Vašek, Antonín

Linguistic interference in communication : to

professor Demetrius John Georgacas

Sborník prací Filozofické fakulty brněnské

univerzity. A, Řada jazykovědná. 1991, vol. 40,
iss. A39, pp. 63-81

ISBN 80-210-0362-6
ISSN 0231-7567

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https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/101486 Access
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 63;

SBORNlK PRACf FILOZOFICKE FAKULTY BRNENSKE UNIVERZITY

STUDIA MINORA FACULTATIS PHILOSOPHICAE UNIVERSITATIS BRUNENSIS
A 39, 1991

ANTONl N VASE K

LINGUISTI C INTERFERENC E
IN C O M M U N I C A T I O N
1

To Professor Demetrius John Georgacas

0. The process of human communication has different aspects. These

are, e. g., the type of its realization (direct v. indirect), the role of its
participant(s) (active v. passive), their number (individual v. social, mass),
etc., last but not least, the manner of communication (non-verbal v. ver•
bal). Whereas non-verbal communication is considerably imperfect, re•
presenting either some sort of substitute for interpersonal verbal under•
standing (the usual case in the dumb) or a potential complement of it,
verbal communication as linguistic exchange of thoughts represents the
fundamental vehicle of interpersonal understanding and a basic compo•
nent of the personality of man. Verbal communication is a functional
aspect of language contact (representing its proper motivation), and in
such a way it is a mirror of intercultural contact, too. Potential mani•
festation of the mutual contact of cultures and of their subsequent con•
flict and interaction can in the sphere of language be realized as a change
in one/both/all of the participating contact languages and is often called
by scholars l i n g u i s t i c i n t e r f e r e n c e . This denomination ap•
pears thus as a crucial one in a geographic region with mutual contacts
of several .cultures and of many national languages, both being often
reciprocally quite different, as is, e. g., the situation in the Indian sub•
continent (cf. Khubchandani 1974). Then there is not only a mere question
of understanding of the new cultural and linguistic status quo, but
through its understanding also of making possible the sensitive steering
of the all-country cultural and linguistic policy, i. e., of language planning
and of its implementation by the authorities. In such a way, g e t t i n g
a c q u a i n t e d w i t h th e s u b s t a n c e of l i n g u i s t i c i n t e r -

Paper delivered at the Xlth World Congress of Sociology (Sociolinguistic Section),

New Delhi, India, 18—23 August 1986.
64 ANTONl N VASE K

f e r e n c e a n d w i t h it s r e l a t i o n to h u m a n c o m m u n i
• c a t i o n a p p e a r s as on e o f th e f u n d a m e n t a l p r e c o
n • d i t i o n s f o r th e e t h i c a l l y p r o p e r m e n t a l h a r m o n i
z a • t i o n of s u c h e t h n i c a l l y a n d c u l t u r a l l y d i v e r s e p
a r t s o f th e w o r l d .
1. The study of language contacts is the subject of contact linguistics.
This linguistic discipline investigates the causes, nature and consequen•
ces of mutual contact between two or more variously (formally and/or
functionally) distributed forms (dialects) of the same language, in extreme
cases between two subsystems/levels of the same language system, and
thus considers language (language system) in its development. Language
contact (originating in linguistic communication of an individual or
a group in a language structure other than their own; cf. Vasek 1978)
and its consequences, starting with mutual linguistic influences, also
occur during the study of any foreign language (cf. Vasek 1976, 1978),
and therefore can also be a subject of the study of contact linguistics.
Already in 1884 Schuchardt was aware of the fact: "Der Einfluss der
Muttersprache (oder einer anderen welche an ihre Stelle getreten ist)
macht sich bei der Erlernung einer neuen Sprache auf jeden Fall geltend;
seine Starke und seine Dauer wird aber eine verschiedene sein" (p. 128).
Since linguistic changes may occur as a result of language contacts —
and they do occur, given favourable conditions — contact linguistics is
at the same time the study of impetuses leading to potential linguistic
changes, an attempt to explain changes which have occurred, and to
indicate the lines upon which the development of languages is to take
place.
2. Although the problem of linguistic contact in communication and
the mutual influences of languages on each other is very old, in fact as
old as human speech itself, systematic research on the subject, leaving
aside occasional older works (cf. Schuchardt 1886) dates back only to the
works on language mixing by Schuchardt (1881—91, 1884, inter al.). It-is
thus no wonder that the lexical unit in question — interference — appe•
ars as a linguistic expression relatively late. The first evidence of its
appearance is from the first quarter of the 20th century, in Epstein's
work on multilinguattsm (1915):
"Interference auditivo-phonique chez le polyglotte... La pensee ver-
bale ou la parole subit, chez le polyglotte, quelle que soit la langue qu'il
emploie a un moment donne, Taction interferente de tous les autres
idiomes qui lui sont familiers p. (69)... En analysant separement chacun
des facteurs de concurrence dans la polyglossie, nous verrons que, meme
sous sa forme latente, l'influence inhibitrice peut etre souvent decouverte
et que ses effets sont aussi varies qu'ineluctables. Chercher les diverses
formes de cette interference, c'est chercher et quelquefois trouver les
conditions dans lesquelles on pourrait la reduire au minimum (p. 70)...
L'interference verbo-phonique n'etant qu'une des multiples manifesta-
 LINGUISTI C INTERFERENC E I N COMMUNICATIO N 65

tions de la tendance generate des langues a s'inhiber mutuellement, on

peut..." (p. 82).
In contrast to Epstein's (peculiarly defensive) concept of interference
as a unidirectional linguistic influence, Meillet (1926) uses the designation
in the sense of "a mutual influence of languages":
"Du mot hebreu, de valeur religieuse, a notre terme familier pour ex-
primer la tendresse il y a loin; mais sans l'interference qui s'est produite
un jour entre un mot grec et un mot hebreu, la maman frangaise ne dirait
pas: mon petit ange a son enfant" (348).
As witnessed by Iordan (1971, p. 451), Meillet used the term in his
university course on general lexicology as early as the academic year 1924—
25.
2

