A CROSS-LINGUISTIC INVESTIGATION OF NOMINAL GROUPS IN ENGLISH AND PUNJABI FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Abstract

 English acquires prestige and institutional power in Pakistan at the expense of local languages in general and the Punjabi language in particular that represents 38 percent of the population (Census 2017). First language knowledge, as pointed out by Ellis (2015), exerts a powerful influence on a second/foreign language and has interfering effects during language learning. It is imperative to understand the linguistic differences between Punjabi and English as they impact the meaning-making processes. Therefore, this study carries out a qualitative, comparative structural and functional nominal group analysis in selected Punjabi and English written text, using Systemic Functional Linguistics. The findings reveal that the Punjabi language realizes experiential meaning through a higher morphological density within the nominal groups through case markers, inflections and internal modification whereas English distributes these functions syntactically and through prepositional structures. Additionally, Punjabi language makes honorific distinctions through inflection and suffixation, while English uses word order, determiner-based modification and limited inflectional marking. Punjabi language prefers nominal constructions that are more elaborative and multilayered in contrast to the linear and pre-modified construction found in English. These differences indicate cross-linguistic variation in the formation of nominal groups in both languages. These structural interferences can pose challenges for Punjabi English learners in the using pronouns, possession markers, modifier sequencing and in expressing the experiential meaning. Thus, this study is crucial and contributes to the SFL-based cross-linguistic nominal group analysis, demonstrates the variation in experiential meanings expressed by nominal groups and has implications on bilingual education, translation studies and curriculum design.