On the Complexity On the Complexity of Transferof Transfer

in Multilingualismin Multilingualism

Patricia BayonaPatricia BayonaPhD CandidatePhD Candidate

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Transfer phenomena has mainly been approached from the generative and psycholinguistic perspectives.

Theoretical proposals on transfer imply specific assumptions regarding the nature of language’s -and interlanguage’s- mental representation, as well as regarding the nature of the acquisition process.

.

On transferOn transfer

Role of previously acquired

languages

Motivationfor transfer

Directionality of transfer

Nature of interlanguage

It will be discussed:

Transfer viewed from:

Müller(1998)

Füller(1999)

Pavlenko & Jarvis(2002)

Generative perspectiveGenerative perspective

Both UG and L1 grammar are determining influences on the form and functioning of the interlanguage grammar.

GenerativeGenerative• Full Transfer-Full Access (Schwartz&Sprouse 1986):

L1 representation is fully implicated in the interlanguage lexicon; lexical entries can be restructured on the basis of L2 input.

• Minimal Trees Hypothesis (Vainikka and Young-Scholten 1994): Initial grammars contain lexical categories, but lack of functional categories. They would subsequently emerge.

• Valueless Features Hypothesis (Eubank 1996):L1’s features strength do not transfer. They are ‘inert’.

Müller (1998)Müller (1998) Reviews longitudinal studies on the

acquisition of word order in German subordinate clauses.

Children encounter great amount of variability in adult German word order in subordinate clauses that accept verb-final and non-verb-final order as well.

Müller (1998)Müller (1998) The children who produce word order

errors have two separate grammatical systems.

Errors made in bilingual language development are due to transfer of features from the other language

Müller (1998)Müller (1998) Transfer emerges as a relief strategy in

bilinguals who face ambiguous input The learner, due to economy principles,

develops a new generalization which outranks the old generalization -the parameter.

This new ‘subrutine’ occurs based on positive evidence the child may have of grammatical analysis in the recipient language (not ‘blind transfer’).

Müller (1998)Müller (1998) Hulk (1998). 1. This ‘relief strategy’ not only takes the

form of transfer, or involves ‘subparameters’.

2. Term ‘crosslinguistic influence’ instead of ‘transfer’.

Schlyter (1998)Possibility of bidirectional transfer.

Psycholinguistic Psycholinguistic perspectivesperspectives

Social-psychological factors influence the production of languages

Füller (1999)Füller (1999)

MLF model on L2 acquisition.

Bilingual interlanguage is comparable to

codeswitching, where lexical structure may be split and recombined to construct interlanguage.

Füller (1999)Füller (1999)

Case study based on telephonic conversations between a young female L1 English, and L2s Spanish and German, and her grandmother L1s Spanish and German, and L2 English.

German-English-Spanish codeswitching

Füller (1999)Füller (1999) The speaker creates a composite ML with

bilingual interlanguage. Transferred knowledge from previously

learned languages will provide the speaker with the lexical complexity required in communication.

Language structures are not assumed to be hierarchical, but evenly linked according to structural convergence.

Pavlenko & Jarvis (2002)Pavlenko & Jarvis (2002)

Study framed within multicompetence framework:

Individuals who know more than one language have a distinct

compound state of mind that is not equivalent to two monolingual states (Cook 1991)

Pavlenko & Jarvis (2002)Pavlenko & Jarvis (2002)

Narratives collected in Russian and English, by Russian individuals who had lived in English speaking environments between 3 and 8 years.

Transfer can be bidirectional, with influence in both L1 and L2.

Transfer can be simultaneous or synchronic

Pavlenko & Jarvis (2002)Pavlenko & Jarvis (2002)

Syntagmatic and paradigmatic transfer extends beyond semantic representations to areas of formal linguistic competence that were thought to be part of an adult speaker’s ‘steady state’.

These findings open the possibility of exploration on bidirectional transfer, transfer between more than two languages, and attrition of one or more of the languages involved under the influence of another language.

It will be discussed:

Transfer viewed from:

Müller(1998)

Füller(1999)

Pavlenko & Jarvis(2002)

Relief strategy for ambiguous input

Bilingual interlanguageComparable to codeswitching

Bidirectionaltransfer

ReferencesReferencesEubank, Lynn. "Negation in Early German-English Interlanguage: More Valueless

Features in the L2 Initial State."Second Language Research 12.1 (1996): 73-106.Fuller, Janet M. "Between Three Languages: Composite Structure in Interlanguage."Applied Linguistics 20.4 (1999): 534-61.Hulk, Aafke and Elizabeth Ven Der Linden. "Evidence for Transferin Bilingual Children?" Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 1.3 (1998): 177-80.Muller, Natasha. "Transfer in Bilingual First Language Acquisition." Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 1.3 (1998): 151-71.Muller, Natasha. "Really Transfer?" Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 1.3 (1998): 189-92.Pavlenko, Aneta and Scott Jarvis. "Bidirectional Transfer." Applied Linguistics 23.2 (2002): 190-214.Schlyter, Suzanne. "Directionality in Transfer?" Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 1.3 (1998): 183-84.Schwartz, Bonnie and Rex Sprouse. "L2 Cognitive States and the Full Transfer/Full Access Model." Second Language Research 12.1 (1996): 40-72.Vainikka, Anne and Martha Young-Scholten. "Gradual Development of L2 Phrase Structure." Second Language Research 12.1 (1996): 7-39.White, Lydia. Second Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar. Cambridge Textbooks in Linguisitics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.