Language transfer 语言迁移.docx

Language transfer 语言迁移.docx

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Languagetransfer语言迁移

NegativeTransferinForeignLanguageLearning

Abstract

Accordingtothelanguagetransfertheory,itisassumedthatthelearner’smothertonguewillpositivelyornegativelyaffectone’slearningaforeignlanguage.Whentherearedifferencesbetweenone’smothertongueandtargetlanguage,themothertonguetendstointerferewiththelearningoftheforeignlanguage.Thispaperattemptstogiveabriefanalysisofnegativetransferinstudents’pronunciation,vocabulary,grammarandculturelearning.Italsodiscusseswhatpedagogicalconcernstheexistenceofnegativetransferwarrantsandwhatlearnerscandotoreducetheinfluenceofnegativetransfer.

Keywords:

Nativelanguage,Negativetransfer,pedagogicalimplication

1.Introduction

Languagetransferhasbeenanimportantissueinappliedlinguistics,secondlanguageacquisitionandlanguagelearning.Whenlanguagelearnershavebeenusingtheirnativelanguageformanyyears,theyareverylikelytotransferthoserolesintheirmothertongueintotheforeignlanguagethattheyarelearning.That’swhatwecallnegativetransfer.Therefore,differencesbetweenthenativelanguageandtheforeignlanguageshouldbetakenintoconsiderationtofindoutwhatdifficultiesmightbe.Atthesametime,teachersaswellaslearnersshouldcomeupwithsolutionstoreducetheinfluenceofnegativetransfer.

2.Definingnegativetransfer

Languagetransferreferstospeakersorwritersapplyingknowledgefromtheirnativelanguagetoasecondlanguage.Whentherelevantunitorstructureofbothlanguagesisthesame,linguisticinterferencecanresultincorrectlanguageproductioncalledpositivetransfer.However,thatlanguageinterferenceismostoftendiscussedasasourceoferrorsknownasnegativetransfer.Negativetransferoccurswhenspeakersandwriterstransferitemsandstructuresthatarenotthesameinbothlanguages.Withinthetheoryofcontrastiveanalysis,thegreaterthedifferencesbetweenthetwolanguages,themorenegativetransfercanbeexpected.

3.ManifestationsofthenegativetransferinEnglishlearning

3.1Negativetransferinpronunciation

Whenpeoplehearaspeakerwitha“foreignaccent”,theyoftentrytoguessthespeaker’sbackground.Oftentheclueseemstobehowtheindividualtalks.Insuchcases,questionsputtothespeakersuchas“AreyouGerman?

”“AreyouSpanish?

”or“AreyouAsian?

”suggestanintuitionaboutthenatureoflanguage,anawareness,howeverunconscious,thatthenativelanguageofaspeakercansomehowcausetheindividualtosound“foreign”inspeakinganotherlanguage.Thedetectionofforeignaccentsisoneexampleoftheawarenessthatpeopleoftenhaveoflanguagetransferinpronunciation.

3.1.1Negativetransferinsegmentallevel

Somedifficultiesinpronouncinginaccuratelyarecausedbythenon-existenceofthephonemesinthemothertongue.Take/v/and/θ/foranexample.ManyEnglishlearnersmispronouncethemastheydonotexistinMandarin,andtheirmistakescanbeattributedtothesimilarityofthesetwosoundswithChinese[w]and[s].Chineselearners’performancesonthesoundof/æ/arenotquitesatisfying,forthephonemeisoftenreplacedby[e],asoundthatisclosetoChinese[ai],andthushappinessorappleismispronouncedbymanylearners.Twolanguagesalsofrequentlyhavesoundswhichmayseemidenticalbutwhichinfactareacousticallydifferentandmaybeperceivedtobedivergentfromthetargetbythelistener.Forexample,acomparisonofanEnglish∕d∕withaSaudiArabianArabic∕d∕showsseveraldifferences.Amongthedifferences,thedurationofanEnglish∕d∕attheendofawordtendstobeshorterthanitsArabiccounterpart.

3.1.2Negativetransferinsuprasegmentallevel

Althoughcross-linguisticinfluencesonpronunciationfrequentlyinvolvesegmentalcontrasts,theinfluencesarealsofrequentlyevidentinsuprasegmentalcontrastsinvolvingstress,tone,rhythm,andotherfactors.

StresspatternsarecrucialinpronunciationinEnglishsincetheyaffectsyllablesinEnglishbetweencertainnounsandverbs,suchasbetweencombineCOMbineandcomBINE.Thefirstsyllableinthesetwowordshasadifferentvowelsound,withthesoundvaryingaccordingtotheacousticprominenceofthesyllable.Suchinteractionshaveimportantimplicationsnotonlyforspeechproductionbutalsoforcomprehension.Whennon-nativespeakersdonotuseastresspatternthatisanorminthetargetlanguage,thiscanresultinatotalmisperceptionbylisteners.EveryEnglishwordhasadefiniteplaceforthestressandoneisnotallowedtochangeit.  InChinese,stressdoesnothavegreatinfluence.ThusstresserrorsarefrequentlycommittedbyaChineselearner.