The members of the Prague Linguistic Circle (PLC) were very inter•
ested in resolving questions of linguistic contact and linguistic inter•
ference. Thus in thle very first lecture to take place in the circle, given
by the young German guest speaker H . Becker on 6th October, 1926 on
the theme "Der europaische Sprachgeist", and the discussion connected
with it dealt with the interaction of European languages, conditioned by
the common culture of their users (cf. Trnka 1928, Vachek 1966, pp. 8—9).
On 13th January, 1927, R. Jakobson ("The Concept of Sound Laws and
the Teleological Principle") spoke on the sociofunctional and teleological
aspect required for a study of language systems. On 1st June, 1928 in
the PL C he also dealt with the problem of borrowed words in Standard
Language (on the mutual influence of the Old Slavic heritage and Rus•
sian territorial dialects in the formation of Standard Russian), referring
to the works of N. S. Trubetskoi and V. V. Vinogradov. In the PL C on
the 6th October, 1927, J . Rypka spoke on the question of interlingual
contacts and interferences in the group of languages whose users profess
the Islamic faith, particularly in Arabic, Persian and Turkish, i. e. lan•
guages systemically quite different, but connected by a strong cultural
bond — religion — between users ("On the Mutual Penetration of the
Major Islamic Languages"; cf. Trnka 1929). The necessity of studying
questions of language contacts and interference (as the mutual influence
of various linguistic forms and the history of Old Slavic elements in
standard Slavic languages) was also expressed by the members of the
PL C in their collective theses prepared as the basis for the Proceedings
of the 1st International Congress of Slavicists in Prague (1929, pp. 15,
22), and, of course, in the theses presented to the Vlth International
Linguistic Congress in Paris (1949) in the form of answers to a point of
the congress questionnaire. Here the members of the PL C showed that
from the moment of linguistic contact there occurs an interaction of lan•
guages which reveals itself in two ways: (i) one language undergoes

The lecture was delivered in October, 1925.

2
66 ANTONt N VASE K

a change, a s s i m i l a t i n g (author's underlining), borrowing elements

of the other language and adapting them to its own system; (ii) both/all
the given languages in contact with each other change (the transforma•
tions are bilateral, mutual); their mutual approximation is also evident
in the appearance of new phenomena, common to these languages; this
is l i n g u i s t i c i n t e r f e r e n c e (author's underlining):
" . . . Quand, par suite, d'une interference linguistique, se transforment
deux (ou plusieurs) languages interessees, le rapprochement se traduit
aussi par l'apparition de phenomenes nouveaux communs a ces langues.
Ce processus evolutif peut etre caracterise comme evolution convergente,
dans le sens plus etroit du mot (le terme devolution convergente pris
dans un sens plus etendu designe un rapprochement quelconque des
structures linguistiques). Les innovations communes se produisant dans
le cours d'une evolution des langues interferentes sont parfois conside-
rees a tort comme dependant d'un pretendu substrat (dans le cas des
langues balcaniques, par exemple)" (p. 305).
In the year 1929 we find Havranek's work on the influence of the
function of the Standard Language on the phonological system and the
grammatical structure of Standard Czech, where the author expresses,
inter alia, his views on the question of linguistic contacts and interference
(pp. 112—113).
3. From the 1950s interest in questions of linguistic contacts, and also
of course of linguistic interference, began to intensify. Weinreich (1953)
especially began to pay detailed attention to questions of linguistic inter•
ference :
"Those instances of deviation from the norms of either language which
occur in the speech of bilinguals as a result of their familiarity with more
than one language, i. e. as a result of language contact, will be referred
to as interference phenomena... The term interference implies the re•
arrangement of patterns that result from the' introduction of foreign
elements into the more highly structured domains of language, such as
the bulk of the phonemic system, a large part of the morphology and
syntax, and some areas of the vocabulary (kinship, color, weather, etc.)...
In the more loosely patterned domains of a language — some of the
syntax, or vocabulary of an incidental nature — 'borrowing' might more
properly be spoken of when the transfer of an element as such is to be
stressed. But even there the possibility of ensuing rearrangements in the
patterns, or interference, cannot bje excluded" (p. 1 ) . . . "The forms of
mutual interference of languages that are in contact are stated in terms
of descriptive linguistics" (p. 3).
According to Weinreich interference takes place as soon as a bilingual
person identifies an element of the secondary system with an element
of the primary system, and reproduces it, in doing so subjecting it to the
phonetic rules of the primary language (p. 14). For Weinreich (though he
never explicitly says so, it can be inferred from his work as a whole)
 LINGUISTI C INTERFERENC E I N COMMUNICATIO N 67

interference thus means a penetration of foreign language elements into

a language system, resulting in changes to that system.
Of the Polish linguists, Kurylowicz (1954) uses the designation inter•
ference as a linguistic expression in the meaning of a mutual penetration
of certain pronunciational tendencies into neighbouring dialects (cf. Pa-
luszkiewicz 1965). Paluszkiewicz (ibid.) shows that the contemporary Po•
lish interferencja, representing a generally used scientific term in physics,
is beginning to appear, inter alia, in linguistics where it is an expression
for linguistic influence and/or penetration. He recalls Woznicki's (1964)
statement:
"Szczeg61nie niekorzystny (w nauce jezyka francuskiego) byl wplyw
pisowni na wymowe., np. litera e wywoluje interferencja polskiego e,
tarn gdzie w jezyku francuskim powinno wysta_pid e, , 0, oe"; ". (on
a

mistakes) wynikaja.cych z wplywu interferencji jezyka polskiego".

