Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

The impact of the first language on the second language has long been a vibrant and controversial issue in terms of second language acquisition. The impact or influence happens when learners learn a new language and transfer features from their native language to the new language. This paper investigates to what extent Bengali learners’ native language influences their use of articles in English as a second language and whether there is a difference depending on the language of instruction (Bengali and English, respectively). To do so 20 essays from two schools, one teaching through Bengali and one through English, a total of 40 learner essays were collected and examined. The results show that Bangladeshi English learners are influenced by the noun forms in Bengali and their ability to use English articles hardly differs according to the type of school they attend. / Förstaspråkets inverkan på andraspråket har länge varit en levande och kontroversiell fråga när det gäller språkinlärning. Påverkan eller inflytandet sker när inlärare lär ett nytt språk och överför karaktärsdrag från sitt förstaspråk till det nya språket. Den här uppsatsen undersöker i vilken mån bengaliska elevers modersmål påverkar deras användning av artiklar i engelska som andraspråk och om det är någon skillnad beroende på undervisningsspråk (bengali resp. engelska). Materialet är 20 elevuppsatser vardera från två skolor, skola A (undervisning på bengali) och skola B (undervisning på engelska), dvs totalt 40 uppsatser samlades in och analyserades. Resultaten visar att bengaliska elevers engelska texter visar drag av substantivformerna som används i bengali, och deras förmåga att använda engelska artiklar skiljer sig inte åt i någon större utsträckning beroende på undervisningsspråk.

Работа посвящена типологизации, раскрытию социолингвистического и коммуникативного аспектов морфологических ошибок в письменной речи носителей эритажного русского языка. Материалом исследования выступают 297 письменных контекстуальных примеров с морфологическими ошибками, совершенными носителями унаследованного русского языка с доминантными языками романской и германской групп. Все контекстуальные примеры отобраны из электронного корпуса Русских учебных текстов. В теоретической части работы рассматриваются общие вопросы естественного билингвизма: раскрываются понятия «билингвизм», «эритажный язык», «языковая интерференция», «калькирование». Рассмотрение таких понятий помогает в выявлении особенностей билингвальной личности, функционирования эритажного русского языка, а также его отличий от иностранного языка. В исследовательской части работы представлена разработанная классификация морфологических ошибок, допускаемых билингвами в письменной речи на эритажном русском языке. Параметры классификации: 1) профиль «эритажника» (пол, доминантный язык), 2) классификация ошибок по частеречной принадлежности, 3) оценка коммуникативной значимости ошибки. Данная классификация занесена в ИСЭА «Лингвистика» для проведения анализа морфологических ошибок. Анализ примеров с речевыми ошибками показал, что наиболее часто носители эритажного русского языка совершают ошибки в существительных – 47 % из всех найденных примеров, глаголах – 23 %, прилагательных – 17 %, местоимениях и предлогах – по 4 %, наречиях и союзах – по 2 %. По наблюдениям, англофоны совершают большее количество ошибок при образовании падежной формы, носители доминантного немецкого языка – в словообразовании, носители французского – при образовании числовой формы, носители шведского – в основном, при построении структуры предложения, норвежского – в видовременных формах глагола. Зависимость ошибок от пола не была обнаружена: в целом, контекстуальных примеров носителей эритажного языка женского пола в корпусе больше (80 %), чем мужского (20 %). Носители унаследованного языка наиболее часто прибегают к ошибочному словообразованию и построению языковых конструкций, неверному выбору падежной формы, склонения. Результаты исследования могут быть использованы в обучении РКИ и разработке конкретных дидактических материалов для преодоления данного типа ошибок. В приложениях приводится разработанная классификация морфологических ошибок и снимки экрана с проанализированными в ИСЭА «Лингвистика» контекстуальными примерами. / The article is devoted to typology, disclosure of the sociolinguistic and communicative aspects of morphological errors in the written speech of heritage Russian speakers. The material of the research includes 297 written contextual samples with morphological errors committed by heritage Russian speakers with the dominant languages of the Romance and Germanic groups. All contextual samples are extracted from the Russian Learner Corpus. In the theoretical part of the article, general issues of natural bilingualism are revealed: the concepts of "bilingualism", "heritage language", "linguistic interference", "calquing". Consideration of such concepts helps identify the characteristics of a bilingual personality, the functioning of the Russian heritage language, as well as its differences from a foreign language. In the research part of the article, a developed classification of morphological errors made by bilinguals in written speech in heritage Russian is presented. Classification parameters: 1) profile of a "heritage speaker" (gender, dominant language), 2) classification of errors by part of speech, 3) assessment of the communicative significance of an error. This classification is included in the digital system of analysis "Linguistics" for identification of morphological errors. An analysis of samples with speech errors showed that most often speakers of heritage Russian make mistakes in nouns – 47 % of all found examples, verbs – 23 %, adjectives – 17 %, pronouns and prepositions – 4 % each, adverbs and conjunctions – 2 % each. Observations showed, anglophones make a greater number of mistakes when forming the case form, speakers of the dominant German language – in word formation, native speakers of French - when forming the numerical form, speakers of Swedish – mainly when constructing the sentence structure, Norwegian – in the tense forms of the verb. No gender dependence of errors was found: in general, there are more contextual samples of female speakers in the corpus (80 %) than male speakers (20 %). The speakers of the inherited language most often resort to erroneous word formation and language constructions, wrong choice of the case form, declension. The research results can be used in teaching RFL and in the development of specific didactic materials to overcome this type of error. The appendices provide a developed classification of morphological errors and screenshots with contextual samples analyzed in the system of digital analysis "Linguistics".

