Languages in Contact and Interference: A Case of Reference among Some Coordinate Bilinguals

Abstract

This study investigated how the Ewe language realizes cohesion by reference in comparison with English. The study also sought to find out the extent to which English interferes with Ewe in the use of reference among coordinate Ewe-English bilinguals, specifically Ghanaian undergraduate students reading Ewe as a major course of study. The findings reveal that both English and Ewe realize cohesion almost the same way by means of reference. The study further reveals that English, the second language of the respondents, had significant influence on Ewe, their first language, while Ewe had no significant influence on their English. The findings disprove the popular view in contact linguistics that only first languages have the capacity to interfere with second languages in the use of language among bilinguals. They indicate that the otherwise is also true and it is only that too much attention has been given to the former phenomenon to the neglect of the latter.