In ‘other’ words: Some thoughts on the transferability of collocations

• Authors: Terence Odlin
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

In discussions of cross-linguistic influence (also known as language transfer), the focus is usually on the influence of a particular structure in a particular instance of language contact, for instance, the negative transfer of serial verbs by Vietnamese learners of English: She has managed to rise the kite fly over the tallest building (Helms-Park, 2003). Even so, as Helms-Park acknowledges, serial verb constructions can and do surface in contact situations besides the one she studied in Canada, and they can involve speakers of different languages. While serial verb constructions have unique syntactic traits, the same point about the transferability of multiword constructions in different contact settings is applicable in other instances and with collocations that can be viewed as unique in their lexical as well as syntactic characteristics. The following article considers such a case, based in part on my own teaching experience but also on transfer research from other settings as well. After a discussion of a collocation that I call the repeated other pattern found in different settings, I briefly consider other cases of transfer having lexical and syntactic peculiarities and appearing in more than one contact situation. There will also be some discussion of factors that transfer researchers and language teachers would do well to consider.

• Publisher: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
• Journal: Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 1
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 447-451

Dates

published

2011-10-01

Contributors

author

Terence Odlin

• Ohio State University

References

• Buthelezi, Q. (1995). South African Black English: Lexical and syntactic characteristics. In R. Mesthrie (Ed.), Language and social history: Studies in South African sociolinguistics (pp. 242-250). Cape Town: David Philip.
• Dulay, H., Burt, M., & Krashen, S. (1982). Language two. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Helms-Park, R. (2003). Transfer in SLA and creoles: The implications of causative serial verbs in the interlanguage of Vietnamese ESL learners. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 25, 211-244.
• Mesthrie, R. (2004). Black South African English: Morphology and syntax. In B. Kortmann, E. Schneider, K. Burridge, R. Mesthrie, & C. Upton (Eds.), Handbook of varieties of English (pp. 974-992). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
• Odlin, T. (2009). When different sources lead to the same outcome: Some re-flections on contact vernaculars. In E. Penttilä & H. Paulasto (Eds.), Language contacts meet English dialects: Studies in honour of Markku Filppula (pp. 47-164). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press.
• Odlin, T., & Jarvis, S. (2004). Same source, different outcomes: A study of Swedish influence on the acquisition of English in Finland. The International Journal of Multilingualism, 1, 123-140.
• Ringbom, H. (1987). The role of the first language in foreign language learning. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Identifiers

DOI

10.14746/ssllt.2011.1.3.7