Introduction

Overview

In this chapter, we will look at the phenomenon of how language systems interact in the individual language learner focusing on syntax and using the perspective afforded by the MOGUL framework as developed by Sharwood Smith and Truscott (see, in particular Truscott & Sharwood Smith, 2004). The first section will provide an overview of the main conceptual issues as they have arisen during the course of the last 20 or 30 years. The second section will introduce the MOGUL framework and, in the third section, we will take the example of past tense to show how MOGUL accounts for crosslinguistic effects in learner performance.

Transfer

Linguists of all kinds have shown interest in the way language systems interact and influence each other psychologically, historically and in various social contexts. With regard to language acquisition studies, the central concern is how this influence plays out in the minds of individuals. Where the perspective is a sociolinguistic one, researchers look at the linguistic effects of different language communities mixing together; still, even when the focus is sociological, the psycholinguistic dimension may still be relevant as is evident in the study of code-switching amongst multilinguals who can exploit their shared knowledge of more than one language in order to enhance and generally facilitate communication between one another (Grosjean, 1982). An investigation into sociological phenomena in the outside world can easily involve a consideration of psychological implications relating to what is going on inside the individual participants (see, e.g. the classic texts in bilingualism such as Haugen, 1953 and Weinreich, 1953).

In second language acquisition studies, the main concern has naturally been with the role of previously acquired languages, and especially the mother tongue on the development of a second language.