Bilingualism and Interference: A Case Study of Ellipsis Among Some Coordinate Bilinguals
Keywords:
Ellipsis, Bilingualism, Bilingual, Coordinate bilingual, InterferenceAbstract
Studies in contact linguistics have shown that when two languages come into contact, they interfere with each other phonologically, syntactically and lexically. However, the popular view in Contact Linguistics is that only first languages have the capacity to interfere with the second languages of the bilingual. This study contests this popular view by ascertaining that the contrary is also possible, making interference a mutual phenomenon between the languages of the bilingual. By focusing on the use of the cohesive device of ellipsis, which is both a grammatical and a lexical phenomenon, the present study describes how ellipsis is realised in English and Ewe and shows the extent to which English interferes with Ewe in the use of this cohesive device among Ewe-English coordinate (university undergraduate) bilinguals. The study reveals that English, the second language of the bilinguals in question, has tremendous influence on Ewe, their first language, disproving the popular view that only first languages can interfere with second languages of the bilingual.
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