An interlanguage is an
idiolect
Idiolect is an individual's unique use of language, including speech. This unique usage encompasses vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. This differs from a dialect, a common set of linguistic characteristics shared among a group of people.
Th ...
that has been developed by a learner of a
second language
A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language (first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a fo ...
(L2) which preserves some features of their
first language
A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
(L1), and can also overgeneralize some L2 writing and speaking rules. These two characteristics of an interlanguage result in the system's unique linguistic organization.
An interlanguage is
idiosyncratically based on the learners' experiences with the L2. It can "fossilize", or cease developing, in any of its developmental stages. It is claimed that several factors shape interlanguage rules, including L1 transfer, previous learning strategies, strategies of L2 acquisition, L2
communication strategies, and overgeneralization of L2 language patterns.
Interlanguage is based on the theory that there is a dormant psychological framework in the human brain that is activated when one attempts to learn a second language. Interlanguage theory is often credited to
Larry Selinker
Larry Selinker is professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of Michigan and former director of the university's English Language Institute. In 1972, Selinker introduced the concept of ''interlanguage'', which built upon Pit Corder's pre ...
, who coined the terms "interlanguage" and "fossilization."
Uriel Weinreich
Uriel Weinreich ( yi, אוריאל ווײַנרײַך ''Uriel Vaynraykh'', ; May 23, 1926 – March 30, 1967) was a Jewish–American linguist.
Life
Uriel Weinreich was born in Wilno, Poland (since 1945, Vilnius, Lithuania), the first child of ...
is credited with providing the foundational information that was the basis of Selinker's research. Selinker (1972) noted that in a given situation, the utterances produced by a learner are different from those
native speaker
Native Speaker may refer to:
* ''Native Speaker'' (novel), a 1995 novel by Chang-Rae Lee
* ''Native Speaker'' (album), a 2011 album by Canadian band Braids
* Native speaker
Native Speaker may refer to:
* ''Native Speaker'' (novel), a 1995 nov ...
s would produce had they attempted to convey the same meaning. This comparison suggests the existence of a separate linguistic system. This system can be observed when studying the utterances of the learner who attempts to produce meaning in their L2 speech; it is not seen when that same learner performs form-focused tasks, such as oral drills in a classroom.
Interlanguage can be variable across different contexts. For example, it may be more accurate, complex, and fluent in one domain than in another.
To study the psychological processes involved, one can compare the interlanguage utterances of the learner with two things:
#Utterances in the L1 to convey the same message produced by the learner.
#Utterances in the L2 to convey the same message, produced by a native speaker of that language.
It is possible to apply an interlanguage perspective to a learner's underlying knowledge of the target language sound system (interlanguage
phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
), grammar (morphology and syntax), vocabulary (lexicon), and language-use norms found among learners (interlanguage
pragmatics
In linguistics and related fields, pragmatics is the study of how context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship between the interpreter and the int ...
).
By describing how learner language conforms to universal linguistic norms, interlanguage research has contributed greatly to our understanding of
linguistic universals
A linguistic universal is a pattern that occurs systematically across natural languages, potentially true for all of them. For example, ''All languages have nouns and verbs'', or ''If a language is spoken, it has consonants and vowels.'' Research i ...
in
second-language acquisition
Second-language acquisition (SLA), sometimes called second-language learning — otherwise referred to as L2 (language 2) acquisition, is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the scientific dis ...
.
Background
Before the interlanguage hypothesis rose to prominence, the principal theory of second-language (L2) development was
contrastive analysis
Contrastive analysis is the systematic study of a pair of languages with a view to identifying their structural differences and similarities. Historically it has been used to establish language genealogies.
Second language acquisition
Contrasti ...
. This theory assumed that learners' errors were caused by the difference between their L1 (native language) and L2. This approach was deficit-focused, in the sense that speech errors were thought to arise randomly and should be corrected. A further assumption followed that a sufficiently thorough analysis of the differences between learners' L1 and L2 could predict all the difficulties they would face. This assumption was not based on rigorous analysis of learner language but was often anecdotal, and researchers' claims were prone to
confirmation bias
Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values. People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring ...