According to Haugen (1956) — cf. Semchyns'kyi 1974, pp. 79—80 —
the phenomenon of linguistic interference is based on the fact that a per•
son assimilates the outside world through the familiar schemes of his
mother tongue. A n insufficient command of the system of a second lan•
guage leads to the use of its structural elements through the medium of
the norms and systemic relationships of the mother tongue. As a result
of the natural attribute of the human psyche which identifies or on the
contrary differentiates, the speaker either differentiates the ^elements of
the foreign language from the corresponding elements of the mother
tongue or identifies them. At the same time linguistic interference is not
confined to cases of borrowing the material units of a foreign language
or changes in the functions of identified units of a foreign language mo•
del. Linguistic interference may also decelerate or accelerate the reali•
zation of certain tendencies in a language.
Round about the middle of the 60s — in 1966 — Havranek returns to
the question of interference. He takes it to mean common phenomena
arising as a result of linguistic contact:
"Sprachmischung fasse ich hier im weiten Sinne; ich will da mehr
die Resultate der Sprachmischung als den Prozess selbst ins Auge fas-
sen . . . Ein vollig entsprechender Terminus fur das fragliche Phanomen
ware "Sprachkontakt". Dieser Terminus, der von Andre Martinet ge-
pragt und durch U . Weinreich bekannt wurde, ist durch die
3

Arbeiten

However, it must be called to mind that already in 1904 Wackernagel used the
3

naming unit "Kontaktsprachen":

"Nicht scharf zu trennen von den zwei bisher besprochenen Gruppen von
Erscheinungen (= influence of the speech of lords and rulers on that of their
subjects and vice versa — author), oft wol eine Vorstufe dazu, ist eine dritte, die
uns im ganzen weniger gewohnt, aber fiir gewisse Gebiete fast selbstverstandlich
ist: die gegenseitige sprachliche Beeinflussung heteroglotter Bewohner desselben
Gebietes; sei es, dass engste Nachbarschaft oder das formliches Durcheinander-
 68 ANTONt N VASE K

der letzten Z e i t . . . allgemein iiblich geworden; er ist passend und vor

allem weit genug; er erklart aber nichts in sprachlicher Hinsicht, sondern
bezeichnet lediglich sprachliche Situationen; diesen stehen dann als Re-
sultat gewisse gemeinsame Spracherscheinungen, die wir zusammenfas-
send als die sprachliche Interferenz bezeichnen konnen, gegenuber...
Der Weg vom "Kontakt" . . . zur "Interferenz" ist mannigfaltig . . . "
For Petrovici (1967) the designation linguistic interference indicates on
the one hand a (unidirectional) penetration of foreign language (lexical
and "structural") elements into a language (1. system), and on the other
a mutual penetration of languages (1. systems):
"Interpenetration des systemes linguistiques . . . Des faits d'interference
entre langues ont 6te discutes . . . Tous ces problemes se reduisent en fin
de compte a celui du bilinguismje, par l'intermediaire duquel se realise le
contact entre les langues, qui occasionne des interferences, des emprunts
de toutes sortes... Ce qui empeche la diffusion, dans une langue quel-
conque, des formes etrangeres au code, usitees par les bilingues, ce n'est
pas une force mystique quelconque, 1'"esprit" de la langue, mais le besoin
qu'eprouve le bilingue de se faire comprendre par la masse unilingue et
de se conformer aux normes de la langue de ses interlocuteurs. C'est la
cause principale qui determine la 'resistance' des langues, des systemes
linguistiques, a l'invasion des elements etrangers... Bien entendu, la
reaction contre l'interference linguistique peut etre due aussi a des fac-
teurs psychologiques et sociaux . . . "
Rot (1967, 1973) does not offer a definition of linguistic interference
as such, but it is implied in his work as a whole that he takes it to be
linguistic influence ("Na urovne morfologii..., propuskayushel tchu-
zherodnyi element tol'ko v sluchae intensivnoi yazykovol interferentsii
marginal'nogo i intraregional'nogo tipa i chastichnogo bilingvizma, my
mozhem govorif o sleduyushchikh karpatizmakh issleduemykh yazy-
k o v . . .", 1967), arising as a result of language contacts (1973, p. 3).
4

To him interference is a mutual linguistic influence, a language interaction

wohnen stattfindet. Hier spielt die Zweisprachigkeit grosser Bevolkerungsteile,

das Dasei von 'Kontaktsprachen' eine wichtige Rolle."
Thus, for Wackernagel Kontaktsprachen meant collective bilingualism, the co•
existence of two languages in the same speakers. Epstein, too, takes the expression
(linguistic) contact as the coexistence of two languages in the same speaker (but
being a psychologist, he speaks on an individual bilingualism):
"L'action interferente que langue materhelle exerce sur langue etrangere...
atteint le maximum d'intensite lorsque les antagonistes (= language systems in
a bilingual speaker — author) sont mis en contact, c'est-a-dire quand on veut
exprimer une meme pensee succesivement dans les deux langues" (pp. 211—
212).
In transliterating the Russian alphabet the practice of the Concise Oxford Dic•
4

tionary of Current English (ed. by J. B. Sykes, Oxford 1976) has been

8

followed. As for Ukrainian, the letters i, M , I are transliterated by the present

author as i, y, i, respectively.
 LINGUISTI C INTERFERENC E I N COMMUNICATIO N 69

