Ch.+20+by+Terence+Odlin

=**Language Transfer and Cross-Linguistic Studies:**= =**Relativism, Universalism, and the Native Language**=

**by Terence Odlin **

Many scholars have studied language transfer, or cross-linguistic influence, though some of them have doubted its importance. Recently two different orientations have come to light- universalist and relativist. Both orientations interconnect with the study of cross-linguistic influence, though they are opposed to each other in particular ways.


 * Transfer as a Relativist Concern **

Linguists have thought about the cross-linguistic influence. It is apparent that the languages which are from the same linguistic family (Swedish, English-Germanic languages) can easily be learned by a learner whereas the same learner can meet difficulties while learning languages from different linguistic families. These discussions lead to the fact that language transfer entails a relativist approach to second language acquisition and that there is a link between relativism and transfer. According to Kaplan (1966/1984:44) “logic, which is the basis of rhetoric, is not universal”. He stated that the difficulty which the English learner can face in writing comes from rhetorical differences. The issue of relativism remains questionable because of the complexities of the relation between linguistic relativity and linguistic universals.  Though there is an overlap between the logic of rational arguments and the logic of logicians, the amount of overlap remains questionable. According to Quine (1960) “logic is less independent of the language spoken by logician”. He is against the idea of semantic equivalence as a neutral baseline to compare languages or to check the accuracy of translation. However, he doesn’t have much to say about the interlingual identifications made by bilinguals. Bilingual’s interlingual identification is a process relied on a calculus which more or less independent of the two languages. The cognitive basis for a calculus is a system which is called “the language of thought” which allows children to acquire any language. According to Pinker (1994) “people don’t think in any particular language (English, Russian, Spanish and others) they think in a language of thought”. During 1990’s researchers carried out studies that show the link between linguistic structure and spacial memory and that the language affects habitual thought. This notion can have both positive or negative effect on the second language development by different learners. In 1987 Master carried out an investigation comparing the speakers of Chinese and Spanish learning English as their second language. According to the study, Chinese learners, who have no articles in their native language,had more difficulties with using article in English than Spanish speakers who use articles in their language. On the other hand, Master also noticed other difficulties in understanding noncount nouns for Spanish speakers, thus, differences in habitual thought lead to difficulties.  Other investigations explain that native language also influences the choice of prepositions and verbs of motion. For example, for the accidental collision in the street Swedish students would use ‘run on’ while Finnish would say ‘crash to’. Interlanguage can cause the difference of understanding the same events. Besides, several researchers show in their investigations that interlanguage can also explain different choice of tense, aspect and modality by different learners. All these studies show that relativist approaches to language need further attention and serious investigation by linguists.


 * On the Varied Bases for Language Universals **

Though relative approaches seem to get more and more important, there will always be a need to look for some patterns existing in all human languages. Here comes the distinction between language-specific forms and ‘panlinguistic patterns’. These patterns involve spatial and temporal deixis, as well as other conceptions. And all these notions are viewed as universals which help SL/FL learners ‘to make interlingual identifications’. Speaking about language universals, the first thing worth mentioning is UG by Chomsky. There have been a lot of studies both in first and second language acquisition in frames of UG. Many of them have focused on transfer. According to Bley-Vroman (1989) adult learners may have no access to UG. But the question of access in controversial. The point is that adults may have direct access sharing with children some common understanding of a language. On the other hand, the access that adults have may be channeled through their native language (Bley-Vroman, 1989).

The main focus of UG research is on a small number of principles that characterize human language generally. However sources for language universals can be highly varied. Gass and Ard (1984) for example identify six sources: a physical, a perceptual/cognitive, a neurological, diachronic and interactional. We can add also LAD (language acquisition device) which is available mainly to children. Chomsky and many other UG theorists consider this diversity of universals to be uniquely human cognitive capacities. However humans as well as mammals can communicate emotions, so one likely universal is that all languages can express affective states and emotions. On the other hand we know that much evidence shows that language patterns can have negative influence (L1 transfer in L2), as for example a semantic difference in cognate words can have affective consequences and important implications for contrastive analysis. The L1 transfer may include not only the lexis but also other areas of language.

In conclusion it is important to note that although there is a belief in the existence of pancultural emotions it is argued that speech acts and other language-specific cultural values are not taught when learners attempt to a new language. So the affective limitation that learners may encounter learning a new language and cross-linguistic influence in different cultures are now important areas for further investigation.
 * Conclusion **