Chapter 3. Interlanguage Transfer and Competing Linguistic Systems in the Multilingual Mind

The influence of language distance and language status on the acquisition of L3 phonology

“…Despite being still in its infancy, certain areas of language have already been considerably explored. This is the case of lexis (Cenoz, 2001;De Angelis & Selinker, 2001;Dewaele, 1998;Hammarberg, 2001;Mö hle, 1989;Ringbom, 2001;Tremblay, 2006), with syntax receiving increasing attention (Bardel, 2006;Bardel & Falk, 2007;Leung, 2005). To date, phonology remains the least explored area within TLA, as Gallardo del Puerto (2007) noted.…”

“…De Angelis & Selinker, 2001;Dewaele, 1998;Williams & Hammarberg, 1998). According to De Angelis (2005), non-native languages tend to fall under the category 'foreign languages' in the mind of the learner, which creates a cognitive association among them.…”

The Multilingual Lexicon

“…For example, Spanish can be considered distant from English as compared to Dutch but closer to English as compared to Japanese. Studies conducted with Indoeuropean languages also confirm these findings (Ecke, 2001;De Angelis & Selinker, 2001;Singleton, 1987;Möhle, 1989). Studies involving L3 speakers of different languages have consistently reported that they use a second language which is typologically closer to the L3 as the source language of transfer or default supplier rather than the typologically distant first language.…”

“…These results have been related to a 'foreign language effect' (Meisel, 1983;Hufeisen 2000b;De Angelis and Selinker, 2001) or 'L2 status' (Hammarberg, 2001) and have important implications for the study of language processing in multilinguals because multilinguals could use different processing and acquisition mechanisms for second languages as compared to first languages (see Hammarberg, 2001). These results have been related to a 'foreign language effect' (Meisel, 1983;Hufeisen 2000b;De Angelis and Selinker, 2001) or 'L2 status' (Hammarberg, 2001) and have important implications for the study of language processing in multilinguals because multilinguals could use different processing and acquisition mechanisms for second languages as compared to first languages (see Hammarberg, 2001).…”

Third language acquisition

“…Research has made clear that even low levels of proficiency in an intervening language can affect the initial-state of a learner's L3 (De Angelis & Selinker, 2001;Jaensch, 2008). It is therefore vital that each of the learner's languages is given due consideration in terms of possible influence.…”