Cross-Linguistic Influence in Croatian-English-Spanish Multilinguals: Evidence from Spoken and Written Production

Džapo, Ana. (2015). Cross-Linguistic Influence in Croatian-English-Spanish Multilinguals: Evidence from Spoken and Written Production. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of English Language and Literature
Department of Roman Languages and Literature. [mentor Medved-Krajnović, Marta and Jelić, Andrea Beata].

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Abstract

This thesis deals with the issue of crosslinguistic influence in multilinguals who, besides their mother tongue Croatian, also speak English and Spanish. The aim of this paper is to establish whether the multilinguals use other languages they know in spoken and written production, and whether they use previously acquired skills and findings related to those languages during that process. The theoretical part of the paper covers the definitions of the concept of crosslinguistic influence, history of the development of the field, as well as possible theories why crosslinguistic influence appears or does not appear in particular cases. Furthermore, what is briefly discussed are the separateness of languages in the brain and numerous factors which influence the occurrence of CLI. Finally, there is a short overview of the status of English and Spanish languages in Croatia. The research part consists of two studies comparing two groups of language users: one where participants are not proficient speakers of English and Spanish, but still possess enough knowledge to be called multilinguals, and the other whose participants are at a high level of both languages. The language samples were obtained through the qualitative method of gathering data, i.e. writing compositions on a certain topic (group 1) and translation of texts and oral interview (group 2), while the data obtained were analyzed and systematized according to the type of influence. At the end of the paper there is a conclusion, implication and relevance of this paper for educational context, as well as suggestion for further research.

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