Fossilization (Second-Language Acquisition)

In linguistics, fossilization describes two related phenomena: the persistence of ancient linguistic features that have lost their original grammatical function, and the loss of productivity in a grammatical pattern, such as an affix, that nonetheless remains present in a fixed set of words. The related concept of interlanguage fossilization refers to the common, persistent errors most adult second-language learners make, distinct from the usage of native speakers, typically erroneous generalizations or oversimplified rules classified as phonological, lexical, syntactic or pragmatic fossilization. These fossilized errors tend to persist regardless of how much further exposure to the language or additional education a learner receives, a finding with direct implications for how much correction and instruction can realistically be expected to change an adult learner's entrenched error patterns.