(1967, 1973, p. 87), though here and there the formulation gives the ex•
pression of a unidirectional influence: " . . . a) rezul'taty lingvisticheskoi
interferentsii karpatsko-balkanskikh substratov; b) (?; the author) re•
zul'taty lingvisticheskoi interferentsii mnogostoronnykh (mnogolateral'-
nykh) yazykovykh kontaktov . . . " (1973, p. 115).
IPyashenko (1970), in accordance with WeinreichV definition, thinks
that interference is "strukturnoe izmenenie modelei yazyka vsledstvie
wedeniya elementov drugogo yazyka" (p. 47). The initial stage of inter•
ference in the lexicon or in grammatical structure is, according to this
authoress, usually represented by some deviation from the norm. Such
a deviation may remain a "deviation", but it may spread, establish itself
in the standard language, expand the sphere of its application, and in
that case it will be an interference phenomenon — a penetration of new
elements into the tissue of the language (p. 47).
Juhasz (1970) says that linguistic interference is a disturbance of the
norm brought about by the influence of elements of another language, or
the process of this influencing:
"Unter Interferenz ist in der vorliegenden Arbeit die durch die Beein-
flussung von anderen sprachlichen Elementen verursachte Verletzung
einer sprachlicher Norm bzw. der Prozess der Beeinflussung zu verste-
hen" (p. 9).
Villegas (1970) speaks of linguistic interference as (unidirectional) lin•
guistic influence and/or penetration of one language into another:
"En relaci6n con el predominio de una lengua sobre otra u otras, puede
observarse que mientras algunos bilingues emplean la segunda lengua
s61o para leer, otros la emplean tambien para hablar; que mientras en
algunas ocasiones la interferencia mutua de las lenguas es minima, en
otras hay mezclas que se producen en proporci6n variable, que determina
la formation de idiomas pichines y que, a veces, llegan a contribuir, asi,
a la formaci6n de una lengua nacional propia" (p. 20).
Rozentsveig (1972) considers linguistic interference to be the bilingual's
breaking of the rules of the mutual relationship between languages in
contact with each other, appearing in his speech as a deviation from the
norm:
"Narushenie bilingvom pravil sootneseniya kontaktiruyushchikh yazy-
kov, kotoroe proyavlyaetsya v ego rechi v otklonenii ot normy, nazyvaem
interferentsiel..." (p. 4).
The Swedish researcher Oksaar (1972) considers the above-mentioned
definition of Weinreich to be the most current and apparently inclines
towards it as being satisfactory. Thus, she takes linguistic interference
to be (unidirectional) penetration of foreign language element into a lan•
guage system, resulting in changes to that system:
"Its (= Vildomec's research work — author) empirical parts. offer
interesting observations on mutual interference between languages among
bilingual and trilingual individuals . . . that verify the earlier observe-
70 ANTONt N VASE K

ti ons... A m important problem that remains to be solved is: 'whether

the total amount of interference between two similar languages is really
greater than between two dissimilar ones, and what are the differences
between the mechanism of interference of related and unrelated lan•
guages'."
Desheriev and Protchenko (1972) characterize linguistic interference as
the phenomenon of the interaction of linguistic systems and systemic
elements yavlenie vzaimodeistviya struktur i strukturnykh elementov)
of the two languages in the process of contact (obshcheniya) among bi•
lingual populations. A n analysis of that interaction which concerns the
effect of the first language of a bilingual population on the second leads
them to speak of "substrate character" interference, in the opposite case
(B - A), "adstrate (here perhaps better: superstrate — author) charac•
ter" interference.
Barannikova (1972) conceives linguistic interference as one of the re•
sults of the mutual influence of languages, which can occur only with the
regular use of different languages by the same person or group. She
takes interference to be an expression of this influence — a change in
the system or the systemic phenomena of one language under the in•
fluence of another:
"Interferentsiya — eto izmenenie v strukture ili elementakh struktury
odnogo yazyka pod vliyaniem drugogo yazyka."
For another Soviet worker, Ershova (1972), in a contribution to the
same conference, the denomination linguistic interference designates the
result of interaction of languages and of bilingualism. The authoress, ho•
wever, considers the concept of linguistic interference to be extremely
dubious and as yet insufficiently rooted in specialized literature:
" V issledovanii problemy vzaimodeistviya yazykov ponyatie lingvisti-
cheskol interferentsii yavlyaetsya naibolee spornym i eshche ne vpolne
utverdivshimsya v spetsial'noi literature".
Bulakhov (1972) takes linguistic interference to be the mutual penetra•
tion of elements of two different languages used alternately in various
situations by the same speakers.
Linguistic interference is taken by Semchyns'kyi (1974) to mean the
mutual influence and/or penetration of systems and system elements of
two languages as a result of linguistic contacts, and since language is
a system where all is interconnected, an influence leading to reorgani•
zation of the phonological, grammatical and lexical system of the lan•
guage in question if foreign language elements enter into it:
"Takym chynom, lingvistychnu interferentsiyu mozhna rozumity yak
vzaemodiyu system i elementiv system dvokh mov vnaslidok movnykh
kontaktiv. Ta oskil'ky mova — tse taka systema ou tous se tient, (de vse
vzaemopovyazane) ineterferentsiya pryvodyt' do reorganizatsii fonologich-
noi, gramatychnoi chy leksychnoi systemy danol movy, yakshcho do nel
vkhodyat' inshomovni elementy" (pp. 76—77 et passim).
1 1
 LINGUISTIC INTERFERENC E I N COMMUNICATIO N 71

