An algorithm for analyzing the lexical features of bilingual speech
Authors:   St. Petersburg State University, Moskovkin Leonid V. , Kovrizhkina Daria G. ,   St. Petersburg State University, Lypkan Tatyana V. ,   St. Petersburg State University
Published: December 2024

The article is devoted to the development of an algorithm for analyzing the lexical features of bilingual speech. Its relevance is due to the significance of the differs from the mentality of Russian monolingual speakers. It has been determined that in the scientific literature, scientists do not consider the development of an algorithm for vocabulary analysis as a special methodological problem, which determines the novelty of this research.
The material of the study was about 30 classifications of lexical errors presented in Russian works on the theory of speech culture and methods of teaching the Russian language (native) at school and Russian as a foreign language at the university. Research methods were comparative analysis of these classifications, modeling of the vocabulary analysis algorithm. Methodological provisions that are significant for the development of an algorithm for analyzing the lexical features of bilingual speech were highlighted: reliance on a systematic approach in the study of classifications of lexical errors, adherence to the classical rules of formal logic, differentiation of the processes of qualifying errors and establishing their causes and consequences. Two main approaches to identifying a group of lexical errors have been identified, which can be conditionally called stylistic approach and level approach. The stylistic approach, which developed in Russia in the mid-twentieth century, is characteristic of school practice. When analyzing students' written work, teachers and methodologists have identified spelling, punctuation and stylistic errors, and stylistic errors include lexical, morphological and syntactic errors. The level approach developed by Yu.V. Fomenko, involves distinguishing pronunciation, lexical, phraseological, morphological, syntactic, spelling, punctuation, and stylistic errors. It has been determined that in order to analyze lexical errors, it is more convenient to single out the types of errors by the levels of the language system. An analysis of various classifications of lexical errors has shown that almost all of them are constructed in violation of the rules of formal logic and, therefore, are redundant. They include, firstly, phonetic, lexical, grammatical, phraseological, logical errors (for example, in the classification of M.A. Shakhmatova and T.V. Postnova), and secondly, the causes and consequences of errors (for example, in the classification of S.V. Kosheleva and V.A. Salyaev). When they are excluded, a logically consistent classification of lexical errors includes three groups: word replacement, word omission, insertion of an extra word.
In the first group, three subgroups are distinguished: a) replacement of the required word with a word similar in meaning, but different in sound : a synonym that is not compatible with the context, hyponym, hypernym, anachronism, dialectism, vulgarism, jargon, professionalism, occasionalism, barbarism, and a word of another functional style; b) replacement of the required word with a word similar in sound, but different in meaning, for example, paronym; c) replacement of the required word with a word, different from it in meaning and in sound. On its basis, an algorithm for analyzing the lexical features of bilingual speech is modeled. It includes five steps: error identification, error type determination, error kind determination, error cause determination, error consequence determination.
During identification, a distinction between lexical and non-lexical errors is made, which is sometimes difficult for the researcher. The second step involves establishing the structural characteristics of the error; selecting the type of error: replacement or omission of the word, or insertion of an extra word. At the third stage of the algorithm, a kind of the error are determined, for example, the option of replacing one word with another is selected. The fourth step involves determining the cause of the lexical error, for example, interlingual or intralingual interference, contact or structural attrition. At the fifth stage of the algorithm, the effect produced by an error in the communication process is determined. A choice between disruption or difficulty of communication is made. The article provides a detailed description of each step in the form of recommendations for the researcher, points out the factors that should be paid attention to when going through each step. Examples of the use of this algorithm in the analysis of the lexical features of bilingual speech in the course of the implementation of the international research project “Russian language in Germany: intergenerational changes” are given. The results of this study are of a universal nature: they can be in demand not only in studies of bilingualism, but also in the analysis of the lexical features of the speech of monolinguals, as well as in the analysis of the speech of people who acquire a second language.