33.3165, Review: Language: Explorations of Language Transfer, Odlin (2022)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-33-3165. Tue Oct 18 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.3165, Review: Language: Explorations of Language Transfer, Odlin (2022)

Moderators:

Editor for this issue: Maria Lucero Guillen Puon <luceroguillen at linguistlist.org>
================================================================


Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2022 21:42:37
From: Ellie Passmore [elliejpassmore at gmail.com]
Subject: Explorations of Language Transfer: Odlin

 
Discuss this message:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=36822077


Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/33/33-1743.html

AUTHOR: Terence  Odlin
TITLE: Explorations of Language Transfer
SERIES TITLE: Second Language Acquisition
PUBLISHER: Multilingual Matters
YEAR: 2022

REVIEWER: Ellie Passmore, University of North Carolina at Wilmington

SUMMARY

“Explorations of Language Transfer,” by Terence Odlin, is an engaging
monograph belonging to the series “Second Language Acquisition” published by
Multilingual Matters. This series aims to discuss language acquisition and
processing in contexts where a second (or more) language is also present. Each
book in the series is meant to be suitable for early-career academics (i.e.,
late undergraduates and postgraduates in second language acquisition), as well
as people who may have an interest in second language acquisition (SLA)
without a deep background in it.

The book is divided into eight chapters, including an Introduction and
Conclusion, and split into two parts, each with a brief introduction. Part 1
(Chapters 2-4) deals with theories in SLA, with an emphasis on the contrastive
analysis hypothesis (CAH) and the predictions and constraints that can be
produced from those hypotheses. Part 2 (Chapters 5-7) focuses on aspects of
language transfer and processing, covering comprehension and production,
constructions, and translation.

In the Introduction, Odlin sets a working definition of ‘transfer’ in
linguistics and describes cases in which the acquisition of a second language
(L2) interferes with production of the speaker’s first language (L1). He goes
on to provide a brief overview of the history of the use of ‘transfer’ in
linguistics, where he suggests ‘übertragen’ and ‘hinübertragen’ from von
Humboldt’s (1836 as cited in Odlin 2022) treatise on language and cognition as
the origin of the mainstream SLA use of ‘transfer’ (p. 4). The rest of the
introductory chapter provides summaries of the two sections of this volume.

Chapters 2 and 3 are dedicated almost solely to the CAH. Chapter 2 deals with
the history and ambiguousness of the CAH as well as the nebulous use of
behaviorist psychology terms (i.e., habits) in early-20th century SLA
scholarship. Odlin chooses to answer the chapter’s title question (Was There
Really Ever a Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis?) in the affirmative, though
cautions that ‘hypothesis’ might be too strong a word to use for CAH and that,
while useful to the development of SLA and transfer theory and literature, the
hypothesis has its problems. Chapter 3 headlines a new question about CAH:
Could a Contrastive Analysis Ever be Complete? To answer this question, Odlin
first offers an overview of the difficulties of contrastive predictions before
delving into constraints as predictions and transferability, leading to two
proofs, one about viable theories of transferability and one about accounting
for relevant affective factors. He goes on to examine both proofs in the
context of the CAH and suggests that complete “contrastive analysis would have
to come in pairs of descriptions” (p. 43). The chapter concludes with a
reaffirmation that the CAH can be considered complete since it meets both
proofs mentioned earlier in the chapter.

Chapter 4 closes out Part 1 by discussing the cross-linguistic transfer of
word order, metalinguistic awareness, and constraints on Foreign Language
Learning (FLL). The author first addresses universalist positions of word
transfer, namely that negative transfer of basic word order does not occur.
>From there, he explores the patterns seen in basic word-order transfer across
languages and goes on to provide specific examples of substratum transfer in
Hawaiian Pidgin English, Bamboo English, Andean Spanish, and Pidgin Fijian.
These examples serve as an opening to analyze language-neutral discourse
strategies and crosslinguistic word-order transfer, with the author favoring
the latter. Odlin closes out the chapter by addressing the criticism that
crosslinguistic basic word-order transfer is infrequently observed, suggesting
that since it is more common in less proficient speakers, either a
misattribution of proficiency or a shyness on behalf of a speaker
(particularly adult L2 learners) leads to a dearth of observational
opportunities. He also suggests that metalinguistic awareness may lessen
instances of such transfer, especially for those learning a language in an FLL
setting and for speakers where social context may play a role in speech
behavior.

