First language attrition

This statement opens the first collection of papers that specifically consider the deterioration of linguistic knowledge among bilinguals (Lambert & Freed 1982: see timeline), a field which in one of the papers in the volume is referred to as being in an ?antenatal? state (Berko-Gleason 1982: 22). Thirty years down the line it is still a fact that far less is known about the loss or attrition of language skills than about their acquisition.