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According to a theory of language acquisition, the transfer or language interference of source language into target language will always happen in
communication.
30
Interference that occurs in speech events can not be eliminated, but the amount can be overcome. Higher education and knowledge people have,
less interference will be produce.
C. Causes of Grammatical Interference
1. Bilingualism and Multilingualism
To be able in using two different languages, people have to master those languages. The first is their mother tongue or source language, and the second is
another language that becomes target language. Generally, a person who uses both languages is called a bilingual and
“the ability to use them distinctively is termed as bilingualism; while the ability to use three or more languages refers to
multilingualism.”
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and a person who has ability in using more than two language is multilingual Beside language contact as described previously, bilingualism
comes up as another common factor that causes grammatical interference. Bloomfield i
n his book “Language” said that the competence of a bilingual must be equal in using the two languages
“…bilingualism, native-like control of two languages.”
32
However, the Bloomfield concept of bilingualism had become a controversial theory among linguists because it was rare to find a speaker who
mastered two different languages equally well. It means that the person has the
30
Abdul Chaer, Psikolinguistik: Kajian Teoritik Jakarta: Rineka Cipta., 2003, p. 261
31
Muhammad Farkhan, An Introduction to Linguistics Jakarta: Lembaga Penelitian UIN Jakarta,
2006, p. 138.
32
Leonard Bloomfield, Language London: George Allen Unwin Ltd., 1933, p. 56
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same opportunity to learn and use both languages. Therefore, other linguists had heavily modified this concept.
Robert Lado as quoted by Chaer and Agustina, gives different limitation of the Bloomfield concept, that in using target language, they do not need to
master both languages equally well but less was allowed.
33
From the discussion above, it can be concluded that bilingualism is one‟s knowledge of two or more
languages that can lead to the situation of interference.
2. Types of Bilingual Competence
Alwasilah distinguish three categories of bilingualism, they are Compound bilingualism, Coordinative bilingualism, and Sub-ordinative
bilingualism.
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a Compound bilingualism
The compound bilingualism indicates that speakers‟ ability to speak a language is better than other languages. Speakers of this type attach most of their
linguistic elements to the same concept. A bilingual competence of both languages is still standing on its own.
b Coordinative bilingualism
The coordinative bilingualism is formed when the experience mastered two languages are different, because rarely interchangeable in use. It means heshe
almost has the same ability in using both languages. This type of bilingual speaker usually belongs to the competence of a bilingual.
33
Abdul Chaer and Leonie Agustina 1995, op.cit. p. 114.
34
Chaedar Alwasilah, 1985, op.cit. p. 128.
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c Sub-ordinative bilingualism
Sub-ordinative bilingualism is a concept of bilingualism which indicates the transfer of source language when using target language interchangeably. A
bilingual on this type, generally can not distinguish the term as separate things. When they speak or write an idiom for instance, they tend to translate the source
language into the target language word by word.
Speakers who have equal bilingual abilities will face no difficulties, so there will be no language interference in their communication, and vise versa. If
the writer tracks it deeper, the cause of interference is mostly depend on the ability of speakers in using a particular language. Thus, their source language influences
their communication in using target language. People who did not master a language well will create language interference all the time they speak because
their target language still in contact with his source language aware or not.
3. Other Factors Related to Grammatical Interference
