If we
view plurilingual learning in this way, thenit makes sense to talk about transfer between languages – but before
we go on to talk about what we can plan to transfer, I would like to come
back for a minute to the iceberg metaphor and offer some examples of the kind
of language patterns which operate above and below the surface of the water.
Let’s
start from the level of morphology and consider what is technically called
pre- or post-modification, which as we know works in different ways in
different languages – towards the left in English or German, towards the
right in Italian (train departure times - gli orari di partenza dei treni –
Straßenverkehrsordnung - il codice della strada). We are also well aware of
how confusing this may be (one thing is cheese pizza, another things is pizza
cheese – and the use of English words in Italian creates funny matchings,
like the sign WASH CAR in a service station, instead of CAR WASH, or the
advertisement of a sun lotion called DEFENCE SUN, as if we were to buy some
sun with defence properties!). And yet, these language patterns actually
provide different solutions to the same deep-level issue, which is the
need to mark meanings through word order.
