A CONTRASTIVE APPROACH TO LANGUAGE TRANSFER (ESL, APPLIED LINGUISTICS, ANALYSIS, SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION)

This study is an investigation of the transfer of relative pronoun functions (RP functions) from Farsi to English. The purpose of the study was (a) to determine the extent of native language transfer in relative clause productions of Iranian subjects, and (b) to find out whether there is a hierarchy among English RP functions in the amount of transfer they are likely to allow from Farsi.;Second, a multivariate statistical analysis of the data was carried out to determine a hierarchy among the RP functions. The analysis showed a causal relationship between transfer and RP functions. The subject function was shown to be less conducive to transfer from Farsi than the direct object, object of preposition, and genitive functions. The results, however, did not indicate a significant difference among the latter group of functions in promoting transfer.;In sum, the study showed (a) an abundance of Farsi features in the English relative clause productions of Farsi speakers, and (b) a difference among English RP functions in promoting transfer.;First, data was collected from the performance of 120 Farsi-speaking subjects on four tests of English RP functions. The frequency analysis of the data indicated a high incidence of native language transfer in the English relative clause productions of Iranian students. This finding contradicts the results of current relativization studies that assign a nonsignificant role to L1 transfer in the process of L2 acquisition.