Error (linguistics)
{{Short description|Unintended deviation from the rules of a language variety}}
In applied linguistics, an error is an unintended deviation from the immanent rules of a language variety made by a second language learner. Such errors result from the learner's lack of knowledge of the correct rules of the target language variety.{{cite book |last= Ellis |first= Rod |author-link=Rod Ellis |title=The Study of Second Language Acquisition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3KglibyrZ5sC&pg=PA700 |year=1994 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn= 0-19-437189-1 |page=700}} A significant distinction is generally made{{by whom?|date=May 2024}} between errors (systematic deviations) and mistakes (speech performance errors) which are not treated the same from a linguistic viewpoint. The study of learners' errors has been the main area of investigation by linguists in the history of second-language acquisition research.Ellis, p. 43.
In prescriptivist contexts, the terms "error" and "mistake" are also used to describe usages that are considered non-standard or otherwise discouraged normatively.{{cite web|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/grammatical-error-usage-1690911|title=Grammatical Error Definition and Examples|first=Richard|last=Nordquist|work=Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms |publisher=ThoughtCo.com|date=2018-12-27|access-date=2019-02-11}} Such usages, however, would not be considered true errors by the majority of linguistic scholars.{{cite book|editor-first=Barbara|editor-last=Kryżan-Stanojević|first1=Mate|last1=Kapović|first2=Anđel|last2=Starčević|first3=Daliborka|last3=Sarić | title=Jezična politika: između norme i jezičnog liberalizma|chapter=O preskripciji i preskriptivizmu u Hrvatskoj|publisher=Srednja Europa|location=Zagreb|year=2016|isbn=9789537963477|pages=51|chapter-url=https://www.bib.irb.hr/834104|language=hr}}{{Cite journal|journal=Slavia Centralis|volume=IV/2|last=Kapović|first=Mate|title=Language, Ideology and Politics in Croatia|year=2011|pages=46–48 |url=https://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/566935.SCN_2_2011_Kapovic.pdf}} Modern linguistics generally does not make such judgments about regularly occurring native speech, rejecting the idea of linguistic correctness as scientifically untenable,{{cite book|author=Trudgill, Peter|author-link=Peter Trudgill|title=Sociolinguistics and Linguistic Value Judgements: Correctness, Adequacy and Aesthetics|publisher=Universität Duisburg-Essen|year=1976|page=5|url=http://www.linse.uni-due.de/laud-downloadliste/articles/sociolinguistics-and-linguistic-value-judgements-correctness-adequacy-and-aesthetics.html|access-date=2019-04-22|archive-date=2018-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201051235/http://www.linse.uni-due.de/laud-downloadliste/articles/sociolinguistics-and-linguistic-value-judgements-correctness-adequacy-and-aesthetics.html|url-status=dead}} or at least approaching the concept of correct usage in relative terms.{{cite book|author-link=John Lyons (linguist)|last=Lyons|first=John|title=Language and Linguistics|year=1981|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/languagelinguist0000lyon/page/52 52]–54|isbn=9780521297752|url=https://archive.org/details/languagelinguist0000lyon|url-access=registration}} Social perceptions and value claims about different speech varieties, although common socially, are not normally supported by linguistics.{{cite book| author = Delaney O'Grady, William| author2 = Dobrovolsky, Michael| author3 = Katamba, Francis | title = Contemporary linguistics: an introduction | year = 1996 | publisher = Longman | page= 6 | isbn = 9780582246911 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=djhsAAAAIAAJ}}
Definition
H. Douglas Brown defines linguistic errors as "a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflecting the interlanguage competence of the learner." He cites an example, Does John can sing?, where a preceding do auxiliary verb has been used as an error.{{cite book |last=Brown |first=H. Douglas |title=Principles of Language Learning and Teaching |url=https://archive.org/details/principlesoflang0003brow/page/205 |year=1994 |publisher=Prentice Hall Regents |location=New Jersey |isbn=0-13-191966-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/principlesoflang0003brow/page/205 205] |url-access=registration }}
Difference between error and mistake
In linguistics, it is considered important to distinguish errors from mistakes. A distinction is always made between errors and mistakes where the former is defined as resulting from a learner's lack of proper grammatical knowledge, whilst the latter as a failure to use a known system correctly. Brown terms these mistakes as performance errors. Mistakes of this kind are frequently made by both native speakers and second language learners. However, native speakers are generally able to correct themselves quickly. Such mistakes include slips of the tongue and random ungrammatical formations. On the other hand, errors are systematic in that they occur repeatedly and are not recognizable by the learner. They are a part of the learner's interlanguage, and the learner does not generally consider them as errors. They are errors only from the perspective of teachers and others who are aware that the learner has deviated from a grammatical norm.{{cite book |last1= Gass|first1= Susan M.|last2=Selinker |first2=Larry |title=Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course |date= 2008-01-28|url=https://archive.org/details/secondlanguageac00gass_0 |url-access= registration|publisher=Routledge |isbn= 978-0203932841|pages=[https://archive.org/details/secondlanguageac00gass_0/page/102 102]–3}} That is, mistakes (performance errors) can be self-corrected with or without being pointed out to the speaker but systematic errors cannot be self-corrected.{{cite book |author=Nika Purwati |title=Research in English and Applied Linguistics (REAL) Vol 2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qcFge3z0sqkC&pg=PA307 |publisher=Routledge |isbn= 6029126237|page=307|display-authors=etal}}
Importance of error
S. Pit Corder was probably the first to point out and discuss the importance of errors learners make in course of their learning a second language. Soon after, the study and analysis of learners’ errors took a prominent place in applied linguistics. Brown suggests that the process of second language learning is not very different from learning a first language, and the feedback an L2 learner gets upon making errors benefits them in developing the L2 knowledge.
See also
References
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