２３．Cross-linguistic Knowledge in L2 Mental Lexicon



		第６回言語学音声学国際会議 Linguistics and Phonetics 2002、於・明海大学　ワークショップ参加（平成１４年[２００２年]９月５日山岸発表分

1. Meikai EFL learners and Cross-linguistic Influence
　One day several years ago, one of my male students said to me, “Please have a nice summer vacation, Professor Yamagishi.” Immediately I noticed that the use of the adverb “please” here was a direct translation of the Japanese word “doozo” and what he really wanted to say was, “I hope you (will) have a nice summer vacation, Professor Yamagishi.” Undoubtedly the adverb “please” was used to express his wish, not his request, that I would have a nice summer vacation. I know from my own experience that Japanese EFL learners make this error very often.

Since then I have been attentive to how my Meikai EFL students translate the adverb “doozo” into English and my feeling that they would strongly be influenced by their native language unless they have sufficient cross-linguistic knowledge has gradually changed to a conviction. When they lack this knowledge, they are susceptible to an error or inappropriate form in the target language.

Taking this opportunity to work with my colleagues for this workshop, I assigned my students a translation task so that I would be able to test their cross-linguistic knowledge. Beside the word “doozo,” mentioned above, I picked out two others words, namely “mochiron” and “omoshiroi.” They are three of the words my students mistranslate the most.

1.1 Assigned Translation Task
A couple of months ago, during the early stages of preparing for today’s workshop, I assigned 94 Meikai students a cross-linguistic test so that I would be able to assess the EFL learners’ cross-linguistic knowledge. And the test results came up to my expectations: there is a significant difference between low- and high-TOEFL- ITP proficiency groups (See below). Later on, I will discuss the details of the test.

Table 1

Class	No. of Examinees	TOEFL-ITP Class Average
1- B	19	333.3
1-G	25	378.9
1- I	25	403.9
1- J	25	437.5
	Total 94

Japanese Sentences to be translated into English

(The words to be tested their appropriateness or suitability are underlined.)

1	(offering a chair to a guest) Doozo osuwari kudasai.
2	“Kono enpitsu karite ii?”“Doozo.”
3	“Enpitsu arimsuka?”“Hai, doozo.”
4	“Konoseki, fusagatte imasuka?”“Iie, doozo.”
5	(In a theater, asking someone to move so that you can get past) “Sumimasen.”“Doozo.”
6	(Introducing a singer) Soredewa, Ishikawa Sayuri-san, doozo! “
7	“Jishoo okarishite iidesuka?”“Mochiron, iidesuyo.”
8	“Onakawa suite naidaroone.”“Mochiron, suitenaiyo.”
9	“Okkusufoodo to Kenburriji, docchiwo ooen suruno?”“Mochiron, Kenburijji dayo.”
10	Sono myuujishian wa nihon wa mochiron, yooroppademo yuumeida.
11	Chichiwa uisuikiiwa mochiron, biirumo nomanai.
12	Kono monogatariwatotemo omoshiroi.
13	Sakkaawa omoshiroi.
14	Nyuuyooku wa omoshiroi machida
15	Kanojowa yoku omoshiroi joodanwoiu.

2. Cross-linguistic Knowledge Test and TOEFL-ITP Proficiency Levels
　One of the main difficulties in learning a new language is caused by interference from the first language or the mother tongue. I will show one concrete example. In a comparatively early stage of English learning, Japanese learners connect the Japanese words “doozo,”“mochiron” and“omoshiroi”closely with the English words “please,”“of course” and “interesting,”and the connections are so strong they remain imprinted on their memory. To corroborate this statement I gave 94 Meikai University freshman English majors a translation task, the answers and results of which are as follows:

