TRANSILVANIA UNIVERSITY OF BRASOV

Faculty of Languages and Literatures

Language and society

Research proposal

Bidirectional influence between languages

Name: Year/Group:

BRASOV 2013

Bidirectional influence between languages

1.TOPIC

I have chosen the topic of bidirectional influence between languages becausenowadays almost everybody knows at least one foreign language and the temptation to mix them is too hard and sometimes not even realized by the speaker. The bidirectional influence is the influence which is observed as taking place between two languages: the mother language and a foreign one.

The idea is not new, being treated by specialists. For example L. S. Vygotskystated in Thought and languagethat
() a foreign language facilitates mastering the higher forms of the native tongue. The child learns to see his language as one particular system among many, to view its phenomena under mote general categories and this leads to awareness of his linguistics operations(Vygotsky, L. S.,

1962:110) There is interdependence between a new language learned and the mother tongue of the speaker. Many specialists observed only the influence of the mother language on the second language, but not the influence in the opposite direction. Later on, they realized the interdependence between them and the fact that is a transfer of features from language one to language two.

2.HYPOTHESIS

The aim of this study is to see if a new learned foreign language can be influenced by the mother language and the opposite direction, if the foreign language can influence the mother language. There is also noticeable the mix between the mother language and a foreign one.

QUESTIONS: 1. How is a foreign language influenced by the mother language of the same

speaker? 2. 3. How does a foreign language influence the mother language of the same speaker? Is there a mix between languages in a speakers discourse?

3. RESEARCH METHODES

In this research I wanted to show the changes which occur in languages in daily discourse.

METHOD/INSTRUMENTS The instruments used are some articles and books of specialists who studied this issue of bidirectional influence of the languages like: Thought and language, Second Language Acquisition and Mother Tongue Language, or Role of mother tongue in learning English for specific purpose, followed by the method of research and collect of data.

SUBJECTS This was an analysis study and no participants were involved.

4. DATA

The study is based on the other researches and some articles of specialists regarding the influence which a language has one of another. Mother language is the first language you learn and in which you learn to express yourself. For instance, Singhal said that Second language acquisition is the process of learning a second language in addition to the mother tongue. For instance, a German-speaking person learns English as his second language. Second Language Acquisition is generally referred as SLA or L2. (Singhal, V.,2010:1).

Specialist had studied for long time the issue of mixing languages and the influences that one language has on another.

The same author stated quoting Chomsky that

In this book Chomsky wrote, When we study human language, we are approaching what some might call the 'human essence,' the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to man." According to Chomsky, language is one characteristic that is unique to humans among all other living beings. Chomskys theories have made it easier to understand the evolution and development of the languages. (Singhal, V. 2010:1)

One language has influence over another on all levels; especiallythe mixand the changes are noticeable in the vocabulary. In the speech of the teenagers is easily to notice this mix between languages. They tend to add in the daily vocabulary words from the second language and sometimes from more languages. Even if the mix might sound strange, for them it makes sense.

5.CONCLUSION The studys aim is to show in which way and how much a language influence another and how noticeable are this changes in the same speakers discourse.

The mother tongue is influenced in every day speech by the foreign language mainly by mixing words that might sound better or might seem appropriate for the context. The influence of the mother tongue on the second language is seen mostly in matter of accent and words order. Kavaliauskien said about the influence of mother language talking in the study quoting CarlessMother tongue has potentially both positive and negative consequences: it may serve social and cognitive functions (Carless, 2008:331)(Kavaliauskien, 2009:3).

6.REFERENCES Kavaliauskien, G. (2009) - Role of mother tongue in learning English for specific

purpose,Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, Lithuania Singhal, V. (2010) - Second Language Acquisition and Mother Tongue

Language(On Bright hub, edited by Lamar Stonecypher) Singhal, V. (2010)- Chomsky's Theories on Language(On Bright hub, edited by

Elizabeth Stannard Gromisch) Vygotsky, L. S. (1962) - Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

(Published originally in Russian in 1934)