Bernshtein arid Klepikova (1976) give no definition of linguistic inter•

ference; they characterize it indirectly, conceiving its theory as a new
stage in the development of substrate theory:
"V nastoyashchee vremya mozhno uzhe govorit' o sushchestvovanii
osoboi teorii interferentsii yazykov, kotoraya predstavlyaet soboi novyl
etap v razvitii teorii substrata."
They emphesize the important active role of the substrate in the trans•
formation of the internal laws of development of the language assimi•
lating the substrate language, and stress the importance of a thorough,
processual conception of the relation substrate — superstrate.
Moskovich (1976) also gives no definition of linguistic interference, but
from the formulations of his study it follows that he thinks of inter•
ference as linguistic interaction and/or reciprocal effect (mutual penetra•
tion? — author):
"Interference of Hebrew and Russian in Israel... The process of inter•
action and reciprocal influences of different languages in modlern Israel
give rich material for linguistic observation. Israel is one of those lin•
guistic 'melting pots' where various languages are commonly used in
a parallel way, with a substantial degree of interference among t h e m . . .
Linguistic interference of Hebrew and Russian within the specific con•
ditions of mass bilingualism and multilingualism in Israel represents
a challenging and hitherto unexplored field of research."
Strakova (1981) understands linguistic interference as mutual impact
(Kooperation, Interdiction) of individual language subsystems/levels. Its
result is the structuring of language units, especially words. The autho•
ress studies the system of accentuation of the present Russian derivation.
She explains the accentual differentiation of the means of derivation by
the interference of two subsystems — the derivational system itself and
the lexicon (= material).
4. The diverse definitions and characterizations of linguistic interfe•
rence, of which about a score have been mentioned here, can be divided
according to what they express into a number of basic groups, where
interference between linguistic forms in contact with each other has the
following meanings: a) linguistic influence, either aa) unidirectional, i. e.,
the impact of one language (linguistic form, linguistic system, linguistic
subsystem) on another/others, or ab) linguistic interaction; b) language
penetration, either ba) unidirectional, i. e., the penetration of linguistic
elements from one language (linguistic form, linguistic system) into ano•
ther, or bb) mutual penetration of linguistic forms/systems; c) a linguistic
element which has penetrated into another linguistic form/system;
d) a new linguistic phenomenon arising from linguistic contact, common
to both/all contact language forms/systems; e) a modified linguistic norm
or linguistic system arising from the penetration of a foreign language
element or the appearance of an innovation common to the contact lan•
guages.
72 ANTONt N VASE K

The above-mentioned linguists can then be assigned to the same group•

ings according to the concept(s) of linguistic interference to which they
to a greater or lesser extent seem to subscribe, as follows:
a) aa) Bernshtein and Klepikova, Juhasz, Paluszkiewicz, Rot, Villegas,
Woznicki;
ab) Desheriev and Protchenko, Moskovich, Rot, Semchyns'kyi, Stra-
kova;
b) ba) Barannikova, Desheriev and Protchienko, Epstein, Ershova, Hau-
gen, Il'yashenko, Oksaar, Paluszkiewicz, Petrovici, Villegas, Weinreich,
Woznicki;
bb) Bulakhov, Kurylowicz, Meillet, Moskovich, Paluszkiewicz, Petro•
vici, PLC, Semchyns'kyi;
c) Meillet, Semchyns'kyi;
d) Havranek, PLC ;
e) Barannikova, Juhasz, Il'yashenko, Oksaar, P L C, Rozentsvelg, Sem•
chyns'kyi, Weinreich.
The results of such classifications must, however, be approached with
considerable reserve. Every definition of a scientific concept (here lin•
guistic interference), together with its individual naming units, can ha•
ve — and often does have — a different content for different researchers.
This follows from the fact that there is always a certain degree of sub-
jectivization in the theoretical conception of a complete complex of
questions studied (here questions of contact linguistics) by individual
workers: an isolated judgement, excised from a researcher's complete
exposition, can sometimes amount to a falsification of his opinions. What
is more, in the case of many researchers, there is no question of a defi•
nition in the strict sense, but rather of a variously situationally or con-
textually motivated, and in effect also variously accurate, characterization
of a given concept. Not least it must be said that the experts themselves
do not use the naming unit in question entirely consistently in a single
sense. They often seem to be unsure at what point in time (and deve•
lopment) between the moment of the occurrence of linguistic contact
(i. e., the moment when linguistic forms/systems/subsystems in contact
with each other begin to influence each other) and the moment when
a change in one (or all) of them, or its/their lasting exchange for a new
system, occurs, they should refer to linguistic interference. Or should
a certain substantial part of this time interval be thus designated, rather
than a single stage of development of the given language system(s) (as it
is in fact by many researchers)? Or should interference be conceived in
its widest sense, encompassing the whole of this process of development?
5. As can be seen, the expression interference (and the same applies to
the original verb to interfere) is not as yet fully terminologized in lin•
guistics, and is still used in a number of clearly distinct meanings, though
the concepts which are designated are common and very important in
linguistics, and indeed basic to contact linguistics. The question arises
 LINGUISTIC INTERFERENC E I N COMMUNICATIO N 73

