventually used by
students to communicate in everyday life.
There are three main problems in the learning process, namely (1) the unavoidable
difference between dominance in the brains of students who learn the first language and
the inability of students to master the second language, (2) implicit-explicit choices, (3) and
dilemma of communication with codes. There are hypotheses arranged in sections related
to the components of second language acquisition in terms of generality, situation, input,
student differences, linguistic processes and outputs. This general aspect hypothesis
discusses how to acquire a second language, whether it follows natural development or not,
and whether there is diversity between them, how vertically and how horizontally. The
situational hypothesis discusses situational factors, namely who is addressed to whom,
when, about what, and where and whether it affects the developmental sequence or not,
whether it is the main cause of language acquisition. The input hypothesis or input
discusses input and interaction at the same time, whether it can determine the
development of acquisition or not. The hypothesis of student differences concerns the
personality of language learners in terms of attitudes, perceptions, interests and
motivations, as well as whether the first language can affect the development of acquisition.
The learner processes hypothesis discusses intermediate language, language universality
and corollary. The linguistic output hypothesis concerns the nature of linguistic output,
whether formulaic or not, creative or monotonous, variable or not, dynamic or static,
systemic or systematic.
Things That Cause a Person's First Language Ability to Lose
The loss of a native's first language ability is called language attrition. How and what
causes a native to lose his first language ability?
1. War trauma and emotional trauma
We often see in the news, movies or dramas when a person is unable to speak
after experiencing an event that is physically damaging and mentally disturbed. This
can happen temporarily or permanently in various forms such as being unable to
speak, stuttering to forgetting a certain event in the past. Launching from BBC.com,
Dr. Monika Schmid, Professor of Linguistics at the Essex University, UK states that
emotional trauma such as some of the German Jews who fled during the Holocaust
lost their first language. The greater the trauma level, the more severe the loss of
their first language. An English speaker for 23 years lost his language skills after 5
years free from capture by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. His father, said that he
had difficulty speaking in his mother tongue. The two examples above are only some
of the real examples. There are, of course, various other examples surrounding the
reader.
2. Move to an area with another language for a long time
A person who moves to an area with a language other than his first language
makes that person able to master a second language or another foreign language. Dr.
Aneta Pavlenko, a teacher of Russian from Temple University in Philadelphia, states
that the difficulty of remembering a person's first language becomes greater when
he is more immersed in a second or other foreign language than his first language.
When Dr. Aneta Pavlenko returned to the Russian-speaking community, realizing
that she had forgotten how to start a conversation while at the post office. So,
getting used to conversing with your first language or some other language is the
way to master that language.
3. More familiar with the use of words from other languages
In today's digital era, it is easy to get information sources from all over the
world. Viral phenomena often contain new vocabulary that introduces us to foreign
terms. The foreign term is better known or used because it is more understandable
or cannot be represented by the local vocabulary of the native language. Even when
the equivalent has been found, it takes time so that the equivalent for the foreign
term is accepted in the community.
4. Not speaking their first language for a long time
When a native starts speaking more often in the second, third and so on and he
rarely uses his first language, the process of language attrition can occur. The
acquisition and use of a second language has isolated natives from their first
 language abilities. Launching the BBC, Monika Schmid, a linguist from the University
of Essex who studies language attration stated "The minute you start learning
another language, the two systems start to compete with each other." Vocabulary
interference from the second language occurs in the native who experiences
language attrition. Slowly getting used to his second language and forgetting his first
language. This happens to immigrants who move for a long time to an area that uses
a different language from the area of origin of the immigrant. Still according to
Schmid, it is different if the native has a bilingual brain rather than a monolingual. A
person with a bilingual brain when looking at an object his mind can choose
between two languages for the object he sees. His brain suppresses the vocabulary
of the language it does not choose and selects the vocabulary of the language it
chooses, and vice versa. However, it is also possible for what is called a linguistic
hybrid to occur, when two native people in an immigrant area mix their languages,
because they both understand.
5. Injury occurs in certain areas of the brain
As with psychological trauma, injury to the brain in certain areas related to
language can affect a native's loss of language skills for his first language. We have
heard of someone who is unable to speak either temporarily or permanently after
an accident, fainting, coma or old age. These possibilities are the cause of injuries in
certain areas of the brain associated with language skills.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research is a descriptive research that tends to be qualitative but can also be
quantitative, according to Cavaye (1996) in a case study research it can combine two
methods through in-depth interviews, a case study can perform a qualitative analysis of
specific issues which can then be used as measurable variables, and then analyzed
quantitatively (Pendit, 2003: 256). This qualitative research was designed to obtain
information about the first language and second language experienced by my relatives who
have lived abroad for many years. Data were collected using the following instruments:
observation sheets, filing notes.
The current study involved interviewing my aunt’s friend left Finland when she was
20 and has now lived in Germany for over 50 years. In Germany, she doesn't have many
opportunities to speak Finnish, so her only practice comes when she occasionally speaks
Finnish with her relatives, which is very infrequent. What I've noticed about her Finnish
skills over this time:
1. Her understanding of the Finnish has not diminished at all
2. Her pronunciation is almost unaffected.
3. She speaks mainly fluently, but occasionally uses German phrases and grammar
4. She struggles to recall many words (she knows them, but she can't recall them on
the spot because she doesn't use them often enough).
5. Some of her Finnish words and phrases are hopelessly outdated. Basically, she's
using Finnish language from 50 years ago.
6. She uses a lot of German mannerisms even when she speaks Finnish.
 It's possible to ever forget our native language, but we will likely struggle to recall
simple words when we need them and we will probably notice foreign language idioms,
structures, pronunciations, words and mannerisms creep in as we try to speak our native
language after an extended break.