Q.	Answers
1	Please sit down. / Sit down please. / Do sit down. / (Please) Have a seat. / （Please ) Take a seat. / Sit down.
2	“Can I use this pencil?”“Yes, sure. / Sure. / Go ahead. / Yes, of course. / Of course. / Yes, certainly. / Yes, help yourself.”
3	“Do you have a pen I can use?”“Yes [Sure]. Here you are.”
4	“Is this seat taken?”“No, help yourself.”
5	“Excuse me, please.”“Certainly. / Sure. (Go ahead.) / Go ahead. / OK.”
6	Ladies and gentlemen, we present Sayuri Ishikawa.
7	“May I use your dictionary?”“(Yes,) Certainly. / (Yes,) Of course. / Sure, go ahead.”
8	“You’re not hungry.”“No, I’m not. / No, thanks. / Of course not.”
9	“Which team will you root for, Oxford or Cambridge?”“Definitely, Cambridge. / Of course, Cambridge. / Cambridge, of course.”
10	That musician is well known not only in Japan but (also) in Europe.
11	My father never drinks beer, not to mention whisky.
12	This story is very interesting [amusing].
13	Soccer [Football] is a lot of fun [enjoyable / exciting].
14	New York is a fascinating [interesting / exciting / attractive] city.
15	She often makes a funny joke.

Class 1-B (TOEFL-ITP Class Average 333.3 points)

Q.	Corr. Ans. (%)
1	68.42 %	Six out of nineteen students (31.57%) were not able to use any of the answers shown above.
2	57.89	Four students (21.05%) answered“Here you are,”which is not appropriate here.
3	57.89	Two students answered with “Please,”which is not appropriate here.
4	0	No one answered correctly. Examples of the incorrect answers were, “Come here [on].”“Please.”“Sit here.”“No problem.”“No. Let’s sit here.”
5	15.78	Only three answered correctly. Among the incorrect answers were“You’re welcome,”and“Cross me.”
6	0	No one answered correctly. This phrase is unfamiliar to Japanese learners.
7	78.94	Many answered with“of course.” They do not seem to know, however, this phrase may sound condescending.
8	21.05	Seven students answered with “Of course.” None of them, however, answered with a negative form“Of course not.”This phrase also may sound condescending.
9	36.84	Seven students answered with“Of course.” Not so many could answer properly.
10	0	No one answered correctly. They should use“not only ～but (also).”
11	0	No one answered correctly. They should use“not to mention”here.
12	78.94	80% answered correctly; some of the students answered with “strange”or“important.”
13	26.31	Unexpectedly the percentage of correct answers was very low. Some of them answered with“Good,”and some with “existing” (undoubtedly they wanted to say “exciting.”).
14	36.84	Unexpectedly a low percentage of correct answers.
15	26.31	Also, this was hard to answer. Some answered with “Cheers!”“nice.”

Class 1-G (TOEFL-ITP Class Average 378.9 points)

Q.	Corr. Ans. (%)
1	100	All the students answered correctly.
2	56	Five students answered with “Here you are,” two students used the phrase“Here it is,”which is inappropriate here.
3	72	One student answered with “Yes, please,”which is inappropriate here.
4	8	The percentage of correct answers was low. The students answered with “No, please sit down,”“Please,”“No, you can sit,”“No, come on,”“No, here you are,”and many other expressions, all of which are inappropriate here.
5	64	One student answered with “Yes, please,”and another answered with“Please.”
6	0	No one answered correctly. A less familiar situation to Japanese learners.
7	72	Many students answered with “Of course,”“Of course, you can.”The phrase“of course”may sound condescending.
8	56	Seven students (28%) used the phrase“Of course,”but none of them added the negative adverb“not.”
9	60	Seven students answered with “Of course.”
10	12	Only three answered correctly. Few noticed they should use the phrase“not only～but (also).”
11	0	No one answered correctly. The students did not know that they should use the phrase “not to mention”here.
12	92	Most of the students answered correctly. Some used the adjective“funny.”
13	76	About 80% of the students answered correctly. Four students (16%) used the adjective“interesting.”
14	72	More than 70% answered correctly.
15	52	A little more than 50 % answered correctly. Some students used “odd,”“unique,”or“good.”