.
Robert Lado
Dr. Robert Lado (May 31, 1915, Tampa, Florida – December 11, 1995, Washington) was an American expert on modern linguistics.
Early life
His parents were Spanish immigrants who relocated to Spain before he had a chance to learn English. He retu ...
(1957) held that the claims of contrastive analysis should be viewed as hypothetical unless and until they were based on systematic analyses of learner speech data. Around this time, second-language acquisition research shifted from hypotheses of language learning and the development of language-teaching materials to the systematic analysis of learner speech and writing with the practice of
error analysis. Although this was initially done to validate the claims of contrastive analysis, researchers found that many learner behaviors could not be easily explained by transfer from learners' L1 to their L2.
The idea that language learners' linguistic systems were different from both their L1 and L2 was developed independently at around the same time by several researchers. William Nemser called it an ''approximative system,'' and
Pit Corder
Stephen Pit Corder (6 October 1918 – 27 January 1990) was a professor of applied linguistics at Edinburgh University, known for his contribution to the study of error analysis. He was the first Chair of the British Association for Applied Lin ...
called it ''transitional competence''.
Variability
Interlanguage is claimed to be a language in its own right. Learner language
varies much more than native language. Selinker noted that in a given situation, the utterances produced by the learner are different from those native speakers would produce had they attempted to convey the same meaning. This comparison reveals a separate linguistic system.
Interlanguage can be observed to be variable across different contexts. For example, it may be more accurate, complex, and fluent in one discourse domain than in another. Variability is observed when comparing the utterances of the learner in conversation to form-focused tasks, such as memory-based oral drills in a classroom. Spontaneous conversations are more likely to involve the use of interlanguage. A learner may produce a target-like variant (e.g. 'I don't') in one context and a non-target-like variant (e.g. 'me no') in another. Scholars from different traditions have taken opposing views on the importance of this phenomenon. Those who bring a
Chomskyan perspective to second-language acquisition typically regard variability as performance errors, and not worthy of systematic inquiry. On the other hand, those who approach it from a
sociolinguistic
Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any or all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and society's effect on language. It can overlap with the sociology of l ...
or
psycholinguistic
Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the interrelation between linguistic factors and psychological aspects. The discipline is mainly concerned with the mechanisms by which language is processed and represented in the mind ...
orientation view variability as an inherent feature of the learner's interlanguage. In these approaches, a learner's preference for one linguistic variant over another can depend on social (contextual) variables, such as the status or role of the person the learner is speaking to. Preference can also be based on linguistic variables, such as the phonological environment or neighboring features marked for formality or informality.
Variability in learner language distinguishes between "free variation", which is not systematically related to accompanying linguistic or social features, and "systematic variation", which is systematically related.
Free variation
Free variation in the use of a language feature is usually taken as a sign that it has not been fully acquired. The learner is still figuring out what rules govern the use of alternate forms. This type of variability seems to be most common among beginning learners and may be entirely absent among more advanced learners.
Systematic variation
Systematic variation is brought about by changes in the linguistic, psychological, and social context. Linguistic factors are usually extremely local. For example, in earlier stages of acquisition, a learner will often display systematic constraints on their ability to use the correct tense. They may say "Last year we travel to the ocean" rather than "Last year we travelled to the ocean." They also tend to make more mistakes when the word following a
tensed word begins with a consonant (e.g., burned bacon). But they will show higher accuracy when the word following the tensed word begins with a non-consonant (e.g., burned eggs).
Other factors
Social factors may include a change in the register or the familiarity of interlocutors. By
communication accommodation theory
Communication accommodation theory (CAT) is a theory of communication developed by Howard Giles. This theory concerns "(1) the behavioral changes that people make to attune their communication to their partner, (2) the extent to which people percei ...
, learners may adapt their speech to either converge with or diverge from, their interlocutor's usage. For example, they may deliberately choose to address a non-target form like "me no" to an English teacher to assert identity with a non-mainstream ethnic group.
