Constrasting Engl and German Flashcards
What is contrastive linguistics?
- synchronic comparison of 2 languages, especially focusing on where they differe
- original aim was educational, constrative hypothesis (Lado 1957), assuming that great difference in structure leads to greater difficulty in learning (prediction of potential errors) and other way round
- assumptions here: 1) SLA is diff from FLA and 2) foreign lg always in background of first and 3) learners find some features of a lg are easier to learn than others
most important types of interference (contrastive hypothesis)
3 types
1) substitution
2) over- or under-identification
3) over- or underrepresentation –> though this doesn’t ‘actively’ lead to mistakes
examples for interference - substitution
e. g. German /s/, /z/, /v/ for English /th/, /th, voiced/ /w/
e. g. Ich bekomme ein Bier –> *I ‘become’ a beer
e. g. Wenn ich ich fragen würde, würde er ablehnen. *If I ‘would’ ask him, he would refuse
examples for interference - overdifferentiation
differentiation of L1 does not exist in L2
e.g. German Obst/Frucht vs. fruit)
examples for interference - underdifferentiation
differentiation in L2 does not exist in L1
e. g.
- shade/shadow vs. Schatten
- snail/slug vs. Schnecke
- Past Tense/Present Perfect vs. Perfekt as narrative tense
- simple/progressive form vs. “simple form” in German
examples for interference - over- and underrepresentation
over:
speakers of foreign tongue use structures more often than native speakers do, e.g.
- finite subordinate clauses with introductory relative pronouns or adverbial subordinators. It can also be observed that advanced learners overuse foreign language structures in L2
_________
under:
speakers use foreign-lg structures more rarely than native speakers would so, e.g.:
- shortened relative clauses (The man sitting on the bench watched her all the time)
- adverbial participles (Sitting on the bench the man watched her all the time)
- or medio-passive constructions (This book won’t sell)
Why are the assumptions of constrastive hypothesis to be taken with caution?
- Learning difficulties/mistakes may also result from the similarities of 2 lgs
e. g. perfect in German and English - studies have shown that predictions made through contrastive analysis do not occur at all or are very rare (esp. observed in grammar; predictions in phonetics/phonology more reliable)
- even though abt 50% of errors are the result of transfer there are also many other factors that need to be taken into consideration!
–> so assumptions of CL have been too strong. Results from analysis only partially overlap with reality
Pro:
- diagnostic tool to explain many errors
development of Contrastive Linguistics
1) contrastive hypothesis (Lado 1950s)
2) move from applied linguistics to theoretical, descriptive (1970s), branch in comparative linguistics (along w/ typology, areal linuistics - also synchronic. And diachronich: historical-comparative)
3) 1980s - increased inspiration by typology (+ finding that if L2 is more marked than native lg then more difficult)
How are English and German related languages?
include examples
Along with Dutch, Frisian, Afrikaans and Yiddish –> West Germanic Languages
Have in common?
- distinction strong verbs (sing-sang-sung; gehen-ging-gegangen) and weak verbs (work-worked-worked, lieben-liebte-geliebt)
- past versus non-past: only two tenses which are marked by inflection of the verb stem, namely past (or preterite, marked) and non-past (or present, unmarked)
- verb-second position, i.e. in simple declarative sentences the predicate containing the finite verb usually comes second
- use of word order to distinguish between the basic sentence types
- historically: increasing analyticity due to the loss of various inflectional morphemes
- non-pro-drop languages (pronouns are not dropped even when pragatically or grammatically inferable)
Contrasts between Engl/Germ phonology
1 – gaps
- rounded front vowels only in G
- dental fricatives only in E
- velar fricatives only in G
- fewer affricates in E
2 – realizations
- lower vowels in E.
- different realization of liquids
- diff realization of diphthongs
- more steady state vowels in G
- lax and tense distinction in E vs length distinction in G
3 – processes
- linking, aspiration and no final devoicing of obstruents in E
4 – prosody
- diff realization of stress
- G has flatter intonation (fewer movements, less extreme movements, stepping vs gliding)
- diff patterns or meanings of patterns (extra high onset in E, terminal high rise in E)
————— PHONOLOGY : -> Consonants -- gaps: - dental fricatives only in English (Th) - velar fricatives only in German (ch?) - fewer affricates in English (Tsch, etc)
- realizations:
- different w/ liquids (r, l)
- processes:
- linking
- aspiration
- no final devoicing of obstruents in Engl
- prosody:
- different realizations of stress
- German Flatter Intonation (stepping vs gliding)
- different patterns or meanings of patterns (extra high onset in Engl, terminal high rise in English)
- -> Vowels
- gaps
- rounded front vowels only in G
- -realizations
- lower vowels in Eng (e.g. a)
- different w/ diphthongs
- more steady state vowels in German
- lax and tense distinction in Engl vs length destination in G
_________
Contrasts between Engl/Germ morphology
- English is analytical versus German inflecting (more conservative)
- English loss of morphological distinctions (gender, case, mood, person, strong/weak adjectives) rich distinctions of reflexives, multiple word-class membership, strong aspect system, many non-finite forms
- German: no aspect system, less future marking
Contrasts between Engl/Germ lexicon
English:
- rich vocabulary,
- many non-Germanic words,
- dissociation in word fields,
- basic vocabulary Germanic, many borrowings, many homophones,
- very productive conversion
German:
smaller vocab, comparatively less borrowing, association in word fields, more derivation than conversion
Contrasts between Engl/Germ syntax
SYNTAX :
