Chinese Negative Transfer in English Acquisition

Jing+Yuping

【Abstract】language transfer， according to its influence on target language， is generally categorized into positive transfer and negative transfer. Positive transfer refers to that L1 produces active role in learning target language， facilitating learners to grasp target language； Oppositely， Negative transfer will intervene learners and make them confused in learning target language. The article analyses the major characteristics of Chinese negative transfer in the course of English learning from the two aspects： lexical and syntactic transfer. That attention is given to negative transfer can help teachers and learners find out more efficient way to avoid Chinese negative influence on learning target language.

【Key words】language transfer； negative transfer； lexicon； syntactic

【摘要】根據(jù)對(duì)目標(biāo)語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)的影響，一般把語(yǔ)言遷移分為正遷移和負(fù)遷移。前者對(duì)外語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)產(chǎn)生積極影響，有助于學(xué)習(xí)者掌握目標(biāo)語(yǔ)，與之相反，負(fù)遷移則對(duì)外語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)產(chǎn)生干擾作用，對(duì)學(xué)習(xí)者造成困擾。本文從語(yǔ)用和句法兩個(gè)方面，分析了漢語(yǔ)對(duì)英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)產(chǎn)生的負(fù)遷移的特點(diǎn)，通過(guò)這一分析，有助于進(jìn)一步認(rèn)識(shí)中國(guó)學(xué)生在英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)中面臨的困擾，以便于教師和學(xué)生盡量避免負(fù)遷移的影響，找到積極有效的外語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)方法。

【關(guān)鍵詞】語(yǔ)言遷移 正遷移 負(fù)遷移 語(yǔ)用 句法

Language transfer， cross-language influence， has been studied for many years. The 1950s and 60s saw that learners errors could be predicted by comparing and contrasting the grammars of their L1 and of the target language； where there were difference， there was likely to be error. The 1970s saw a reaction against this view. The new orthodoxy was that the L2 was learned in the same way as the L1， and independently of it. Now， it is generally accepted that transfer does occur， but it is a far more complex phenomenon than hitherto believed. Henceforth， in the process of learning target language， L1 will intervene learners， which is affirmative. And it is necessary to get to know the possible negative influence from L1 to facilitate learners to grasp target language effectively and efficiently. On the other hand， language teachers should consider the possible negative transfer from mother tongue to find out better teaching methods to stimulate students interests and improve their foreign language.

1. Lexical Negative Transfer

Lexical transfer is often mentioned much in the theories of second language acquisition concerned. It includes basically two aspects： morphologic transfer and semantic transfer.

Chinese vocabulary is composed by independent characters or terms and Chinese vocabulary can be used directly without the following changes as English： the form of number， case， tense and person. For example： a. I go to school at seven oclock； b. she goes to school at seven oclock； c. they go to school at seven oclock. the above sentences are translated in Chinese as 我（I）七點(diǎn)（at seven oclock）去上學(xué)（go to school）；她（she）七點(diǎn)去上學(xué)；他們（they）七點(diǎn)去上學(xué)。From the group of sentences， it can be found that Chinese verb has no changes with the different subject； the plural form of Chinese pronouns is combined with the single form and an independent character “們”. Additionally， other Chinese nouns form their plural by the attributive part. On the contrary， English plural forms are made by the way of adding “s” or “es” at a word ending. For example： person， persons； coach， coaches. Eckman（1985） pointed out that it was more difficult to learn L2 if L1 was different from L2 and the latter had many marked changes. So it can conclude that Chinese students， especially those who learn English as beginners， will feel confused for these differences between the two languages.

In the contrast with morphologic transfer， semantic transfer seems more complicated. Chinese students more often learn English vocabulary by memorizing Chinese meaning. Those vocabulary books which facilitate beginners to learn easily usually list basic meaning and so it is found that the similar examples： the meaning of table and desk is defined as 桌子 in Chinese； the meaning of lend and borrow as 借， and after the detailed explanation， the two words can be understood correctly. Though some nouns are comparatively easy to grasp their connotation between Chinese and English most of verbs are relatively difficult to use correctly. For example， wish and hope are to Chinese meaning of 希望，but the use of wish and hope is different； The former introduces a clause with subjunctive mood and the latter brings a clause with indicative mood. For the words such as requirement and request， they are translated in Chinese “要求” but in the sentence “I hope you can accept my requirement”， Chinese students obviously mistaken the word of requirement for they do not pay attention to the difference between the word and its synonymy “request” and do not consider the context of the sentence， either. There is another example demonstrating that Chinese students do not understand a words semantic function and they write or speak the following sentence based on their own semantic mode： I persuaded him to go but he did not go. In fact， the structure of “persuade somebody to do something” in the sentence indicates that I was successful to make him go； henceforth， it is not allowed to follow the opposite result “he did not go”. From the analysis of use of persuade， the English verb can qualify its infinitive “to go” but Chinese verb “勸說(shuō)”can not . For the difference of semantic collocation， Chinese students will speak “學(xué)習(xí)（learn）知識(shí)（knowledge）”， so they make an English sentence ： People learn knowledge no matter how old they are； in fact， native speakers make the sentence as people learn no matter how old they are.

