Examining the potential influence of crosslinguistic lexical similarity on word-choice transfer in L2 English

Abstract

We examined whether and how L1-L2 crosslinguistic formal lexical similarity influences L2 word choice. Our sample included two learner subcorpora, containing 8,500 and 6,390 English texts, written in an educational setting, by speakers of diverse L1s in the A1–B2 CEFR range of L2 proficiency. We quantified similarity based on phonological overlap between L1 words and their L2 (English) translations. This similarity relates to psycholinguistic cognancy, which occurs when words and their translations share a high level of formal similarity, often due to historical cognancy from shared etymology or language contact. We then used mixed-effects statistical models to examine how this similarity influences the rate of use of the L2 words; essentially, we checked whether L2 words that are more similar to their L1 translations are used more often. We also controlled for potential confounds, including the baseline L1 frequency of the English words. The type of crosslinguistic similarity that we examined did not influence learners’ choice of L2 words in their writing in the present sample, which represents a type of educational setting that many learners encounter. This suggests that the influence of such similarity is constrained, and that communicative needs can override transfer from learners’ L1 to their L2, which raises questions regarding when and how else situational factors can influence transfer.