TITLE Czech-German (Austrian) language relations - possibilities for language interference SUMMARY This diploma thesis examines the language interference between the Czech and the German in the field of gastronomy. This phenomenon is reflected in the composition of grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. The last area has been selected for a research. I decided to analyze 180 menu cards in the nine states of Austria. In those menu cards I tried to discover 13 in advance chosen words, which have been used in the Central-European language area according to Newerkla. Appearance of those 13 words in menu cards proves mutual language influence between the Czech and the German in each state of Austria. The research, I conducted, shows that the most influenced states are Vienna, Lower and Upper Austria. Probably the main reason for the result is that in these areas the most intensive political and economic cooperation between Czechs and Austrians took place.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Leipzig, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-279).

At a nexus between translation studies and didactics, the teaching of sight translation within the parameters of a foreign language course has as its primary aim to improve the communication skills of foreign language learners in general and of French learners at the University of Pretoria in particular. Contrary to the communication process in their first and second languages, students who try to speak a foreign language such as French are unable to express their thoughts freely. To compensate for their insufficient language knowledge and intuition, they tend to rely on their other languages as a reference for all communication. Although this natural reflex is part of the learning process, students' attempts to transfer words, phrases, and rules directly from one language to another can be detrimental to language performance. The problem does not lie in the fact that they translate mentally before speaking, but that they tend to translate literally. This is a highly inefficient communication strategy that results in a non-idiomatic, imperfect reflection of students’ actual knowledge of language. Unlike the above-mentioned mental transcoding and the so-called pedagogical translation generally practiced in the language class, the interpretive translation approach focuses on the reexpression of the meaning of the original text. This professional translation approach should be applied to all translation, including translation in the language class. Although the purpose is not to train professional translators or interpreters, students still need to learn to translate intelligently, whether verbally or mentally, without literally reproducing their reference languages. Since students are even more tempted than professionals to rely on the source language due to their limited language knowledge, they should explicitly learn to look for alternative means of expression available to them instead of transcoding this language. Sight translation is a very economical technique to teach this approach in language classes, as students learn to translate in their own words, using all their communication skills. Students learn how best to convey the meaning of the source text with the limited vocabulary and grammar skills at their disposal. When speaking, they also focus on the meaning of their utterances and use compensatory strategies when faced with a language problem, instead of copying from their reference languages or avoiding the problem altogether by switching to another language. In the space of little more than a year, the majority of the forty-four students who participated in the empirical research learned to communicate in a natural and authentic manner without undue interference from their other languages (mainly English). Those who have mastered the approach increasingly use efficient strategies to overcome language shortcomings, thus abandoning formal transfer to the benefit of their oral expression. In addition, a small number of talented students were identified to engage in further specialised translation and interpretation training. In conclusion, sight translation teaching in the classroom proved to be a highly beneficial method to improve translation and communication skills among French foreign language learners in the multicultural environment of the University of Pretoria. / Thesis (DLitt(French))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Modern European Languages / DLitt / unrestricted

