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Second Language Acquisition in Holocaust Refugees: Where Political and Linguistic Identities Combine
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2013
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Swarthmore College. Dept. of Linguistics
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Thesis (B.A.)
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en_US
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Full copyright to this work is retained by the student author. It may only be used for non-commercial, research, and educational purposes. All other uses are restricted.
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Abstract
In this thesis I evaluate recordings of free-spoken L2 English data from five German- Jewish Holocaust refugees for evidence of a Critical Period-like shape of decline in language learning ability. I propose that the Critical Period - as defined by Lenneberg (1967) - can be extended past its typical end if extreme psychosocial forces are involved, like those suggested by Gardner and Lambert (1972), Larsen and Smalley (1972), and Schumann (1976). Ultimately, I find no evidence in support of this hypothesis, and instead find that the five refugees demonstrate a pattern of decline that fits in snugly with the one proposed by Lenneberg. I present a brief discussion of the results of two refugees in particular to discuss how such psychosocial forces might have been able to induce an extension of language-learning ability, and then conclude with a general summary ofpossible sources ofexperimental error.