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EL.LE | Vol. 9 | Issue 1 | March 2020

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Research Article

Learning Italian FL i Cameroon

Understanding and Using Idioms and other Fixed Phrases

Vicky Mazoua Megni Tchio    Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia    

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abstract

Linguistic research has demonstrated the importance of theories of language interference and positive or negative transfers from one language to another. Our study is based on written texts produced by the Italian language students of the ENS of the University of Maroua. The observed data indicated a clear influence of French and especially of its local variants over the use of idiomatic expressions. It is therefore legitimate to ask whether the lexical and syntactic deviations of French-speaking learners of Italian as a foreign language in Cameroon are only the result of a closeness of the two linguistic systems, or of an inadequate competence in the French language. The purpose of our work is to analyze the causes of such interference and possibly to draw useful strategies for the teaching of Italian in Cameroon.

Published
July 30, 2020
Accepted
April 23, 2020
Submitted
Jan. 9, 2019
Language
IT

Keywords: Idiomatic expressions • Figurative competence • Interferences • Italian as foreign language

permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/ELLE/2280-6792/2020/01/003

Copyright: © 2020 Vicky Mazoua Megni Tchio. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.