whether there in fact exists a criterion according to which it would be

possible to lay down objectively which of the given (or other ) meanings
5

would be best suited to the terminologization of this naming unit (lin•

guistic/language interference) in linguistics, i. e., in what does the termi•
nological specificity of the naming unit lie?
The author is of the opinion that it is not crucial to the resolution of
this question which of the meanings expressed (designated) is linguisti•
cally weightier, nor is the (desirable but not indispensable parallelization
of the term with the situation of this naming unit in the development
of terminology in other scientific fields, e. g. physics, of great importance,
nor, when all is said and done, is it relevant whether the expressed
meaning of the word which is to be terminologized as its notional content
is or is not compatible with the present-day meaning of the word as it
follows from its present-day descriptive character, i. e., from this deno•
mination as a descriptive naming unit, though all these facts do have
a certain bearing on the process of terminologization of the expression.
The present author considers th e d e c i s i v e f a c t o r to be th e
t e r m i n o l o g i c a l r o o t s o f th e l e x i c a l m e a n i n g o f o u
r n a m i n g u n i t i n l i n g u i s t i c s , i. e., which of the above-men•
tioned (or of other parallelly occurring) meanings of the word to inter•
fere, interference is, in some mode of expression, already used as a lin•
guistic term (thus terminologized) and which not. In the meaning which
has not yet been terminologically rooted in international linguistics, the
(introduction and) terminologization of the naming unit to interfere, in•
terference is undoubtedly desirable, and should not be too difficult to
bring about. If, however, the given meaning of the word to interfere,
interference is commonly expressed in international linguistics by means
of some other denomination and functions as a specialized term, its ter-
minologizationally conceived designation by a further naming unit (i. e.,
using the word interfere, interference) is from the poit of view of formal
expression redundant, and from the point of view of the content ex•
pressed in addition often polysemanticizing, and therefore from both
these points of view — the first for the speaker, the second for the
addressee — undesirable. It must be borne in mind here that the com-

E. g. Rau defines linguistic interference as a disturbing factor slowing down

5

language acquisition:
"Unter Interferenzen werden die Storfaktoren erfasst, die den Spracherwerbs-
prozess hemmen... Konjunktivformen interferieren mit dem Indikativ von sein
und werden. Die Entwicklung des Konjunktivs .. . beeinflusst den Indikativ Pra-
sens von sein, der bis dahin — einschliesslich des Imperativs sei, ohne Interfe-
renz — zum gesicherten Formenbestand gehorte, so dass Philipp (examined
child — author) voriibergehend ich bin/ich sei gleichbedeutend und alternativ
verwendet. "
Thus, in fact, Rau understands linguistic interference as interaction of language
subsystems, i. e., it might be classified here as ab, see above.
74 ANTONl N VASE K

mon noun differs from the specialized term precisely in its ability to be
ambiguous. It follows from this that not every designation (naming unit)
of a specialized concept is a specific lexical item of the specialized lan•
guage (a technical term): some of them are unterminologized appellativa.
Thus if a naming unit is to assume the character of such a specific unit,
a specialized term, it must be the only widespread means of expression
(desirably on a more or less international level — usually with certain
formal variations) reserved for the given concept. The international cha•
racter of specialized terms is extremely important and vitally necessary.
It makes them the most progressive lexical body in today's age of the
scientific and technical revolution, and thus of an ever intensifying pro•
cess of interlingual (because intersocial) convergence. Thus i t i s also
e s s e n t i a l fo r a c q u i r i n g o f t e c h n i c a l s i g n i f i c a n c e o f
th e e x p r e s s i o n ( l i n g u i s t i c ) i n t e r f e r e n c e to tak e
p l a c e i n t h a t o f it s n o t i o n a l c o n t e n t s as i s no t r e
• s e r v e d i n k n o w n w o r l d l a n g u a g e s fo r o t h e r a c c e p •
t e d n a m i n g u n i t s . In this direction the situation in international
linguistics of the word in question is comparatively clear. Of the above-
-mentioned meanings sub a, b, c, d, and e, the conceptual content of the
naming unit interference as a linguistic term should be the meaning
given sub b, more precisely ba, " t h e p e n e t r a t i o n o f a l i n•
g u i s t i c e l e m e n t i n t o th e c o n t a c t e d l a n g u a g e " .
As is known to experts, however, this penetration has different forms
and levels. It begins with the individual ad hoc entry of single foreign
linguistic items as new elements into the contact language form. For
example: da:l mu amendu $e nemAe:l s^oneriju a svjetlo "he (a man on
a bicycle) was given a fine (by a policeman) because he had no bell and
light" (Vasek 1968). Here Romanian, as the language of official contact,
penetrates with two of its expressions into the territorially coexisting
isolated Czech of a number of the Czech ethnic minority in conditions
of collective plurilingualism in the region of Banat in Romania. It is easy
to see that this type of interference into the contact language (viewed
here from the opposite, the Czech side, this involuntary use of elements
of a foreign language system in spieech carried on in the domestic, i. e.,
Czech language) is the more common and the richer in the extent of the
penetrating means of expression, the lower is the level of knowledge of
the contact (= Czech) language on the part of its speakers. There is
a great quantitative and qualitative difference between such cases of
linguistic interference and relatively established and generally used fo•
reign language elements in a new linguistic setting, penetrated into a new
language system, i. e., evidence of systemic language change that might
be called language shift (cf. Vaiek 1983). A n example is the type ne:iM,
standard Czech (StCz) neni "he/she/it is not", mofida, StCz moda "fa•
shion" (Va§ek 1968, 1976), with the change /e:/ - /c:'/, /o:/ - /o;«/, con•
ditioned by German (G) and Hungarian (H), cf. G /ne;', StG Schnee
 LINGUISTIC INTERFERENC E I N COMMUNICATIO N
75

