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SMALL DIFFERENCES, HUGE MISTAKES

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“Linguistic contamination”: linguistic interference, cross-linguistic interference

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Contamination:

a) positive

b) negative

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a) positive contamination

• ‘en absoluto’ (Argentina)

• ‘itinerary’ (Bath)

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b) negative contamination

• grammar: ‘Have a car in front of the school.’; ‘I have 15 years old.’; ‘I live here for 5 years.’; ‘It depends of the weather.’ ‘Eles jogam não bom’ (Si spielen nicht gut.).

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b) negative contamination

• accent: ‘Excuse me, I’m looking for...’ (frowning)

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b) negative contamination

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b) negative contamination

• intonation: ‘Bye”

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b) negative contamination

• ‘knack’: kangaroo story

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b) negative contamination

• vocabulary: ‘The car skidded on the piste [course for skiing] (icy road, wet asphalt)

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b) negative contamination

• Ladrão: thief, rogue, plunderer, burglar, highwayman, stick-up man, bail-up man, marauder, raider, footpad, pillager, buccaneer, brigand, bandit, freebooter, depredator, despoiler, forager, thug, pickpocket, robber, swindler, mugger…

• Thief: ladrão, batedor de carteira, punguista, larápio. trombadinha, amigo do alheio, assaltante, bandido...

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What are the commonest English words?

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The top 40The top 40

Nouns Adjectives Verbs Adverbstime his being notpeople their did nowyears her see thenway its make alsoman other get onlylife my go justday your know wellwork new take evenworld such think stillpart our made back

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• The other 80:• Articles: a, an, the• Pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, mine, some,

any, who, why, when, where, how, me, them, him, her, us, yours

• Verbs: is, are, do, have, was, were, come, say, will, can, could, must

• Conjunctions: after, before, and, but, or, as, because, if, while, so, than

• Adverbs: here, there, again, almost, quite, today, tomorrow, yesterday, yes, no

• Prepositions: at, in, on, off, over, up, down, to, under, with, for, of, out

• Adjectives: this, that, all, every, last, much, many, next, very, enough

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everything: Joel Santana’s sharp speech

• You tube: sharp speech

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Examples of ‘contaminations’

• a) portunhol: Tevez, Valdívia, Luxemburgo

• b) Spanglish (a 2004 movie, directed por James L. Brooks, with Adam Sandler, Tea Leoni)

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Examples of ‘contaminations’

• c) Engrish (Japanese English)

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Examples of ‘contaminations’

• d) Franglais: Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers, Steve Martin): J’agree (d’accord)

• e) German English: Kranken transport (Jörg)

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Examples of ‘contaminations’

• f) Brazil: Du iu Spikingrish?

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A universal language

Have you ever considered a world with people talking the same language?  Probably it is  really difficult for someone to think about it, due to the fact that we have million of languages and dialects nowadays. However it is worth to dicuss about it.   In the first place th idea confuses us, but with a more carefull look we can make out the advantages of this statement. First of  all imagine yourself in to china, dream talking to these people with the odd eyes and the difficult language. You would learn about the cultures you want with more ease. Just fancy that! Moreover you would be able to encounter and communicate with more people, and who knows? You may make more friends and whoever finds a friend, finds a treasure. Last but not least you will stop spending your money and time to schools in order to learn a new language.   On the other hand there are many disadvantages of having only one language existing. For instance everyone would be the same as none of our planet''s country would be different from the other. Furthermore our culture would disappear in the course of time so there would be no interest for learning each other or travellin to another country.   Well the fact that everyone could be speaking the same language attracts the most of us. However this is very difficult to achieve nowadays, but even if something like this happens, many thigs will be changed. 

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A universal language:

The future of English: Latin?

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Small differences, huge mistakes1. one Portuguese word, two English

words:

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Small differences, huge mistakes1. one Portuguese word, two English

words

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One Portuguese word, two English words Happy anniversary

• At eleven at last, when we got into town We arrived at the show, but the curtain was downI suggested a bite. No, no you wanted to walkYou had no appetite and no desire to talkSo we strolled for an hour, and the evening was sweetAnd I bought you a flower, from a man in the streetAnd we kissed on the sidewalk, without reason or rhymeAnd we knew that our love is stronger than time

Happy anniversary, happy anniversary, happy anniversary.• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9z4o44pZKU

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2. Portuguese idioms, translated literally into English

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2. Portuguese idioms, translated literally into English

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3. Similar words:

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4. Verbs followed by different direct objects:

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5. Words that came into English with different meanings:

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6. Confusing verbs:

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7. False cognates:

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8. Words with the same meaning, but

belonging to different grammar categories:

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9. Words that change their meaning according

to their prefixes or suffixes:

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C

R

O

S

S

W

O

R

D

P

U

Z

Z

L

E

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ANSWERS

• 2. beat 1. anniversary• 3. novel 2. birthday• 5. raise 4. lunch• 6. win 12. aunt• 7. knight• 8. milk• 9.steal• 10. ant• 11. exhaustive