What returnee bilinguals may teach us about language attrition, language stabilization, and individualvariation

Abstract This epistemological article explores the phenomena of language attrition and stabilization in returnees — bilinguals who spent formative years abroad and later returned to their parents’ homeland. Drawing on empirical and longitudinal research, the paper distinguishes between two returnee profiles: heritage speakers returning to their parents’ country of origin and children who temporarily lived abroad due to parental relocation. Both groups experience a drastic shift in linguistic input, offering a unique window into mechanisms of language development, decline, and re-stabilization. The focus lies on the attrition of early-acquired L2s following return, under conditions of input loss. Studies reviewed here demonstrate how age of return, L2 proficiency, literacy, and continued exposure modulate the rate and depth of attrition. Evidence from case studies — such as German-speaking children returning to Turkey or Portugal — shows that children who return before puberty are especially vulnerable to rapid attrition. In contrast, Japanese–English returnees often retain aspects of their L2, attributed to more consistent post-return input. We support a multidimensional approach to language attrition that integrates linguistic, cognitive, and environmental variables. Returnees serve as a crucial population for refining theories of bilingual development, revealing how input shifts, maturation, and individual differences interact to shape language trajectories.