1.1. The role of cognates in vocabulary development

 1.1. The role of cognates in vocabulary development

The facilitating role of cognates in the L2 vocabulary learning process has long

been recognized (cf. Sweet 1972 [1899]). Cognates are words in two or more

languages which share phonological and/or orthographic form, and normally

(but not necessarily) are also related semantically. Ringbom (1987: 41) makes

the common sense observation that .[w]hen both phonological and semantic

similarity work together, the effect is like that of a magnet attracting a new word

to be stored in the learner.s mental lexicon when he meets it for the first time. In

this way, cognates have been recognized as significant sources of positive

transfer (Ringbom 1987; Odlin 1989; Nation 1990). Not surprisingly, the same

authors have pointed out that phonological similarity without (sufficient)

semantic overlap, in the familiar cases of false cognates (faux amis), will lead to

negative transfer (or interference).

Very little experimental work has been conducted by applied linguists on the

effects of cognates in vocabulary learning (although cf. Ard and Homburg

1983). There