Class 1-I (TOEFL-ITP Class Average 403.9 points)

Q.	Corr. Ans. (%)
1	100	All the students answered correctly.
2	88	One of the students answered with“Yes, you may,” which may sound condescending.
3	68	Four students answered with“Yes, please,”which is inappropriate here. Some answered with “Yes, here,”“Yes, I do,”“Yes, I have.”
4	16	The percentage of correct answers was low. Among the varied answers were“No,”“No, please,”“No, it isn’t,”none of which is appropriate here.
5	64	Among the varied answers were “Please,”“Sorry,”“Don’t worry,”“Don’t mind,”“You’re welcome.”
6	0	No one answered correctly. This phrase is unfamiliar to Japanese learners.
7	92	Ten students answered with “Of course,”four with“Yes, of course,”and two with “Sure, of course.”Among many other expressions were “Sure, here you are,”“Of course, you can.” They don’t seem to understand that the phrase“of course”may sound condescending.
8	72	Five students answered with “Of course,” but none of them added the negative adverb“not”
9	40	Eleven students answered with “Of course.”Among many others were“completely,”“certainly,”and“absolutely.” No one used the correct answer“Definitely.”
10	56	A little more than half noticed that they should use the grammatical construction“not only ～but (also).” Some used the construction“not as～but also,”“as well as,”or“of course.”
11	4	No one answered correctly with the phrase “not to mention.”An answer with the“neither～nor”construction was included among the correct answers (4%).
12	88	Nearly 90% answered correctly. 4 used“funny,”and one used “fun.”
13	48	A little less than half answered correctly. Three used “exciting,”six “fun,”one “fantastic,”one“enjoyable” and four“interesting.”The adjective “interesting” may be suitable for games such as chess.
14	80	Seventeen students used“interesting,”one used“attractive,”one“exciting,”and one“nice.”And two used“interest”as an adjective and another two used the adjective “interested”in the meaning of “interesting.”
15	64	Sixteen students used“funny,”three“interesting,”one“nice,”and one “unique.”Some students used other adjectives correctly.

Class 1-J (TOEFL-ITP Class Average 437.5 points)

Q.	Corr. Ans. (%)
1	100	All the students answered correctly.
2	84	Two students answered with“Here you are,”which is inappropriate here. One answered with “Please.”
3	60	Twenty-four students answered with“Yes, please,”which is inappropriate here.
4	20	Only 20 % answered correctly. 6 answered with “Please sit down,”one with “Please,”four with“You can,”three with “No problem.” Among many other inappropriate answers were “You can take it,”“You may sit down,”and“Here you are.”
5	80	80 % answered correctly. three answered with “Yes, please,”one with “Don’t mind,”and one with “You’re welcome.”
6	0	No one answered correctly. This situation is unfamiliar to Japanese learners.
7	88	Nearly 90% answered correctly. Four answered with “Of course,”two with “Of course, sure,”one with “Of course, please,”one with “Of course, you can.” Many students answered with “Of course,” which may sound condescending.
8	72	Only four students answered with“No,I'm not.”
9	64	Seventeen students answered with“Of course, Cambridge.” One used“Certainly.”
10	56	Fourteen students used the construction “not only～but (also).”The rest answered incorrectly.
11	40	Ten students answered with the construction “neither～nor.”No one used the intended phrase“not to mention.”
12	100	All the students answered correctly.
13	80	Twelve students used“exciting,”seven“fun,”four “interesting.” The adjective “interesting” may be suitable for games such as chess.
14	84	Five students used “exciting,”four “unique,”eleven, “interesting.”Among many others were“nice,”“marvelous,”etc.
15	88	Nearly 90% answered correctly. Some used “good,”“unique,”or“nice.”

3. Analysis of the Cross-linguistic Knowledge Test
　 From the results of the cross-linguistic knowledge test I assigned to 94 Meikai University English major students (four classes), I can point out the following facts.

1. (offering a chair to a guest) Doozo osuwari kudasai.
　【Acceptable Answers】Please sit down. / Sit down please. / Do sit down. / (Please) Have a seat. / （Please ) Take a seat. / Sit down.
　【Linguistic Facts】The use of “please”in this case is quite easy for Japanese learners and this use is very often extended beyond its accepted uses: you will see examples in the following cases.

2.      “Kono enpitsu karite ii?”“Doozo.”
   【Acceptable Answers】“Can I use this pencil?”“Yes, sure. / Sure. / Go ahead. / Yes, of course. / Of course. / Yes, certainly. / Yes, help yourself.”
   【Linguistic Facts】Two students answered with “Please”(one from Class 11-I, one from Class 1-J), another two answered with “Yes, please.”（one from Class 11-I, 1 from Class 1-J). The use of “please”in this case is a direct translation of the Japanese word “doozo, ”which is inappropriate in English. Japanese learners tend to use the word“please”for the Japanese word “doozo,” assuming that the English word and the Japanese word are the same in meaning. No one answered with the expression“Yes, help yourself.”