"snow", H kefte:*r, St H kenyer "bread", G Iq&pri, St G loben "to praise",

H ho;«, St H ho "snow", and well-known in the environment mentioned,
that of the region of Banat in Romania, or the pronunciation fliba, Jfafc
(similarly as, e. g., feyei/i/), given by the penetration of the Am. /y/ into
the system of US isolated Czech, and alternating the old Czech /r/ with
the American /})/ sound (VaSek 1976).
It in no way follows from this that the remaining meanings (a, c, d, e)
are irrelevant from the point of view of contact linguistics. Al l of them
are important: they are, however, sufficiently well expressed by means
of other expressions. The first of them, a, "(unidirectional v. mutual)
linguistic effect", has, in various languages, e. g., these naming units:
linguistic influience, linguistic impact v. linguistic interaction/interplay
(E.); influence linguistique v. influence linguistique reciproque (F.);
sprachliche (Ein)wirkung, -er Einfluss, -e Beeinflussung v. wechselseitige
sprachliche (Ein)wirkung, -er -er Einfluss, -e -e Beeinflussung (G.); yazy-
kovoe vozdeistvie, yazykovoe vliyanie v. mezhyazykovoe vzaimodeistvie
(Russian, R.). The third meaning, c, "a penetrated foreign language el•
ement", has, for example, the following parallel expressions: borrowing,
loan, loanword, interference phenomenon (E.); emprunt linguistique, phe-
nomene d'interference linguistique (F.); sprachliche Ubernahme, Lehn-
wort, sprachliche Interferenzerscheinung (G.); yazykovoe zaimstvovaniie,
yavlenie interferentsii (R.).
It is necessary to point out in this connection that no t a l l the ex•
perts consider these expressions fully synonymous, designating the same
content, i. e., any kind of foreign language element in a linguistic system,
whether desirable or undesirable. So, for example, in the case of the
English naming units mentioned, the expression borrowing often indicates
a penetrated foreign language element which is necessary, and therefore
desirable for the assimilated language system; the expressions loan, loan•
word simply express a penetrated foreign language element, without re•
ference to the degree of desirability to the recipient language system;
the expression interference phenomenon expresses a penetrated foreign
language element unnecessary to the assimilated language system, and
therefore undesirable. Elswhere experts take the borrowing verbally,
thus processually, as the act of borrowing, while loan, loanword, and
interference phenomenon are taken as the partial resulting expressions
of this penetration. A lack of uniformity of conception can also be ob•
served among the French, German and Russian groups of expressions
mentioned. From the point of view of the study of linguistic interference
it does not, of course, matter how many meanings (one? two? three?
four?) these four expressions imply. What is important is the fact that
the meaning(s) c is/are thus sufficiently expressed in international lin•
guistics by other means, and therefore it is not necessary or even desir•
able to introduce another naming unit, e. g., (linguistic) interference, for
it/them.
 ANTONl N VASE K
76

The fourth meaning, d, "a new, common linguistic phenomenon/ele•

ment, resulting from interlingual convergence arising out of mutual lin•
guistic influence", is not normally designated in current international
linguistics by a special, independent technical term, but appellatively, by
means of descriptive naming units. The same applies to the fifth meaning,
e, "modification of the linguistic norm or linguistic system by the pene•
tration of a foreign language element or by the appearance of an in•
novation common to the given contact linguistic forms/systems". At the
same time the question arises which of the mentioned proponents of the
cases c, d, and e hold the unequivocal view that the particular meaning
of the expression interference is the only notional content of the word:
some of these researchers are likely to intend the word broadly, under•
standing by it not only the process of linguistic influence (meaning a)
and/or linguistic penetration (meaning b), but at the same time, as an
obvious fact, also the expression for, and/or result/consequence of, this
process, i. e., the meaning given sub c, d, or e. As far as the third
meaning is concerned, it would be desirable to remove the naming unit
interference phenomenon from the terminological sphere as being an
incorrect designation. For in part this designation is too broad (interfe•
rence, a. "somehow pertaining to interference /n./") and in part it is too
narrow: not every penetrated foreign language element can in the
author's opinion be called an interference phenomenon, but only one
which represents an expression competing with its counterpart in the
domestic language system. However, even in the case of such a narrower
content of c it would be preferable to speak of an interfering language
element or interference (here cf. Zatovkanuk 1978). The naming unit
interference phenomenon would then be more suitable as an appellative
designation of any of the cases indicated by ba, c, d, e without further
classification.

What has been said applies only if the cases ba, c, d, e concern a con•
crete utterance, i. e., if they concern (i) a penetration of a foreign lan•
guage element into the utterance (ba), (ii) a penetrated language element
in the utterance (c, d), (iii) an unusual case of realization of language
norm owing to the penetration of a language element (e). Al l the enumer•
ated cases pertain to^the level of speech, parole. However, if they pertain
to the language system, i. e., the level of langue it would be more precise
not to designate them as interference phenomena, but as cases of lan•
guage changing/shifting, or as cases of a completed language change/shift,
or cases of a changed/shifted language system. (For details, see Va§ek
1983.)
In the case of the fourth meaning, d, "a penetrated common neologism",
the undesirability of its appearance is a point in favour of its inclusion
among interference phenomena, since it has penetrated into a linguistic
form as something communicatively isofunctional with a phenomenon
already existing in the domestic system. Thus, even if in a case of this
 LINGUISTI C INTERFERENC E I N COMMUNICATIO N 77

