Variable Scope And Closures

Given the following working code:

function attributes() {
var attr1 = arguments[0] || '_'
var attr2 = arguments[1] || '_'
return (
function (el1, el2) {
var value1 = el1[attr1] + el1[attr2];
var value2 = el2[attr1] + el2[attr2];
if (value1 > value2) return 1;
else if (value1 < value2) return -1;
else return 0;
}
);
}

var a = [
{ a:'smith', b:'john' },
{ a:'jones', b:'bob' },
{ a:'smith', b:'jane' }
];
a.sort(attributes('a', 'b'));
for (var i =0; i < a.length; i++) {
document.write(a[i].a + ', ' + a[i].b + '<br>');
}

My question is, are attr1 and attr2 guaranteed to exist through
the lifetime of a.sort(attributes('a', 'b'))?

As I understand it, the anonymous inner function reference I am
returning is a property of attributes(). As such, when I return a
reference to the anonymous inner function, the outer attributes()
function must continue to exist (as must attr1 and att2) until
there are no further references to the inner anonymous function.

As a result, there is no danger of attr1 or attr2 "disappearing"
during the repeated calling of the anonymous inner function.

Is my explanation basically correct, or am I deluding myself and
I'm just lucky that the garbage collector hasn't recovered attr1
or attr2 while the sort is still going on? In other words, is the
behaviour I'm seeing consistent and predictable, or should I
change my approach?