29.1555, Qs: Parallel forms between En&De and En&Fr

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-29-1555. Tue Apr 10 2018. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 29.1555, Qs: Parallel forms between En&De and En&Fr

Moderators: linguist at linguistlist.org (Damir Cavar, Malgorzata E. Cavar)
Reviews: reviews at linguistlist.org (Helen Aristar-Dry, Robert Coté,
                                   Michael Czerniakowski)
Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
           http://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

Editor for this issue: Kenneth Steimel <ken at linguistlist.org>
================================================================


Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2018 18:09:51
From: Julia Rutkowska [j.rutkowska5 at student.uw.edu.pl]
Subject: Parallel forms between En&De and En&Fr

 
Dear All,

I am an undergrad student in Applied Linguistics at the University of Warsaw,
Poland. For my thesis project I have been hoping to investigate the impact of
background languages on trilinguals’ translation choices, examining the
cross-linguistic influence of L1 Polish, L3 German/French and L2 English on
one another by asking students majoring in these language combinations to
translate sentences or phrases from (L1) Polish into (L2) English – either to
provide their own translation, or to select a preferred translation from two
options provided.

I am looking for syntactic structures, morphemes, function words, expressions
and/or metaphors which are similar in (L2) English and (L3) German but
different in (L3) French, or similar in English and French but different in
German. I need to consider examples where there are similarities between L1 &
L2 but not L3, and between L1 & L3 but not L2, plus in an ideal scenario also
examples where L1=L2=L3 and L1≠L2≠L3. The most beneficial items would be ones
where English has at least two ways of expressing an idea, of which one would
have a close equivalent in either German or French. False friends (faux amis)
should also be helpful.

An example which I might consider in my questionnaire would be the word: L1Pl
- plecak, L2En - backpack/rucksack, L3De - der Rucksack/ L3Fr sac à das. As
for structures, in the survey might be a choice between two sentences, for
example L2En “I gave a gift to my friend” and “I gave my friend a gift” (where
L3De/Fr would have only one option – “Ich gab meiner Freundin ein Geschenk”/
“J'ai donné un cadeaux à mon ami” – of expressing the idea).

Does this make sense? I would be very grateful for help with examples that
could be useful in my study (this is my first project of this kind, and I
myself do not speak French), as well as any comments and/or ideas on its
design.

Yours faithfully,
Julia Rutkowska
 

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics

Subject Language(s): English (eng)
                     French (fra)
                     German (deu)
                     Polish (pol)



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*****************    LINGUIST List Support    *****************
Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
            http://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/
 


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-29-1555	
----------------------------------------------------------