Interlanguage

Interlanguage - sociolinguistiek
An interlanguage or, more explicitly, interim language is an emerging linguistic system that has been developed by a learner of a second language (or L2) who has not become fully proficient yet but is approximating the target language: preserving some features of their first language (or L1), or overgeneralizing target language rules in speaking or writing the target language and creating innovations. An interlanguage is idiosyncratically based on the learners' experiences with the L2. It can fossilize in any of its developmental stages. The interlanguage rules are shaped by: L1 transfer, transfer of training, strategies of L2 learning (e.g. simplification), strategies of L2 communication (or communication strategies like circumlocution), and overgeneralization of the target language patterns.


References
* Selinker, L. (1972), Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 10, 209-241.
* Selinker, L., & Douglas, D. (1985). Wrestling with 'context' in interlanguage theory. Applied Linguistics, 6, 190-204.
* Tarone, E. (1979). Interlanguage as chameleon. Language Learning 29(1), 181-191.

Related Reading

* Chambers, J.K. (1995), Sociolinguistic Theory, Oxford, England: Blackwell; p249-251.
* J. C. Richards, Error Analysis: Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition, Longman Press, 1974, pp. 34-36.
* Tarone, E. (2001), Interlanguage. In R. Mesthrie (Ed.). Concise Encyclopedia of Sociolinguistics. (pp. 475-481) Oxford: Elsevier Science.