The source of lexical transfer in L3 production in a diglossic context

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present paper investigates the occurrence of lexical transfer in L3 production in a diglossic context. The latter is characterised by a unique relationship between two varieties of language in one society and this makes it an interesting situation for the occurrence of crosslinguistic influence. Instances of semantic extensions were analysed in order to determine the source of semantic crosslinguistic influence; Moroccan Arabic (the Low variety) or Modern Standard Arabic (the High variety). 600 paragraphs written in English by Moroccan EFL university students were analysed and 240 cases of semantic extensions were detected. The findings indicate that semantic extensions in L3 production do not always occur from the learners’ L1(Moroccan Arabic) and that both varieties in a diglossic situation compete as sources of lexical transfer.