英语与法语语言迁移现象论文A Brief Introduction on Language Transfer between English and French

1、A Brief Introduction on Language Transfer between English and FrenchAbstract： Contrast Analysis Hypothesis (CAH), put forward in the late 1960s, claimed that errors made by second language learners were believed to be the result mainly of transfer form their first language. However, the author also

2、finds that this kind of transfer not only happens in L1 and L2, but in two foreign languages. The author investigates eighteen English majors who choose French as their second foreign language in Guangzhou University. Among them, 88.3% subjects think that interference and language transfer exist bet

3、ween English and French. Accounting for this, it is considered that similarities are the main factor. First, this article introduces why students choose French as their second foreign language. Then, from the perspectives of language system, letter, word, and fixed thinking pattern, this paper makes

4、 empirical studies on the transfer that Chinese students receive from English, their first foreign language, in the study of French, their second foreign language by comparing French with English., and raises some suggestions on the elimination of negative transfer, or interference. This research, u

5、sing quantitative analysis method, by combining relevant theories and employing survey, interview and other methods, analyzes the phenomenon of transfer that happen between English and French. 摘要十九世纪六十年代提出的对比分析理论（Contrast Analysis Hypothesis, 以下简称CAH）中说语言的错误而是由于第一语言的迁移现象而造成的。当目的语与母语比较相似时，会产生正迁移，促进目的

6、语的学习，而如果两种语言差别很大时，则会产生负迁移，笔者认为语言干扰不仅产生于双语者中,许多人在学习多门外语时也会产生同样问题。本文运用定量分析的方法，就此问题,调查了本校英语专业三、四年级第二外语选修法语的18名学生,88.3%的被试者认为在英语和法语的学习中有干扰和语言迁移现象。产生这种干扰的原因是多方面的。笔者认为,其中很重要的一个原因就是这两种语言有许多的相似性。本文首先从学习者选择法语作为第二外语的原因引入，再通过对比第一外语英语和第二外语法语，并就语言系统、字母、单词和思维定势这几个方面对两者语言迁移进行实际研究，同时笔者希望能在这些语际干扰、语言迁移现象的初步探讨中，给出一些排除

7、负迁移的建议。本文采用定量分析方法，结合相关理论、问卷、访问等调查方式对英法的语言迁移现象进行分析。Key words: positive transfer; negative transfer; English; FrenchI. Introduction According to CAH and behaviorism, there are two kinds of language transfer existing between the first language and second language: when the first language habits are hel

8、pful to acquiring second language habits, this is positive transfer. In contrast, negative transfer is the one which the first language habits hinder the learner in learning the new one. And it is interference. But does it only happen between the first language and the second language? What about tw

9、o foreign languages? Does it also work between English, our first foreign language, and French, our second foreign language? And promote or hinder each other? Based on these questions, a lot of research has been done on this by questionnaires, survey and interviews. Since research in this field is s

10、o rare, the author hopes this essay will be beneficial to learners to promote their studies and other researchers. This essay will be formed by two parts: positive transfer and negative transfer.II. Literature ReviewThe Contrastive Hypothesis (CAH), developed by structural linguists in Europe and No

11、rth America, thinks that a learners first language influences the acquisition of a second language (Patsy, 35). Those elements that are similar to his native language will be simple for him, and those elements that are different will be difficult (Lado, 1957). They are called positive and negative t

12、ransfer. Transfer refers to learners patterns of the first language in second language sentences. Negative transfer, also called “interference”, is a phenomenon that learners will consult to a familiar language to find some relevant rules to explain when learning a new language. (Ilse Lehiste). And

13、so do the positive transfer. So in this sense, transfer not only exists in the first language and the second language, but also happens between the two foreign languages (zhu, 204:206 ). III. BodyIn my university, English majors need to choose a second foreign language- French, Japanese to learn in

14、the third grade. Many students will choose French as their second foreign language in that French has many similarities to English so it is thought to be easy to learn. Is it true? Can these similarities promote each other in learning or hinder each other?3.1 positive transfer and similaritiesAs we

15、all know, English and French do have some similarities in many aspects, like language system and its historical origin, the spelling of words, phonetics. Most of students find it interesting at the beginning of French learning because of the similarities.3.1.1 Language systemThough English derived f

16、rom “Germanic languages” while French from “Roman languages” (also called “Latin languages”), both of them belong to Indo-European language system. In addition, they were deeply influenced by Latin. Especially in the period of the Old English, words were borrowed from Latin. With the introduction of

17、 Christianity and the translation of the Bible, more Latin words were draw into English. Meanwhile, French also involved a lot of Latin words from classical Latin during the Renaissance in 15th and 16th century (Guo:25,43). 词(郭谷兮:25,43)In terms of geography, England and France, separated by the Engl