Oneofthemostimportanttypologicaldistinctionsbetweenlanguagesinvolvestoneandintonation.Chineseisa“tonelanguage”.Ithasfourtones,thatis,theleveltone,therisingtone,thefalling-risingtoneandthefallingtone.Thesyllable“ma”represents“mother”whenitisusedwithahighleveltone,and“horse”withalowrisingtone.Incontrast,Englishwordshavenofixedtonesandtheirmeaningsarenotidentifiedbytones.Infact,thewordsinEnglishsentencesareinfluencedbydifferentintonation.Differentintonationcanexpressdifferentcommunicativeintentions,attitudesandemotions.Inotherwords,themeaningofawordinoneEnglishsentencenotonlyhasthemeaningofvocabularybutalsothemeaningofthecorrespondingintonation.WhenChinesestudentsreadEnglishsentences,theyareapttoreplacetheEnglishintonationwithfixedlexicaltonesinsteadofsubordinatingthelexicaltonestothesentenceintonation.Asaresult,everyEnglishwordispronouncedclearly.Thus,theflexibilityofEnglishwordsisdestroyed.

3.2Negativetransferinvocabulary

Afundamentalissueinthestudyofsemantictransferistherelationbetweenlanguageandthought.Expressionssuchas“learningtothinkinEnglish”reflectacommonbeliefthatlearningaparticularlanguagerequiresadoptingaworldviewwhich,tosomeextent,isuniquetothatlanguage.WhenChineselearnersstartlearningEnglish,theyhavebeenequippedwiththedeep-rootedChinesewayofthinkingandtheirmothertongueinevitablyinfluencestheirlearning,especiallythelearningofvocabulary.

3.2.1Thenegativetransfercausedbythenon-equivalentconceptualmeaningofwords

Theconceptualmeaningisalsocalleddenotativeorcognitivemeaning,istheessentialandinextricablepartofwhatlanguageis,andiswidelyregardedasthecentralfactorinverbalcommunication.Thenegativetransferoftenoccurswhenthereisonlyapartialidentityofconceptualmeaning.“ItwasquitewarmwhenIgothere,buttheclimatesuddenlychanged.”“Climate”referstotheaverageweatherconditionsataparticularplaceoveraperiodofyears,butinthissentence,thechangemeanstheparticularconditionatacertaintime,so“weather”isthecorrectchoice.Tosomestudents,thesetwowordshavethesameconceptualmeaning.It’shardforthemtotellthedifferencesothattheyusuallytakeitforgrantedthatthesetwowordscouldbeusedindiscriminately.

Let’slookatanotherexample.“HealsostudiesFrenchexceptEnglish.“Except”means“butnot,leavingout”.So“exceptEnglish”meansthatEnglishisnotthesubjectheislearning.Butwhenwelookatthesecondword“also”,it’sobviousthattheword“except”isnotcorrect.“Besides”shouldbetherightanswerasitmeans“aswellas”.Chineselearnerstendtomixuptheconceptualmeaningsofthesetwowordsfortheynotperceivethedistinctionbetweenthem.

3.2.2Thenegativetransfercausedbythenon-equivalentconnotativemeaningofword

Connotativemeaningisthecommunicativevaluethatawordoracombinationofwordshasbyvirtueofwhatitrefersto,overandaboveitspurelyconceptualcontent.Comparedwithconceptualmeaning,connotativemeaningisperipheral,andrelativelyunstable,thatis,itmayvaryaccordingtoculture,historicalperiod,andtheexperienceoftheindividual.WhenwestudyEnglish,weusuallymemorizeagroupofwordssuchasgrin,beam,smileandsmirk.Theyarealltypesofsmile.Therealdifferencesbetweenthemlieintheirconnotativemeanings.Beamisasmilewhichconnoteshappiness,whilesmirkisasmilewhichconnotesgloatingofsomekind.MostChineselearnersfindithardtodistinguishtheconnotativemeaningsofwords,especiallywordswhicharecalledsynonyms.

Incompositions,somelearnersusetheword“peasant”whichhasaderogatorymeaninginthepresentEnglishdictionary.Itreferstopersonswithouteducationormanners.Ifsomeoneusesthiswordintheircommunication,theyholdcontemptonthatperson.Therefore,westernersprefertousetheword“farmer.”Withoutknowingtheconnotativemeaningofdifferentwords,learnersareverylikelytocommitmistakes.

3.3Negativetransferingrammar

Thereareoftengrammaticalrestrictionsfoundinonelanguagebutnotinanotherandsuchrestrictionscanoccasiondifficulty.AFrench-speakingstudentmaymakeasentencelikethis:

Atsixty-fiveyearsoldtheymustretirethemselvesbecausethisisaruleofsociety.Whiletheform“retire”reflectsatrueFrench-Englishcognate,theFrenchlexicalitemhasagrammaticalrestrictionthattheESLstudentappliederroneouslytotheEnglishform-theuseofthereflexivepronounisnecessaryinFrench,whereastheuseoftheEnglishreflexivethemselvesisnotgrammaticalinthecontextofthesentence.

3.3.1NegativetransferinSyntaxlevel

Agreatdealofevidencehasbeenfoundforsyntacticnegativetransferinstudiesofwordorder,relativeclauses,andnegation.

3.3.1.1Wordorder

Wordorderhasbeenoneofthemostintensivelystud