Transferability of polysemous expressions in Maltese bilinguals

Abstract

This study attempted to investigate the affect of certain factors on transferability of structures. More specifically, this study dealt with polysemous expressions and their transferability from Maltese to English. The study was adapted from a similar one carried out by Kellerman in 1979, which dealt with transferability of polysemy from Dutch to English. Adaptations to the model used by Kellerman were carried out in the light of the linguistic situation in Malta. The selected participants were Commerce students pursuing their third year of studies. The reasons behind this choice are discussed in the Chapter 3 (Methodology). The participants were asked to complete three tests. Data obtained form these tests were used in a Multiple Linear Regression. This was done to ensure a more scientific analysis. The results of this study clearly supported the hypothesis, which stated that: the transferability of a sense of a polysemous word in the native language to a polysemous word in the target language, will be a function of its perceived similarity to the primary sense of the word in the native language and its frequency in the native language. Although this study dealt with the transferability of polysemous expressions, the results obtained can be extended to other areas of study. Predictions concerning the second language learners' performance in the target language can be made up to a certain extent using results obtained from this study.