meaning d there is no transmission of a phenomenon from language A

to language B or vice versa, and even if neither of the given contact
languages is the transmitter, but both/all are recipients, one can still
speak of an interference phenomenon, if only sui generis.
As far as the question of whether the expression (linguistic) inter•
ference should be terminologized in linguistics in its unidirectional or its
mutual meaning, the above-mentioned preference of the author for the
first alternative (= ba) is in no way arbitrary. One must not be misled
by the fact that this view is not in line with the original (etymological)
meaning of the word interfere, which was "mutually to hit, strike, beat",
i. e., "to have an undesirable effect on each other". The recognition of
penetration as a possible manifestation of a mutual linguistic influence
(linguistic interaction) is older in linguistics than the earliest recorded
use of the expression interference in the function of designating a lin•
guistic nition. One can, for example, quote here the above-mentioned
work of Schuchardt on language mixing. Quite understandably, in the
case of the meaning "penetration", linguistics at first tended to consider
this unilateral. This corresponded to the conviction that from the point
of view of linguistic importance the actual (in a way — by mutual lin•
guistic influence — conditioned) changing of a linguistic form/system was
of greater significance than the fact of whether the (thus conditioned)
change involved only one of the forms/systems in contact, or more than
one, perhaps all. If, then, penetration into the contact language involves
at the same time a certain change in it, on the basis of an accentuation
of just this fact it is fitting to terminologize the expression (linguistic)
interference in the sense of a linguistic penetration which is unidirec•
tional: that is the minimum requirement for lingvistic penetration, and
at the same time is essential to it, while various degrees of mutuality of
penetration are potential, and are explicitly easily expressible lexically
(as is in fact done by many researchers), e. g. by means of the expression
mutual (linguistic) interference. It is therefore not surprising that the
first mentioned use (Epstein) of interference as a designation for a lin•
guistic notion is in the sense of a unidirectional penetration. At the same
time interference is associated with an old undertone of undesirability
connected with the genesis of the expression: not every penetration of
a foreign element into a language means a disturbance of that language
(i. e., interference). It does not include the penetration of designations of
new notions, concepts as yet unknown to the person communicating by
means of the so affected and changed language, i. e., cases where there
is no competition between expressions. Whereas linguistic interference
always represents the resolution of the competition between the means
of expression of language A with the communicationally isofunctional
means of language B, where the penetration of an element of language A
into the contacted language B does not involve competition of the pe•
netrating element with a communicationally equivalent element in lan-
78 ANTONt N VASE K

guage B, there is no actual interfering, interference (as an undesirable

entry, meddling, changing) of "B" by "A", but only an enriching of the
power of expression of the assimilated language B (cf. VaSek 1979). Thus,
l i n g u i s t i c i n t e r f e r e n c e can be defined as " t h e p e n e t r a •
t i o n of a competitive foreign language element
i n t o th e c o n t a c t e d l a n g u a g e f o r m " .
However, not even interfering itself — as the author would finally
like to emphasize — can be considered from the point of view of the
affected and changed language to be a destructive process only, for such
an interpretation would be too onesided and incorrect. It must always
be borne in mind that linguistic interference can also act as an e n l i v •
e n i n g factor instigating further linguistic development: if continually
repeated, interference converts into a systemic language change which
means a certain modification of the affected (= recipient) contacted
system, a disturbance of its relative stability (if the state of the system
before its reception of externally penetrated linguistic material, i. e.,
before the occurrence of language change, be thus described), and thus
also an impulse to the further development of the given system with
a view to regaining its internal equilibrium. The penetrated material
then behaves in its new environment (= further develops) in harmony
with the action of a whole new complex of factors of linguistic develop•
ment. So linguistic interference must appear as a desirable and vitally
important subject of linguistic research, thus helping towards a better
understanding of the relation between culture and communication, the
participation of the former in the character of the latter, and leading to
a better understanding even of the interlinguistic and intercultural re•
lations in the countries with a great ethnic and cultural diversity.

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JAZYKOVA INTERFERENC E V KOMUNIKAC I

Jazykova komunikace jako jazykova vymfina mySlenek je zakladni podobou ko-

munikace a zaroveft funkfinfm aspektem jazykov6ho kontaktu, pfedstavuje jeho
vlastni motivaci, a je tak i zrcadlem kontaktu mezikulturnich. V oblasti jazyka se
potencialnf projevy vzajemneho kontaktu kultur a jejich nasledneho vzajemneho
pusobeni realizuji jako zmeny v danych kontaktovych jazycich, coz byva lingvisty
oznacovano vyrazem jazykova interference. Autor pfinaSi historicky pfehled uzivanf
tohoto pojmenovani spolu se stratifikaci jeho pojmov6ho obsahu; studuje pfitom
nazory vice nezli dvaceti badatelii Sirok6ho mezinarodnfho spektra, pocfnaje
I. Epsteinem (1915). Pokousi se najit kriterium, ktere by umozfiovalo objektivnf
zjisteni zadoucnosti terminologizace tohoto pojmenovani i objektivnf urfenf obsahu,
ktery by mel byt pfijatym termfnem vyjadfovan. Za rozhodujfci zde povazuje otaz-
ku terminologick^ho zakotveni lexikalniho vyznamu v mezinarodnf lingvistice: ter-
minologizovat mozno ten vyznam, ktery v ni dosud nenf obsazen ustalenym pojme-
 LINGUISTI C INTERFERENC E I N COMMUNICATIO N 81

novanfm jinym. Analyzuje pojem oznacovany danym pojmenovanim i jeho termi-

nologicke vyjadfeni, opfraje se o vlastni dlouhodoby vyzkum dvou socialne lingvis-
tickych seen evropskych (Ceskoslovensko, Rumunsko) a jedne americk6 (USA). Do-
chazi k pfesvedfienl o opravnenosti terminu jazykova interference a definuje jej
jako „pronikanf konkurencniho cizojazycneho prvku do kontaktoveho jazykoveho
litvaru". To vse napomahd lepSimu chapanf vztahu kultury a koihunikace, ucasti
prvni na povaze druh£, stejnS jako lepSimu porozumeni mezijazykovym a mezikul-
turnim vztahum vubec. Poznani podstaty jazykove interference a jejfho vztahu ke
komunikaci se pak jevi i jako zakladni pfedpoklad pro eticky spravny mentalni
soulad mezi obyvatelstvem v zemfch s velkymi etnickymi a kulturnfmi rozdfly.