Part 2 is introduced with a two-page summary of the following chapters.
Chapter 5 focuses on language comprehension and production, using Jarvis’s
(1998) study on Swedish and Finnish L1 speakers writing narratives in English.
In the study, students who were either Finnish or Swedish L1 speakers and
Finnish/Swedish and English L2 and L3 speakers watched two silent film clips
and wrote narratives on those clips in English after a brief interval.
Separate groups of Swedish, Finnish, and English L1 speakers watched those
same clips and wrote narratives in their first language. The passages were
then analyzed on the production, or rather reproduction, of what occurred in
the clips, with particular attention paid to grammatical patterns and to any
reproduction of the title of the two scenes. Analysis of the results suggested
that the English as a foreign language (EFL) students showed patterns specific
to their L1 in their narratives. One particular finding was that knowledge of
Swedish buffered against errors in determiner and subordinating conjunction
usage in English, even if participants had been learning English for only a
relatively short period (as in the F9B group who had studied Swedish for 6
years but English for only 2), suggesting positive transfer from the L1/L2 to
the L3 and thus that crosslinguistic similarity does play a role in
comprehension and production. Odlin uses this study, among others that are
briefly mentioned in the chapter, to support the idea of language-specific
processing and its role in comprehension and production. To close out the
chapter, Odlin discusses the implications of transfer in comprehension and
production, with a particular emphasis on memory.

Chapter 6 opens with a definition of ‘focus,’ with the author going off
Carston’s (1996 as cited in Odlin 2022) definition and clarifying that “the
use of focus in the chapter will serve as shorthand for Carston’s three-word
phrase ‘syntactically marked structures’” (p. 88, emphasis in original). The
first half of the chapter focuses on the different forms focus constructs can
take, with an emphasis mainly on clefting, word order, and particles. This
discussion is followed by a brief analysis of variations in focus construct
meanings, such as how emphasis on different words can change the meaning of a
sentence in English. Odlin closes out the theoretical discussion of focus
constructs by mentioning hypothesized and empirically-supported cognitive
effects of such constructs. The second half of the chapter touches on focus
constructions in the context of translation and crosslinguistic transfer,
including choices made about focus constructions during translation. The
chapter finishes with a brief examination of the role of focus constructs,
particularly cleft sentences, in ultimate attainment of an L2.

Chapter 7 focuses on translation and language transfer, beginning with a
definition of ‘translation’ and presenting Jakobson’s (1958 as cited in Odlin
2022) threefold classification. The author then considers the case of machine
translation, again using an example from the Jarvis (1998) study before
turning to human translators and cases of L1 to L2/3 transfer, as well as
cases of L2 interference in L1-L3 translation. From there, the discussion
turns to individual differences in translation, including reconstruals and
positive/negative transfers. Odlin ends the chapter with an examination of how
translation and cognitive processing are used in language acquisition,
focusing mainly on the Processability Theory (PT) and evidence against it.

The Conclusion begins with a brief overview of Parts 1 and 2 and their
implications before delving into a deeper discussion on how the findings
presented in previous chapters could be used in SLA teaching.

EVALUATION

The purpose of this volume, as set out in the Introduction, is to reconnect
aspects of second language acquisition and language contact with a focus on
how a learner’s previously acquired language(s) impact the acquisition of a
new language while also maintaining a level of readability accessible to
linguistics students and non-linguistic professionals interested in SLA. The
approach adopted by the author is to provide a theoretical framework for
crosslinguistic language transfer in SLA followed by empirical evidence of
different types of language transfer.

The book succeeds in providing an accessible, but in-depth overview of
language transfer in SLA. The content is presented in a manner of growing
complexity, with Odlin presenting relevant background information at the start
of each chapter before delving into the more specific, and complex, details of
the topic at hand. This enables readers less familiar with formal linguistic
approaches to still comprehend the material. Odlin also leaves room for
questioning and offers both the implications of the research he presents as
well as the gaps still remaining.

I do question the author’s choice to focus almost solely on the contrastive
analysis hypothesis in the first half of the book without touching on error
analysis or interlanguage theory, which, among others, have played major roles
in the development of SLA theory (VanPatten et al., 2020). While error
analysis in particular has fallen to the wayside, it seems pertinent to
mention other prominent acquisition theories, particularly when aspects of
both are used to support Odlin’s claims (notably Chapter 5, though both show
up throughout Part 2). However, while an overview including additional
theories and hypotheses would be useful to this volume, it is a relatively
minor problem, and the overall quality of the text is excellent.

REFERENCES

Jarvis, S. (2022). Language transfer and the link between comprehension and
production. In T. Odlin, Explorations of language transfer. Multilingual
Matters.

VanPatten, B., Gregory, K. D., & Wulff, S. (Eds.). (2020). Theories in second
language acquisition: An introduction. Routledge.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

After earning her bachelor's in 2022 with an honors thesis on commonalities
and barriers in Indigenous language revitalization, Ellie Passmore is
currently taking a gap year prior to starting a graduate program. Her research
interests primarily center around second language acquisition, bilingualism,
phonetics, and language revitalization.





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

***************************    LINGUIST List Support    ***************************
 The 2022 Fund Drive is under way! Please visit https://funddrive.linguistlist.org
  to find out how to donate and check how your university, country or discipline
     ranks in the fund drive challenges. Or go directly to the donation site:
                   https://crowdfunding.iu.edu/the-linguist-list

                        Let's make this a short fund drive!
                Please feel free to share the link to our campaign:
                    https://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/
 


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-33-3165	
----------------------------------------------------------