Marcin Kilarski Polish-English contrastive grammar

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Contrastive analysis

1. Contrastive analysis (CA) and the two approaches to linguistic comparison

a) (comparative) typological linguistics (or “typology”)
b) (comparative) historical linguistics (genetic relationship between compared languages)

> this distinction is parallel to the distinction between synchrony and diachrony

> CA is like typology because the approach is also synchronic but the focus is different: typology focuses on groups of languages sharing
a feature while CA focuses on pairs of languages, describing the similarities and differences between them

> CA is dependent on theoretical linguistics (theoretical background necessary) and descriptive linguistics (prior description of the
languages necessary)

> the findings of contrastive analysis may be purely theoretical, or may have application in language teaching, translation or natural
language processing
> note the different terms used: contrastive analysis may refer to a branch of linguistics concerned with linguistic comparisons - or in
other words contrastive linguistics; it can also refer to a particular comparison of two languages - in other words the contrastive studies,
e.g., of Polish and English

2. Tertium comparationis (TC)

a) definition: shared features (or a point of reference, or a common platform of reference) on the basis of which a comparison between
two languages can be made
> note the use of such expressions as: on the basis of, according to, with respect to ...

> the case of a square and a rectangle: different comparisons and different TCs are possible (with respect to the number or length of sides
or the number of angles)

> the case of Polish and English 2nd pers. personal pronouns: a TC can be established as both languages possess such pronouns.
However, they differ in the expression of the pronouns as in English there is no distinction between sg. and pl. Thus we can say that
Polish is like English with respect to the presence of 2nd pers. personal pronouns. In Polish they are marked by two distinct forms (ty vs.
wy) while in English only by one (you).

In a more technical way this can be stated as follows (after G. Krynicki):

Assume

TC = common platform, against which differences and similarities can be stated
DF = distinctive feature that assumes values DF

1

and DF

2

for L

1

and L

2

respectively

Then we say that

L

1

is like L

2

with respect to TC

e.g. [Polish]

L1

is like [English]

L2

with respect to [the presence of 2nd pers. personal pronouns]

TC

.

TC in L

1

is marked by DF

1

, whereas in L

2

TC is marked by DF

2

e.g. [The presence of 2nd pers. personal pronouns]

TC

in English is marked by [you]

DF1

, whereas in Polish it is

marked by [ty, wy]

DF2

.

3. Types of TC:

a) formal correspondence
> in syntax (word order), morphology (inflection and derivation), phonology (place & manner of articulation, suprasegmentals)
> inadequate when a form is missing in one language and differently realised (substituted with other forms), e.g., articles, pronouns (you
vs. wy / Pan/Pani); in such cases has to be established using semantic criteria

b) semantic equivalence
> based on the meaning of words, phrases, sentences

c) pragmatic/functional equivalence
> in structure and function of text/discourse, stylistic features (formal, informal, etc.), forms of address (e.g., you vs. ty, Pan/Pani)

Marcin Kilarski Polish-English contrastive grammar

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4. History of contrastive analysis (CA)

a) pedagogical beginnings Lado (1957)
> CA as a "Comparison of the structures of language A and language B, for the purpose of predicting errors made by learners of language
B and designing teaching materials that will take account of the anticipated errors." (Lehiste 1988: 93).

b) study of how bilinguals use their languages and how languages change because of bilingual speech (bilingualism, borrowing, language
mixing) (Haugen 1969; Mackey 1962; Weinreich 1953)

5. References

"Contrastive linguistics: a selective bibliography" (

http://bank.rug.ac.be/contragram/biblio.html

)

Haugen, E. 1969. (2nd edition). The Norwegian Language in America: a Study in Bilingual Behavior I-II. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana

University Press.

Krzeszowski, T. 1990. Contrasting languages: The scope of contrastive linguistics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ("What is contrastive

linguistics?" 9-14; "Tertium comparationis" 15-21).

Lado, R. 1957. Linguistics across cultures: Applied linguistics for language teachers. Ann Arbor, Mi.: University of Michigan Press.
Lehiste, I. 1988. Lectures on language contact. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Mackey, W.F. 1962. "The description of bilingualism", Canadian Journal of Linguistics 7: 51-85.
Weinreich, U. 1953. Languages in contact: findings and problems. The Hague, Paris: Mouton.

Other sources for the whole course, other than listed in the handouts:

Bartmi!ski, J. (ed.) 2001. Wspó!czesny j"zyk polski. Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS.
Grzegorczykowa, R. - R. Laskowski - H. Wróbel. 1999. Gramatyka wspó!czesnego j"zyka polskiego. Vol. 1. Morfologia. Warszawa:

PWN.

Ostaszewska, D. - J. Tambor. 2000. Fonetyka i fonologia wspó!czesnego j"zyka polskiego. Warszawa: PWN.
Rothstein, Robert A. 1993. "Polish", In: Bernard Comrie and Greville G. Corbett (eds), The Slavonic languages. London, 686-758.
Willim, E. - E. Ma!czak-Wohlfeld. 1997. A contrastive approach to problems with English. Warszawa: PWN.

For definitions (especially of linguistic terms), examples, papers useful throughout the course see my source page:
(

http://elex.amu.edu.pl/~kilarski/Work/Sources.html

).

updated 22 October 2008