First Language Change in Turkish-English Bilinguals

This paper examines whether the first language (L1) Turkish grammar would be restructured on the model of  second language (L2) English due to prolonged L2 exposure in Turkish-English bilinguals (late L2 learners)  living in Turkey and those living in an English-speaking country. The linguistic structure under investigation  is wh-scrambling. The results of an acceptability judgment task revealed the same tendencies in the bilingual  groups and monolingual controls towards rejection of certain grammatical wh-extractions. Therefore, the  observed changes do not qualify to be L2-induced attrition effects. Rather, these findings may imply a  language-internal change towards avoidance of wh-scrambling.