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Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Language Acquisition

Language transfer

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

nounCommon term

In linguistics & grammar, language transfer means: The influence of a learner's first language, or another language they know, on the language being learned; it can help (positive transfer) or cause errors (negative transfer).

In Turkish: dil aktarımı, aktarım

How it is used

Also called cross-linguistic influence or L1 transfer; negative transfer is often called interference. Teachers use the idea to predict learners' errors, although not every error comes from the first language.

Example sentences

  1. 'I live in Izmir since 2018' is a typical case of language transfer from Turkish '2018'den beri İzmir'de yaşıyorum'.

  2. Positive language transfer helps Turkish learners with loanwords like 'taxi' and 'telephone'.

Common collocations

  • negative transfer
  • positive transfer
  • L1 transfer
  • cross-linguistic influence
  • first languageThe language a person learns first, from birth or early childhood, usually the one they know best; linguists often shorten it to L1.
  • interlanguageA learner's developing language system, which has its own rules and is neither the first language nor the target language; the term was introduced by Larry Selinker in 1972.
  • second language acquisitionThe process of learning another language after the first one, and the research field that studies how this happens; usually shortened to SLA.
  • overgeneralizationA learner's habit of applying a grammar rule to cases where it does not apply, as when a child says 'goed' or 'mouses' instead of 'went' or 'mice'.

More terms: Language Acquisition

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