3.      “Enpitsu arimsuka?”“Hai, doozo.”
   【Acceptable Answers】“Do you have a pen I can use?”“Yes [Sure]. Here you are.”
   【Linguistic Facts】Out of 94 students, two (Class 1-B) answered with“Please,”eight (4 from Class 1-I, 4 from Class 1-J) with “Yes, please.”This means, 10.6 % of the students have connected the English word “please”with the Japanese word“doozo.”

4.      “Konoseki, fusagatte imasuka?”“Iie, doozo.”
   【Acceptable Answers】“Is this seat taken?”“No, help yourself.”
   【Linguistic Facts】Out of 94 students, 24.46% answered with“No, please,”“Please,”“Please sit down,”or“Please sit here.”Here also, they connect the English word“please”with the Japanese word“doozo.” No one answered with the expression“No, help yourself.”

5. (In a theater, asking someone to move so that you can get past) “Sumimasen.”“Doozo.”
　【Acceptable Answers】“Excuse me, please.”“Certainly. / Sure. (Go ahead.) / Go ahead. / OK.”
　【Linguistic Facts】Out of 94 students, eight (8.5%) students answered with “Please,”or“Yes, please.”Here also, they connect the English word“please”with the Japanese word“doozo.”Four students answered with“You are welcome,”which is inappropriate here.

6. (Introducing a singer) Soredewa, Ishikawa Sayuri-san, doozo!
　【Acceptable Answers】Ladies and gentlemen, we present Sayuri Ishikawa.
　【Linguistic Facts】No one answered correctly. The commonest incorrect answer was “Sayuri Ishikawa, please.” 30 students (31.9%) used this form. Twenty students (21.27%) answered with“Come on,”which is never used in English.

7. “Jishoo okarishite iidesuka?”“Mochiron, iidesuyo.”
　【Acceptable Answers】“May I use your dictionary?”“(Yes,) Certainly. / (Yes,) Of course. / Sure, go ahead.”
　【Linguistic Facts】Seventy-seven students (81.9%) answered correctly with acceptable forms shown above. Many of the students, however, used “Of course,”“Yes, of course,”or “Sure, of course.”Without doubt, the use of the phrase “of course”here is the influence of the Japanese “doozo.” No one, however, seems to understand that the phrase may sound condescending. Some of the students used “Please use it,”or “Of course, please,”both of which are inappropriate here.

8. “Onakawa suite naidaroone.”“Mochiron, suitenaiyo.
　【Acceptable Answers】“You’re not hungry.”“No, I’m not. / No, thanks. / Of course not.”
　【Linguistic Facts】Fifty-three students (56.38%) answered correctly: their answers, in most cases, were“Of course, not,”or“No, I’m not (hungry).”The phrase“Of course, not”may sound condescending. Here also, we can notice the influence of the Japanese word “mochiron”upon the English phrase“of course.”No one answered with “No, thanks.”

9. “Okkusufoodo to Kenburriji, docchiwo ooen suruno?”“Mochiron, Kenburijji dayo.”
　【Acceptable Answers】“Which team will you root for, Oxford or Cambridge?”“Definitely, Cambridge. / Of course, Cambridge. / Cambridge, of course.”
　【Linguistic Facts】Forty-eight students (51.06%) answered correctly. Most of them, however, used the phrase “of course.” Here also, the phrase may sound condescending. No one answered with“definitely.”

10. Sono myuujishian wa nihon wa mochiron, yooroppademo yuumeida.
【Acceptable Answers】That musician is well known not only in Japan but (also) in Europe.
【Linguistic Facts】Thirty-one students (32.97%) answered correctly: Class 1-B, none, Class 1-G, three, Class 1-I, fourteen, and Class 1-J, fourteen. Here we can see the correlation between the percentage of correct answers and the TOEFL-ITP scores.