18、ish Channel, are two neighboring country in Europe, Furthermore, the links between the two countries are so strong that linguistically, and probably culturally too, they are getting closer and closer together. In this way, they influence each other more or less. In some extent, these similarities wi

19、ll help English students get familiar with French in a short while, as well as strengthen English knowledge. 3.1.2 Words According to the figures concluded by the linguists, there are 55% English words are borrowed from French. Most of them are in the same form. Now please allow me to take “second”

20、for example. Though difference in pronunciation, it shares the same meaning and the same form in both two language. Another example is “banana” (“banana” in French). They hold different pronunciations and forms in these two language, but they are quite alike. So, through comparing these two similar

21、words, we can learn them by heart at ease. Using this contrast memory method to memorize words can help us make it clear of the differences appeared in different languages as well as to have a review about the knowledge we have learned in English. Therefore, similarities promote each other and arous

22、e learners interests in learning French as well.3.2 Negative transferAs a proverb goes, every coin has two sides. There is no doubt that similarities have their merits, but they also make us confused or mix up one another.In this part, I will demonstrate negative transfers from three aspects: letter

23、s, words and stress.3.2.1 LettersEnglish has 26 letters, so does French. All of them have the same forms; some of the pronunciations are quite alike. For example, “f”, “s” are totally the same with English letters, and “m”, “n”, “l”, “o” are quite near. So, it seems that its an easy job for our Engl

24、ish students to learn French alphabets (letters). However, it comes to the opposite. English learners find it difficult to adjust themselves to change their pronunciation of letters from English to French. “Once habits forms, it is hard to change,” many French-learning students say so. From my stati

25、stics, there are 22.2%students can not read French letters correctly. Why? Because they still use English pronunciation to read French letters. According to the results, there are 33.3% students still using English pronunciation to spell French words after learning French for about 3months. In spell

26、ing French words, students prefer English letters pronunciation to the French one. In the final analysis, I find that similarity is the thing that we can consult to in accounting for this phenomenon. 3.2.2 WordLanguage is rarely self-sufficient (Edward Sapir, 173). Every language affects by other la

27、nguage more or less(曹德明:163). In the questionnaire, I ask students to write down the word “飞行员” both in English and in French (“pilot” in English and “pilote” in French). What surprised me is that 33.3% students fail to write them correctly. That is to say, negative transfer exists in words between

28、English and French. The results also manifest that 55.6% students will mix words up if they are much alike. Of course, situation will be even worse if pronunciations also draw near.Another negative transfer of words is masculine and feminine gender（阴阳性） and conjugaison (动词变位)，altogether, that makes

29、lexical be one of the most difficult points in French learning. 94.4% learners think that French words are difficult to memorize. Among them, 43.6% students consider masculine and feminine gender are the main reason. 3.2.3 Fixed thinking patternFixed thinking pattern is a set of attitudes or fixed i

30、deas that somebody has and that are often difficult to change. If you refer to someone's mind-set, you mean their general attitudes and the way they typically think about things. Mind-set refers to people use a fixed mode of thinking to analyze issues and solve problems.Since the logic was fixed

31、 on our mind, we need time to change it from one another. During this time, our negative transfer “takes effects”. In English, no matter what the form of object is, sentence structure always sticks to this rules “subject-verb-object”. But things will be changed in French. When the object happens to

32、a pronoun, it should be fixed before verb. A quite useful example is as below: Je taime. (我爱你) “Tu” here means “you” in English, so it is a pronoun. However, as in our mind, object goes after verb, which has fixed on our mind deeply and cannot be easily changed. Negative transfer also happens in adj

33、ective between English and French. As its known to all of us, adjective is usually used before noun to act as a modifier in English. On the contrary, apart from some frequently use adjectives, adjective in French usually go after noun. Here are the examples:一篇难懂的课文A difficult textUn texte dur “Dur”

34、here means difficult in English, from this example displayed above, we can see it clear that “dur”an adjective goes after noun (“texte”). As for our English students, due to the 思维定势, mistakes are often made in this point.Through increasing knowledge span, extending thought depth, clearing up negati

35、ve transference with strengthening training for variety of chemical formula, efficiency should be increasing to solve chemical problem.IV. Conclusion：Through analyze the transfer between English and French by comparing their similarities as well as their differences, positive and negative transfer d

36、o exist in these two languages. But there are still some deficiencies in this essay that need to be revised: language materials are still far from adequate and not supportive enough; in addition, lacking for practical research, some viewpoints are not persuasive enough to convince others. As a whole, transfer on two foreign languages is a challenging field to be discussed. Espec