1 _ Word Order
Same: developed from verb final to verb-second (like all Germanic lgs)
English
- grammaticalized word order, fixed, in declarative sentences: SVO in main but ALSO subordinate clauses
German
- “pragmatic word order”, free, can change around depending on what you want to emphasize
2 _ Typology
German > synthetic (inflectional)
English > analytic (grammatical)
3 _ Effects due to Word Order: - medio-passive (in G reflexives) - cleft-sentences - 'raising structures' English Only phenomena: - preposition stranding - gerunds - relative pronoun omission - many non-finite clauses - tag questions
5 _ German Only phenomena:
- complex pre-nominal modifiers
- subject-less sentences
———-
Checklist:
English:
- word order more fixed
- inversion with do-periphrasis
- SVO in main AND subordinate clauses (in G only TVX in main, SOV in subordinate
- strict distinction between aux. and main verbs (not so in G)
- more possibilities in passivization (medio-passive)
- pseudo-passives in English: was gone, is broken, am finished
English only:
preposition-stranding, more raising structures, clefts and pseudo-clefts (A cleft sentence is a complex sentence that has a meaning that could be expressed by a simple sentence. Clefts typically put a particular constituent into focus. In spoken language, this focusing is often accompanied by a special intonation.), use of gerunds, relative pronoun omission, many non-finite clauses, many tag questions
German only:
complex pre-nominal modifiers, subject-less sentences
Give a structured overview on differences in English and German language
On the levels of Phonology, morphology, lexicon, syntax
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ PHONOLOGY : -> Consonants -- gaps: - dental fricatives only in English (Th) - velar fricatives only in German (ch?) - fewer affricates in English (Tsch, etc)
- realizations:
- different w/ liquids (r, l)
- processes:
- linking
- aspiration
- no final devoicing of obstruents in Engl
- prosody:
- different realizations of stress
- German Flatter Intonation (stepping vs gliding)
- different patterns or meanings of patterns (extra high onset in Engl, terminal high rise in English)
- -> Vowels
- gaps
- rounded front vowels only in G
- -realizations
- lower vowels in Eng (e.g. a)
- different w/ diphthongs
- more steady state vowels in German
- lax and tense distinction in Engl vs length destination in G
_________
MORPHOLOGY :
- Engl analytical vs German inflecting
(analytical: language that primarily conveys relationships between words in sentences by way of helper words)
- in Engl loss of morphological distinctions (gender, case, mood, person, strong/weak adjectives)
- rich distinctions of reflexives
- multiple word-class membership
- strong aspect system (e.g. progressive/simple present; diff between simple past - past perfect)
- many non-finite forms (Nonfinite verbs cannot perform action as the root of an independent clause. Most nonfinite verbs found in English are infinitives, participles and gerunds. typically are not inflected by grammatical tense, and they have little inflection for other grammatical categories. Formally, they lack the three grammatical features (mood, tense & voice) that are “associated, independently or relatively, with…the act of predication.”)
In German
- no aspect system
- less future marking
_____
LEXICON :
English
- rich vocabulary
- many non-Germanic words
- dissociation in Word fields (bc from diff origin, connection not obvious; e.g. table - desk vs Tisch - SchreibTISCH)
- basic (everyday) vocabulary Germanic
- many borrowings
- many homophones (Sound same, diff meaning)
- very productive conversion (verb used as noun and perhaps vice versa)
German
- smaller vocabulary
- comparatively less borrowing
- association in word fields
- more derivation than conversion
____
SYNTAX :
1 _ Word Order
Same: developed from verb final to verb-second (like all Germanic lgs)
English
- grammaticalized word order, fixed, in declarative sentences: SVO in main but ALSO subordinate clauses
German
- “pragmatic word order”, free, can change around depending on what you want to emphasize
2 _ Typology
German > synthetic (inflectional)
English > analytic (analytic)
3 _ Effects due to Word Order: - medio-passive (in G reflexives) - cleft-sentences - 'raising structures' English Only phenomena: - preposition stranding - gerunds - relative pronoun omission - many non-finite clauses - tag questions
5 _ German Only phenomena:
- complex pre-nominal modifiers
- subject-less sentences
What are the 3 main effects of English’s strict word order?
- Compensation for the fixed word order to meet discourse pragmatic needs with structural requirements:
- > cleft-sentences and passive
- cleft-sentences
–> I was John who…
(Whole adverbial:)
–> It was yesterday she said she would be coming - pseudo-cleft
- -> What John did was crash my car.
- -> Crash my cat is what John did. (Inverted Info structure)
- passive (English uses passive where G puts object in beginning)
–> I was taken home by my friend.
–> Mich brachte mein Freund nach Hause.
» structure allows the subject to be the topic! Unusual subject bc it allows it to be semantic patient instead of agent in active sentences… - medio-passive
–> the book reads well
» ‘unusual object’ doesn’t fulfill role of a patient.
- Sentence constituents may have lost their mobility within clause boundaries but they have gained greater mobility across clauses. –> “fused constructions”, which often makes it difficult to identify clause boundaries
- “raising constructions” ‘argument trespassing’
–> I believe him to be a nice person.
(vs. I believe that he is a nice person) - Ssub>Omain
–> He happened to know the answer. (Ssub>Smain)
–> This Book is boring to read. (Osub>Smain)
» raises subordinate clause - Loosening of relationship between form and meaning (or function) in several domains. Meanings, functions of constructions, constituents and words often vary and can only be derived from immediate context.