The background in this study is that over the years analysis of grade 12 results in Ekurhuleni South District indicates that most secondary schools obtain 100% pass rate but not quality results isiZulu home language. IsiZulu home language quality results often range from 20% to 40%. The research findings point at two casual factors: (1) inside the classroom and (2) outside the classroom. Inside the classroom refers to quality of educators teaching isiZulu home language and outside the classroom refers to what is supposedly isiZulu home language’ yet a close analysis of the kind spoken in the township Zulu homes is in fact pidgin Zulu. In terms of quality evaluation this so called isiZulu home language can never pass quality assurance. The researcher recommends that educators of isiZulu home language be put through vigorous quality training in the teaching of isiZulu (HL). / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

Abstract. The work is analysing the language situation in Czech communities in Crimea and Novgorodovka village. Fieldwork data from those communities and archive material studies present main reasons of migration from Czech lands to imperial Russia and development of Czech settlements in southern Russian regions. The description of Russian and Ukrainian influence on Czech language phenomena and transformations on all language levels is given, as well as some features of Northeast Bohemian preserved in spoken Czech of Crimean settlers. Key words: Crimean Czech, Crimea, Taurida governorate, Alexandrovka, Bohemka, Tabor, Carekvich, Novgorodkovka, Czechohrad, Czech community, ethnic minority, language community, migration, pronunciation deviation, Northeast Bohemian, cross- language interference.

(in English): This diploma thesis is focused on the Russian-speaking immigrants living in the Czech Republic, specifically on a group of those originating in Ukraine. It deals mainly with their speech behaviour during speeches in the language of the target country of their emigration, i.e., the Czech language, on the background of sociological, cultural and economic aspects. The thesis is divided into three basic chapters. The first chapter provides a brief description of the Russian-speaking emigration with the emphasis on the Ukrainian emigration. The main waves of the Ukrainian emigration from the end of 19th century to the present are described in this chapter. The target group of the study is the Ukrainian emigration after the fall of the communist regime in 1989 which is mainly concerned about the immigration of Czech compatriots and of labour emigration. Basic research strategies and the methodology of the study are described in the second chapter. Mainly qualitative research methods as well as quantitative methods were used in the thesis and the results of the quantitative method serve primarily to ensure the validity of the study during the linguistic analysis of individual respondents. The last chapter focuses on the research itself, it describes its process and results which stem from...

The background in this study is that over the years analysis of grade 12 results in Ekurhuleni South District indicates that most secondary schools obtain 100% pass rate but not quality results isiZulu home language. IsiZulu home language quality results often range from 20% to 40%. The research findings point at two casual factors: (1) inside the classroom and (2) outside the classroom. Inside the classroom refers to quality of educators teaching isiZulu home language and outside the classroom refers to what is supposedly isiZulu home language’ yet a close analysis of the kind spoken in the township Zulu homes is in fact pidgin Zulu. In terms of quality evaluation this so called isiZulu home language can never pass quality assurance. The researcher recommends that educators of isiZulu home language be put through vigorous quality training in the teaching of isiZulu (HL). / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)