This document discusses language maintenance and shift that can occur when speakers are exposed to a second language. There are three main outcomes: 1) language maintenance, where speakers maintain their mother tongue, 2) language shift, where speakers shift to the new second language as their main or only language, or 3) bilingualism results. Typically a "three generation shift" from the minority language to the majority language occurs, though it can take longer under certain social and cultural conditions that support maintaining the minority language for longer. A five stage shift process from minority to majority language monolingualism was also observed in some communities.