RESULTS and DISCUSSION

Most long-term migrants know what it’s like to be a slightly rusty native speaker.
The process seems obvious: the longer you are away, the more your language suffers. But
it’s not quite so straightforward. In fact, the science of why, when and how we lose our own
language is complex and often counter-intuitive. It turns out that how long you’ve been
away doesn’t always matter. Socialising with other native speakers abroad can worsen
your own native skills. And emotional factors like trauma can be the biggest factor of all.

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It’s also not just long-term migrants who are affected, but to some extent anyone who picks
up a second language. “The minute you start learning another language, the two systems start to
compete with each other,” says Monika Schmid, a linguist at the University of Essex. Schmid is a
leading researcher of language attrition, a growing field of research that looks at what makes us
lose our mother tongue. In children, the phenomenon is somewhat easier to explain since their
brains are generally more flexible and adaptable. Until the age of about 12, a person’s language
skills are relatively vulnerable to change. Studies on international adoptees have found that even
nine-year-olds can almost completely forget their first language when they are removed from their
country of birth. But in adults, the first language is unlikely to disappear entirely except in extreme
circumstances.

For example, Schmid analysed the German of elderly German-Jewish wartime

refugees in the UK and the US. The main factor that influenced their language skills wasn’t
how long they had been abroad or how old they were when they left. It was how much
trauma they had experienced as victims of Nazi persecution. Those who left Germany in the
early days of the regime, before the worst atrocities, tended to speak better German –
despite having been abroad the longest. Those who left later, after the 1938 pogrom known
as Reichskristallnacht, tended to speak German with difficulty or not at all. “It seemed very
clearly a result of this trauma,” says Schmid. Even though German was the language of
childhood, home and family, it was also the language of painful memories. The most
traumatised refugees had suppressed it. As one of them said: “I feel that Germany betrayed
me. America is my country, and English is my language.”
 CONCLUSSION

If we don’t hear your native language for years, our brain will place it in a box
and put this box on a high shelf in the back of the closet that is our memory. It
figures we won’t be needing it anymore and as such makes other things – such as
the language we are using every day - easier to retrieve. The box will get covered in
dust and the tools inside will get stiff and rusty. It will feel like the box was
somehow lost, lost in the labyrinth of all the things you used to be and wish we
could remember. But the box is not lost. It’s sitting there right where you left it, next
to your first ever telephone number, the name of that scruffy boy that used to be
your friend and the secret nook where the two of we hid the multi-use pocket knife.
One day we’ll hear a song in this language and it will rustle the box.
This rustling feels sweet and primal, like catching a whiff of the bread our mom
used to make for the holidays. It clears some of the dust off the top of our language
box. This un-dusting feels so painful and right that you decide to travel to a country
where the language spoken is the one we used to communicate in so many years
ago. We step out of the plane and every word is a long lost friend, something you
recognize rather than something you have to learn. And sure, decades old rust
cannot be completely removed right away. But, stay a while. Listen to the radio and
read and watch TV and immerse yourself. All this will lubricate and oil and restore,
until all the instruments before you are once again gleaming and trusty and new.