The most important psychological factor is usually regarded as attention to form, which is related to planning time. The more time that learners have to plan, the more target-like their production may be. Thus, literate learners may produce much more target-like forms in a writing task for which they have 30 minutes to plan, rather than in conversation where they must produce language with almost no planning at all. The impact of alphabetic literacy level on an L2 learner's ability to pay attention to form is unclear.
Affective factors also play an important role in systematic variation. For example, learners in a stressful situation (such as a formal exam) may produce fewer target-like forms than they would in a comfortable setting. This interacts with social factors, and attitudes toward the interlocutor and topic also play important roles.
Stages of development
Individuals learning a second language may not always hear spoken L2 words as separate units. Some words might blend and become a single unit in the learner's L2 system. The blended words are called "prefabricated patterns" or "chunks". These chunks are often not immediately obvious to the learner or anyone that listens to them speak, but may be noticed as the learner's L2 system becomes more developed, and they use the chunk in a context where it does not apply. For example, if an English learner hears sentences beginning with "do you", they may associate it with being an indicator of a question but not as two separate words. To them, the word is "doyou". They may happen to say "What do you doing?" instead of "What are you doing?" Eventually, the learner will learn to break the chunk up into its component words and use them correctly.
When learners experience significant restructuring in their L2 systems, they sometimes show a U-shaped learning pattern. For instance, a group of English language learners moved, over time, from accurate usage of the "-ing" present progressive morpheme, to incorrectly omitting it, and finally, back to correct usage. Occasionally, the period of incorrect usage is seen as a learning regression. However, it is likely that when the learners first acquired the new "-ing" morpheme or "chunk", they were not aware of all the rules that apply to its use. As their knowledge of tense in English expanded, this disrupted their correct usage of the morpheme. They eventually returned to correct usage when they gained a greater understanding of the tense rules in English. This data provides evidence that the learners were initially producing output based on rote memory of individual words containing the present progressive "-ing" morpheme. However, in the second stage, their systems contained the rule that they should use the bare infinitive form to express present action, without a separate rule for the use of "-ing". Finally, they learned the rule for the appropriate use of "-ing".
The "chunking" method enables a learner to practice speaking their L2 before they correctly break the chunk up into its parts. According to interlanguage theory, this seeming progression and regression of language learning is an important and positive manifestation of the learner's developing understanding of the target language's grammar.
Fossilization
An interlanguage can fossilize, or cease developing, in any of its developmental stages. Fossilization is the process of 'freezing' the transition between the L1 and L2 and is regarded as the final stage of interlanguage development. It can occur even in motivated learners who are continuously exposed to their L2 or have adequate learning support. Reasons for this phenomenon may be due to complacency or inability to overcome the obstacles to acquiring native proficiency in the L2. Fossilization often occurs in adult language learners. It can also occur when a learner succeeds in conveying messages with their current L2 knowledge. The need to correct the form/structure is therefore not present. The learner fossilizes the form instead of correcting it.
Linguistic universals
Research on
universal grammar
Universal grammar (UG), in modern linguistics, is the theory of the genetic component of the language faculty, usually credited to Noam Chomsky. The basic postulate of UG is that there are innate constraints on what the grammar of a possible hum ...
(UG) has had a significant effect on
second-language acquisition
Second-language acquisition (SLA), sometimes called second-language learning — otherwise referred to as L2 (language 2) acquisition, is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the scientific dis ...
(SLA) theory. In particular, scholarship in the interlanguage tradition has sought to show that learner languages conform to UG at all stages of development.
Interlanguage UG differs from native UG in that interlanguage UGs vary greatly in mental representations from one L2 user to another.
This variability arises from differing relative influences on the interlanguage UG, such as existing L1 knowledge and UG constraints. An example of a UG constraint is an "
island constraint," where the ''wh''-phrase in a question has a finite number of possible positions. Island constraints are based on the concept that there are certain syntactical domains within a sentence that act as phrase boundaries. It is theorized that the same constraints that act on a native UG are also often present in an interlanguage UG.
