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Analysis of the use of conjunction content clauses in L2 Czech

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2021

Abstract

Based on the data from the Czech learner corpus CzeSL-SGT and their comparison with native speaker corpora (SYN2020, SKRIPT2012), the paper accounts for the specific use of content clauses with the conjunctions že, aby, ať, jestli, zda, zdali and -li in the language of nonnative speakers, taking into consideration their language group (i.e. Indo-European, non-Indo- European and Slavonic languages).

The analysis focuses on typical collocations, their over- and underuse in learner interlanguage and description of language phenomena that differ from native usage. The data show that non-native speakers tend to overuse semantically wide lexical items, which they are familiar with, at the expense of more specific ones.

The differences between learner interlanguage and native usage are apparent in collocations, different types of verb complements and across language groups. The description of learner language is helpful in teaching L2 Czech, since it facilitates a better didactic approach to analysed language phenomena, promoting their active usage and correction of typical errors, possibly with respect to a particular language group.