Transcript CLI presentation for ANG1067

Practical Grammar I
Crosslinguistic Influence
October 5, 2010
Remember from your reading?
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pizza all-dressed
subvention
verify
lectures
pass the vacuum cleaner
and the quintessential
open and close the lights
What do these tell you?
• In a bilingual mind, two
scenarios are possible to
explain the phenomenon;
– We have two word banks
but the door between the
two is leaky…
– We have one word bank
with labels for things in
different languages. E.g.
pencil and crayon for the
thin cylindrical object we use
to write.
Why use translation studies?
• Translating is exactly what
we do constantly when we
are using a language other
than our L1;
• Our native language (L1)
seeps through into our L2
speech patterns,
pronunciation, and writing;
What is Crosslinguistic Influence?
• CLI is the term now used to
include language transfer,
negative transfer and
interference.
• In the past, researchers
believed that if we studied
the differences between
two languages, we could
be better translators or
teachers.
Is CLI universal to all languages?
• CLI research is informed by
language typology, that is
seeing language on a
continuum from relatively easy
to relatively difficult. English is
closer to the easy end than
French is and languages such
as Vietnamese and Korean are
at the difficult end.
• CLI is also informed by
contrastive linguistics, which
studies the differences between
languages.
What about French and English?
• Because of the different
nature of French and
English, CLI occurs
frequently in L2 learners
and in translation.
• We will look at the eleven
most representative
occurrences of CLI, for
grammar only. They are
broken down by category.
Indefinite Articles
• In French, we do not use
an indefinite article when
referring to a person’s
profession;
• E.g. She is kindergarten
professor.
Definite Articles
• In French, the definite
article is used for
generalization;
• E.g. The singing takes
practice.
• E.g. The DVDs are more
expensive than the CDs.
Definite Articles
• French requires the use of
a definite article with
proper nouns;
• E.g. The Professor Valentine
teaches in Trois-Rivières.
Verbs and Verbals
• The French verb system has
no progressive forms;
• E.g. The syndicate still
negotiate the agreement.
• E.g. When I arrived in class,
he studied.
Verbs and Verbals
• Tense boundaries are
different in English and
French;
• E.g. I study here for two
years.
• E.g. She has left Saturday
morning.
Verbs and Verbals
• In French, there is no
distinction between the
gerund and the infinitive;
• E.g. She avoids to walk on
the dark street.
• E.g. I enjoy to eat
brochette.
Word Order
• The verb-subject order
differs in French and
English;
• E.g. I knew what would
decide the directorgeneral.
Word Order
• In French, adverbs can be
placed between the verb
and the object or before
the verb;
• E.g. I like very much
poutine.
• E.g. The students efficiently
organized the
manifestation.
Sentence Structure
• French makes use of ‘that’
clauses rather than the
infinitive;
• E.g. I want that you start
the dossier before you
leave.
• E.g. The cash wants that I
endorse my cheque.
Pronouns
• French makes no
distinction between human
and non-human for
relative pronoun use
(which/who);
• E.g. Here is the student
which you met in
September.
• E.g. The people which
arrived will start the classe
d’accueil next month.
Pronouns
• In French, possessive
determiners refer to the xxx
instead of the
• E.g. Annie went to the
cinema with his father.
• E.g. Leo’s mother broke his
arm when she fell on the
ice.
Practice
• 1. He could see her often.
• 2. He is a big fan of this baseball star.
• 3. If someone tried to stop these
gangsters, he would be killed.
• 4. It could be that he has not thought
about this enough.
• 5. He is wanting to get back to his
studies.
• 6. The author gives examples of
abbreviations. Some forms can be
pronounced as initialisms and
acronyms (‘UFO’ or ‘you-foe’). Others
mix these types in the one word (CDROM).
• 7. This stands in sharp contrast to
Nicholson-Lord’s opinion.
More Practice
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8. They paid him little attention.
9. We have never had it so good.
10. His career seemed ended.
11. Latin has given place to English
now.
12. A reader with small knowledge of
the language could not understand
such a text.
13. Her reason was quite other.
14. They have tried this quite often in
the past, but they have never been
successful.
15. He is a successful person in all
ways.
Bibliography
• http://college.hmco.com/
english/raimes/keys_writers
/3e/instructors/esl/transfer.
html
• http://www.dirksiepmann.de/Teacher_Trai
ning/Would_you_have_ma
rked_it_wrong/would_you_
have_marked_it_wrong.ht
ml