Versus creoles and pidgins
The concept of interlanguage is closely related to other types of language, especially
creoles and
pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...
s. Each of these languages have their own grammar and phonology. The difference is mostly one of variability, as a learner's interlanguage is spoken only by the learner and changes frequently as they become more proficient in the language. In contrast, creoles and pidgins are generally the product of groups of people in contact with another language, and therefore may be more stable.
See also
*
Bilingualism
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
*
Code-switching
In linguistics, code-switching or language alternation occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation or situation. Code-switching is different from plurilingualism ...
*
Franglais
Franglais (; also Frenglish ) is a French blend that referred first to the overuse of English words by French speakers and later to diglossia or the macaronic mixture of French () and English ().
Etymology
The word ''Franglais'' was first at ...
* ''
Fremdsprachen und Hochschule
''Fremdsprachen und Hochschule'' (''Foreign Languages and University'') is a triannual academic journal published by the German Association of University Language Centers.
History
The journal was created in 1968 under the title ''AKS-Rundbrief' ...
''
*
Language transfer
Language transfer is the application of linguistic features from one language to another by a bilingual or multilingual speaker. Language transfer may occur across both languages in the acquisition of a simultaneous bilingual, from a mature sp ...
*
Macaronic language
Macaronic language uses a mixture of languages, particularly bilingual puns or situations in which the languages are otherwise used in the same context (rather than simply discrete segments of a text being in different languages). Hybrid words ...
*
Multilingualism
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
*
Second-language acquisition
Second-language acquisition (SLA), sometimes called second-language learning — otherwise referred to as L2 (language 2) acquisition, is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the scientific dis ...
*
Spanglish
Spanglish (a portmanteau of the words "Spanish" and "English") is any language variety (such as a contact dialect, hybrid language, pidgin, or creole language) that results from conversationally combining Spanish and English. The term is mos ...
*
Translanguaging
Translanguaging can refer to a pedagogical process of utilizing more than one language within a classroom lesson or it can be used to describe the way bilinguals use their linguistic resources to make sense of and interact with the world around th ...
Notes
References
*Fasold, R.; Preston, D. (2007). "The psycholinguistic unity of inherent variability: Old Occam whips out his razor." In Bayley, R.; Lucas, C.; eds. ''Sociolinguistic variation: Theory, methods, and applications.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 45–69.
*Lightbown, P. (1983). "Exploring relationships between developmental and instructional sequences in L2 acquisition." In Seliger, H.; Long, M.H.; eds. ''Classroom oriented research in second language acquisition.'' Rowley, MA: Newbury House. pp. 217–243.
*Rampton, B. (1995). ''Crossing: Language and ethnicity among adolescents.'' London: Longman.
*Selinker, L. (1972), Interlanguage. ''International Review of Applied Linguistics, 10'', 209–231.
*Selinker, L., & Douglas, D. (1985). Wrestling with 'context' in interlanguage theory. Applied Linguistics, 6, 190–204.
*Tarone, E. (1979). Interlanguage as chameleon. Language Learning 29(1), 181–191.
*Tarone, E., & Liu, G.-q. (1995). Situational context, variation and second-language acquisition theory. In G. Cook & B. Seidlhofer (Eds.), Principles and Practice in the Study of Language and Learning: A Festschrift for H.G. Widdowson (pp. 107–124). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*
*Tarone, E. (2009). "A sociolinguistic perspective on interaction in SLA." in Mackey, A.; Polio, C.; eds. ''Multiple perspectives on interaction: Second language research in honor of Susan M. Gass.'' New York: Routledge. pp. 41–56.
*Tarone, E., Bigelow, M. & Hansen, K. (2009). Literacy and second language oracy. Oxford: Oxford University Pres
Further reading
* Chambers, J.K. (1995), Sociolinguistic Theory, Oxford, England: Blackwell; p249-251.
* J. C. Richards, Error Analysis: Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition, Longman Press, 1974, pp. 34–36.
* Tarone, E. (2001), Interlanguage. In R. Mesthrie (Ed.). Concise Encyclopedia of Sociolinguistics. (pp. 475–481) Oxford: Elsevier Science.
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Language acquisition
Language varieties and styles
Sociolinguistics
Speech error