Explorations of Language Transfer

By (author) Dr. Terence Odlin

Publication date:

13 May 2022

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

234x156mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781788929547

When learners of a new language draw on their native language (or on any other that they may know), this earlier acquired linguistic knowledge may influence their success. Such cross-linguistic influence, also known as language transfer, has long raised questions about what linguists can predict about success in the new language and about what processes are involved in using prior knowledge. This book lucidly brings together many insights on transfer: e.g. on the relation between translation and transfer, the relation between comprehension and production, and the problem of how complete any predictions of difficulty may ever be. The discussions also explore implications for future research and for classroom practice. The book will thus serve as a reliable guide for teachers, researchers, translators, interpreters, and students curious about language contact.

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. Introduction

Part 1: Predictions and Constraints

Chapter 2. Was There Really Ever a Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis?

Chapter 3. Could a Contrastive Analysis Ever be Complete?

Chapter 4. Word-order Transfer, Metalinguistic Awareness and Constraints on Foreign Language Learning

Part 2: Language-specific Processing and Transfer

Chapter 5. Language Transfer and the Link between Comprehension and Production

Chapter 6. Focus Constructions and Language Transfer

Chapter 7. Translation and Language Transfer

Chapter 8. Conclusion

References

Index

Professor Odlin is a world-renowned scholar of language contacts and second-language acquisition. In this book he puts his rare expertise in these two fields – too often perceived as separate from each other – to good use by presenting a unifying approach, based on an unusually wide repertoire of languages and contact situations. The book is also indispensable reading for students and scholars interested in contrastive analysis, sociolinguistics, and translation studies.