http://journals.cambridge.org Downloaded: 18 Jul 2009 IP address: 130.237.165.22 Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 12 (2), 2009, 121–140 C  2009 Cambridge University Press doi:10.1017/S1366728908004008 121 Dominant-language replacement: The case of international adoptees ∗ KENNETH HYLTENSTAM EMANUEL BYLUND NICLAS ABRAHAMSSON Centre for Research on Bilingualism, Stockholm University HYEON-SOOK PARK Department of Scandinavian Languages, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul This article challenges a recent proposal for the theoretical interpretation of L1 and L2 interaction that results from the abrupt change of language environment in internationally adopted children. According to this proposal (Pallier, Dehaene, Poline, LeBihan, Argenti, Depoux and Mehler, 2003; Ventureyra, Pallier and Yoo, 2004), such children experience a total loss of their L1, while, as adults, they exhibit a nativelike ultimate attainment of their L2. These authors suggest that what they see as a total loss of L1 allows a resetting of the neural network that normally subserves L1 retention and hence permits a complete acquisition of the L2. Data from two of our own research projects, one on L1 remnants in Korean adoptees in Sweden (see Park, forthcoming), and the other on age of acquisition and ultimate L2 attainment of Swedish (see Abrahamsson and Hyltenstam, in press), which included data from Latin American adoptees in Sweden among other participants, suggest (i) that L1 remnants are indeed maintained, (ii) that L2 attainment is NOT enhanced by severe L1 attrition, and (iii) that there is an age dimension to both the degree of L1 attrition and the level of L2 ultimate attainment in international adoptees. We therefore contend that a maturational interpretation of language replacement data is preferable. International adoption and the abrupt change of linguistic environment The adoption of children from abroad to affluent western countries has evolved over the last 50 years. In some countries statistics show a considerable recent increase; in the U.S., for example, the number of children involved has doubled over the last ten years and now amounts to approximately 22,000 per year (U.S. Department of State, 2007). In France there has been an increase from around 2,500 international adoptions per year at the end of the 1980s to approximately 4,000 per year from 2003 onwards (Minist` ere des Affaires ´ etrang´ eres, 2007). Population statistics from other countries such as Canada present a stable number of around 2,000 international adoptions yearly since 1995 (Adoption Council of Canada, 2007). In Sweden, which is the setting for the present study, the number of children adopted from other countries has been stable at approximately 1,000 per year since 1969 (MIA, 2007). The majority of international adoptions concern infants, but where statistics are available figures show that * This work was supported by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, grant No. 1999-0383:01 to K. H. and N. A. and grant no. J2001-0244:1,2,3 to H.-S. P. We would like to thank Katrin St¨ olten for carrying out the phonetic analyses of VOT production and categorical perception. We are also grateful to Christopher Stroud for comments on an earlier draft and Thomas Lavelle for checking and correcting our English writing. Address for correspondence: Centre for Research on Bilingualism, Stockholm University, SE – 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden kenneth.hyltenstam@biling.su.se between 5 and 10 percent arrive at ages 4–5 years and another 10 percent arrive at the age of 6 years or older. China, Guatemala, Russia, South Korea, and Ukraine are among the leading countries for international adoption, but many other developing or war-torn countries in Asia, Europe, South America and Africa are among the providers. It is a fact that the majority of children come from countries where the language spoken differs from the one spoken by the adoptive families. What is common to the children is that they have experienced one or more social separations, and in the majority of cases they have spent time at an institution before being adopted. While the understanding of emotional, cognitive and educational effects of international adoption is becoming fairly well established (see, e.g., van Ijzendoorn, Juffer and Klein Poelhuis, 2005), the study of linguistic effects is still limited. Nevertheless, it is clear that whatever L1 development has taken place before the adoption, within a period of time with no exposure to this language in the new linguistic environment, the child rapidly becomes unable to use the L1 (Glennen and Masters, 2002). The length of this period may be weeks or months depending on the age at adoption and corresponding L1 development of the individual child. It is important to note that even children who have been adopted as late as around the age of 10 are reported to be unable to use their L1 after a relatively brief period of time (Gardell, 1979; Hene, 1987, 1993). Internationally adopted children are thus unique as language acquirers. They are similar to L1 learners in that