Similarity in Language Transfer – Investigating Transfer of Light Verb Constructions From Dutch to German

Abstract Bilingual speakers of typologically closely related languages tend to frequently experience language transfer, which suggests that similarity between is likely play an important role in the transfer process. In this paper, we explore how three different types affect light verb constructions ( lvc s), such as take a walk or set alarm , from Dutch German by native living Netherlands, namely: (a) existing constructions, (b) surface based on whether noun cognate and German, (c) verb’s collocational contexts. The results suggest all influence transfer: add similar their they drop ones happen be less similar, ultimately facilitating convergence across speakers’ languages.