11.        Chichiwa uisuikiiwa mochiron, biirumo nomanai.
    【Acceptable Answers】My father never drinks beer, not to mention whisky.
    【Linguistic Facts】No one answered correctly with the phrase“not to mention.” Ten students (one from Class 1-I, ten from Class 1-J) answered with the construction “My father drinks neither whisky nor beer.” Here we can see the correlation between the percentage of acceptable answers and the TOEFL-ITP score. Twenty-six students (27.65%) answered with “My father doesn’t drink not only whisky but (also) beer,”and eleven students (11.7%) answered with “My father doesn’t drink neither whisky nor beer,”both of which being inappropriate here.

12.        Kono monogatariwatotemo omoshiroi.
    【Acceptable Answers】This story is very interesting [amusing].
    【Linguistic Facts】Ninety-one students (96.80%) answered correctly with the adjective“interesting.”This means that Japanese learners connect the English       adjective“interesting”closely with the Japanese “omoshiroi.” No one used“amusing”or other acceptable adjectives.

13.        Sakkaawa omoshiroi.
    【Acceptable Answers】Soccer [Football] is a lot of fun [enjoyable / exciting].
    【Linguistic Facts】Fifty-three students (20.21%) answered correctly with one of the acceptable forms . Twenty-five students (26.59%) used “interesting,”which must be closely connected with the Japanese“omoshiroi.” The English adjective, however, may be suitable for games such as chess，since the game interests your mind and intellect. You could answer with “I like to play soccer [football].”

14.        Nyuuyooku wa omoshiroi machida.
    【Acceptable Answers】New York is a fascinating [interesting / exciting / attractive] city.
    【Linguistic Facts】Sixty-six students (69.14%) answered correctly with one of the adjectives shown above. Out of the sixty-six students, forty-six students (69.69%) answered with the adjective “interesting.” Here we can also see that many Japanese learners connect the Japanese“omoshiroi”directly with the English“interesting.”

15.        Kanojowa yoku omoshiroi joodanwoiu.
    【Acceptable Answers】Fifty-six students (59.57%) answered correctly with “funny.”
    【Linguistic Facts】Eleven students (11.7%) used the adjective“interesting,”which is inappropriate here. This use of “interesting” is clearly an influence of the Japanese word“omoshiroi”upon the English word“interesting.”

3-2 The Correlation between the percentages of Correct Answers and the TOEFL-ITP Proficiency Levels
The cross-linguistic knowledge test results indicate that the higher the TOEFL-ITP proficiency levels are, the higher the percentages of correct answers in the cross-linguistic knowledge test go up. The following table shows the correlation.

TOEFL-ITP1=the average score of the first year students (10 classes)

TOEFL-ITP2=the average score of each class; each one of the four classes

	Class1-B	Class1-G	Class1-I	Class-1J
TOEFL-ITP1	369.6	369.5	369.5	369.5
TOEFL-ITP2	333.3	378.9	403.9	437.5
Question 1	68%	100%	100%	100%
Q.2	58	56	88	84
Q.3	58	72	68	64
Q.4	0	8	16	20
Q.5	16	64	64	80
Q.6	0	0	0	0
Q.7	79	72	92	88
Q.8	21	56	72	72
Q.9	37	60	40	64
Q.10	0	12	56	56
Q.11	0	0	4	40
Q.12	79	92	88	100
Q.13	26	76	48	80
Q.14	37	72	80	84
Q.15	26	52	64	88

As the table shows, Class 1-J (TOEFL-ITP 437.5) ranks first in ten questions out of Fifteen questions (66.66%), Class 1-I (TOEFL-ITP 403.9) ranks first in five questions (33.33%), and Class 1-G ranks first in two questions (13.33%). Here we can see the correlation between the percentages of correct answers and the TOEFL-ITP Proficiency Levels.

4. Significance of Cross-linguistic Perspective in Creating the Database
Recently we have been profiting greatly from computer linguistics and varied types of databases are being created all over the world. EFL teachers and learners are enjoying the fruits of this Internet industry. We should not forget, however, that EFL learners are susceptible to cross-linguistic influence or L1 transfer errors. Japanese EFL learners, as I have shown with some interesting examples, are often seriously affected by their insufficient cross-linguistic knowledge. In creating a database for better EFL teaching and learning, therefore, we should deepen our cross-linguistic understanding of English and Japanese. Personally, I plan to gather data of the kind I have shown you today. I am sure Dr. Tono, one of today's coworkers, will tell me how best we would be able to use them.