Lexical crosslinguistic influence in Basque-Spanish bilinguals’ English (L3) writing

Abstract

The present research examines the effects of a number of factors on crosslinguistic influence (CLI) in Basque-Spanish bilinguals’ third language (L3) writing. The main focus is on the levels of adapted and non-adapted loan words as illustrative of CLI. A quantitative analysis explores the impact of typology and proficiency in the target and the sourcelanguages. Language proficiency was evaluated in 399 compositions, 133 written in each language (Basque, Spanish and English). The adapted and non-adapted loan words found in English compositions were classified according to their source-language, word category, word class and type/ token categories. The results pointed at language typology as the main predictor of the source-language of CLI. Additionally, a linear association was detected between the learners’ degree of proficiency in the target language and the frequency of the CLI instances or adapted and nonadapted loan words. The overall results show that bilingual students use their entire linguistic repertoire to write in their third language (English).