2. Syntactic Negative Transfer

It demonstrates Chinese negative transfer in the process of learning English from the following aspects in syntactic. They are the word order， the tense， the passive voice and the attributive clause.

The English basic word order is subject-predict structure and the structure is strict， which decides the word order and which can not randomly be changed. The Chinese word order also abides by subject-predict structure， however， the language in reality emphasizes the expressive theme， which shows the feature of the word order is topic-comment structure. Topic is the core of a sentence or a discourse and other indicative parts serve and develop a topic. In consequence， the structure of topic-comment has the characteristics of flexibility and instability. So in word order， Chinese language accentuates on pragmatic and has less grammatical limit than English. As Li﹠Thompson（1978）pointed out， Chinese word order mainly completes the pragmatic function rather than reflects its grammatical structure such as subject-predict structure. Henceforth， the English sentence， that it is fine today， is translated into Chinese as 今天（today）好（fine）天氣（weather）， and the sentence， that he is twelve years old is translated into “他（he）十二歲（twelve years old）”. Contrastively，Green （1996）ever thought that in the comparison with English topic， Chinese topic is relatively free and it can be elaborated without any links. In the above Chinese examples given， they have no any verbs to connect subject with other parts but for English， it is not allowed grammatically.

Tense can indicate exactly what time an action happens. English has complicated tense， each of which has strict grammatical rules. There exist sixteen kinds of English tenses for students to grasp. Chinese， however， has no real tense in reality like English and the time of an action in Chinese sentence or discourse is reflected in the adverbial parts or in the context. For example： “what did you do yesterday？”、“what are you going to do tomorrow？”、“what are you doing now？”， the three sentences are translated in Chinese respectively as “你（you）昨天（yesterday）做（do）什么（what）？”、“你明天（tomorrow）做什么？”、“你現(xiàn)在（now）做什么？”. These Chinese sentences have the similar expressive way except for the adverbial part. Chinese students feel difficult in judging the relation between the time and the result exactly， especially when they use the present participate tense and the past participate tense.

When it comes to the passive voice， the Chinese form is very easy for it is completed by the use of single character “被”（by） and more often is the character omitted. Yip（1995）ever gave an example： New cars must keep inside； Chinese students make the mistake for they are obviously affected by Chinese sentence：新車(chē)（new car）必須（must）放（keep）在里面（inside）and for the structure of Chinese passive voice often omits the representative character-被.

The attributive clause also causes Chinese students puzzled for English attributive clause is connected with the qualified part by the relative pronouns or the relative adverbs. In Chinese grammar， there do not exist the relatives. For example， the Chinese sentence， “那個(gè)站在門(mén)口的姑娘是我的女兒” may be translated mistakenly as “the girl stands near the door is my daughter” ， even as “that stand near the door girl is my daughter”. It shows not only the relatives but also the order between the qualified part and the attributive clause confuses Chinese students for Chinese attributive clause with the possessive function “的”is put before the qualified part.

By the contrast between Chinese and English can it draw a conclusion that Chinese language has the feature of flexibility and relaxation in grammar and that English is relatively characterized by logic and rigidness. Obviously the difference between the two languages outstands. Wang （2002）conducted an analytical experiment of Chinese college students English band four and band six writing and found that the rate of mistake caused by native language was over 70﹪. Similarly， English oral practice shows that Chinese students will borrow mother tongues expressive way unconsciously. Evidently， the difference between L1 and the target language will intervene the language acquisition.

For teachers and learners， negative transfer should be considered. The former should find more effective way to teach English in the process of deep study of the two languages. The awareness of negative transfer will make the learners try to weaken the native influence in the course of learning.

References：

[1]張煥芹.二語(yǔ)習(xí)得語(yǔ)言遷移研究初探：從語(yǔ)言遷移看漢語(yǔ)對(duì)英語(yǔ)習(xí)得的負(fù)面影響[J].長(zhǎng)春理工大學(xué)學(xué)報(bào)，2012（12），162.

[2]Li.Charles N.﹠Sandra.Thompson Grammatical Relations in Languages without Grammatical Signals[M].Innsbruck： University Innsbruck，1978.

[3]Green，C.F.The Origins and Effects of Topic-Prominence in Chinese-English Interlanguage[M].1996.

[4]Wang，II.Mother Tongue Interference in EFL Writing-A Case Study of CET Band 4 Composition[M].Unpublished MA thesis，Shanghai Jiaotong University，2002.

*本文系內(nèi)蒙古民族大學(xué)科研項(xiàng)目“民族院校蒙古族和漢族大學(xué)生在英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)中遷移現(xiàn)象研究”（NMD1362）階段性成果。