Interlanguage: Activity 1
Adjective + noun phrase patterns
Please read the information about interlanguage before working through these activities.
In contrast to error analysis, an interlanguage analysis seeks to identify the rules and patterns the learner is using to produce the language.
In the table below we list all adjective + noun phrases Maximus produced in all tasks combined. Referring to the table, answer the following questions:
- Describe any pattern you observe in the list. What rule(s) might Maximus be using to produce the patterns you observe? What are possible reasons for such pattern(s)/rule(s)? What kind of cognitive process is leading to such rule(s)?
- Are there cases that do not fit the pattern? Why do you think such inconsistent examples are observed?
52 (Interview) |
特別な大学 |
60 (Interview) |
いろいろの文法 |
60-61 (Interview) |
ちっちゃい間違い |
77 (Interview) |
いろいろな、トトロとか |
93 (Interview) |
悪いなこと |
107 (Interview) |
いろいろな経済 |
107 (Interview) |
いろいろな質問 |
3 (Narrative) |
いろいろなもの |
4 (Narrative) |
大変なこと |
20 (Q&Retell) |
ちっちゃいなもの |
178 (Q&Retell) |
いい考え |
188 (Q&Retell) |
あぶないこと |
189-190 (Q&Retell) |
いいな感動 |
8-9 (Jigsaw) |
小さいな窓 |
21 (Jigsaw) |
きれいなもの |
11 (Comparison) |
大きい市 |
17 (Comparison) |
古い町 |
35 (Comparison) |
いい車 |
55 (Comparison) |
大きいな場（じょう） |
55 (Comparison) |
ちっちゃい町 |
55 (Comparison) |
ちっちゃい家 |
56 (Comparison) |
狭いな場（じょう） |
56 (Comparison) |
大きいな家 |
63 (Comparison) |
遠いの所 |
Please type your answers to the questions in the box below.
When you have finished typing your answer, click to compare your response with the Learner Language staff response.
- Below in the tables we categorized each adjective according to the ending Maximus chose. We also marked erroneous examples with an asterisk (*).
From the tables below we find that Maximus most frequently uses the na-adjective form (14 examples while there are only six examples for the i-adjective form). In fact, he treats several i-adjectives and an irregular adjective ‘ii’ like na-adjectives by adding the ending ‘na-’ (e.g., ‘悪いなこと/warui-na koto (bad thing)’ instead of ‘悪いこと/warui koto’). Similarly, he uses the possessive particle ‘no’ to modify nouns (e.g., ‘遠いの所/tooi no tokoro (a faraway place)’ instead of ‘遠い所/tooi tokoro’).
These rules seem to be led by the cognitive process of overgeneralization. Maximus overuses the na- ending for other types of adjectives, and overuses the possessive particle ‘no’ for adjectives instead of nouns. Conversely, notice that he never overuses the i- ending for other types of adjectives. This seems to show that he has acquired na-adjectives but is still learning i-adjectives.
Adjectives that Maximus treated like na- adjectives
52 (Interview) |
特別な大学 |
77 (Interview) |
いろいろな、トトロとか |
93 (Interview) |
悪いなこと* |
107 (Interview) |
いろいろな経済 |
107 (Interview) |
いろいろな質問 |
3 (Narrative) |
いろいろなもの |
4 (Narrative) |
大変なこと |
20 (Q&Retell) |
ちっちゃいなもの* |
189-190 (Q&Retell) |
いいな感動* |
8-9 (Jigsaw) |
小さいな窓* |
21 (Jigsaw) |
きれいなもの |
51 (Comparison) |
大きいな場（じょう）* |
56 (Comparison) |
狭いな場（じょう）* |
56 (Comparison) |
大きいな家* |
Adjectives that Maximus treated as i- adjective
| 60-61 (Interview) | ちっちゃい間違い |
178 (Q&Retell) |
いい考え |
188 (Q&Retell) |
危ないこと |
11 (Comparison) |
大きい市 |
17 (Comparison) |
古い町 |
35 (Comparison) |
いい車 |
55 (Comparison) |
ちっちゃい町 |
55 (Comparison) |
ちっちゃい家 |
Adjectives to which Maximus added the possessive particle “no”
60 (Interview) |
いろいろの文法* |
63 (Comparison) |
遠いの所* |
2. There are cases where Maximus uses the same adjectives both correctly and incorrectly at different contexts. For instance, he uses the same adjectives ‘大きい/ookii (big),’ ‘ちっちゃい/chicchai (small)’ both as i-adjectives (correctly) and na-adjectives (incorrectly) across the different tasks as well as within one task. Such inconsistent use may be due to the fact that his linguistic ‘rules’ for adjectives are in the process of evolving. Or as we discussed in Activity 3 of the Error Analysis section, in the case of ‘大きい/ookii (big)’ and ‘ちっちゃい/小さい/chicchai/chiisai (small),’ there are ‘大きな/ookina (big)’ and ‘小さな/ちっちゃいな/chiisana/chicchana (small)’ that function only as na-adjective modifiers. If Maximus meant to use these forms, these could be phonological errors. If this is the case, then his overgeneralization of the na-ending may not be as prevalent as it seemed in Part 1 above.
If you were Maximus’ teacher, how could you try to find out whether this is a phonological error or an overgeneralization of the na-adjective?
