Sp-1. Creating "logical nonwords"
Everyone who learns a new language experiences a certain excitement over beginning to recognize the patterns that are evident in that language. It means you have made progress in internalizing the "rules" of the language. It means you can predict how things should be said or how words should be used instead of always having to look them up.
However, many Spanish speakers make mistakes in English by trying to predict words that "should" exist (logically according to established patterns) but which in fact are not real words. That you may be tempted to use them or actually do so from time to time is really a good sign because it indicates you are picking up the patterns of the language. But you have to double-check the dictionary to be sure you have a real word rather than an artificial one that seems correct but is actually wrong.
"Logical" nonwords result when you believe that certain word formation patterns that match up between equivalent words in both languages also apply to other words that you presume are in the same class. For example, English has "refrigeration" and "refrigerate," "domination" and "dominate," and "participation" and "participate," and Spanish likewise has rerfigeración and refrigerar, dominación and dominar, and participación and participar. Based on examples such as these, you could conclude that "-ar" verbs in Spanish often end in "-ate" in English. However, the word to note here is "often," which is not the same as "always." Consider the following:
Error: Roberto didn't administrate the proper dosage for that medication.
Correct: Roberto didn't administer the proper dosage for that medication.
In light of the discussion above, the following "logical" process could unfold. First, the Spanish speaker knows that Spanish has administración and administrar, that English has "administration," and that many nouns ending in "-tion" have verbs ending in "-ate." Thus, it seems logical to assume that English also uses "administrate" as the ordinary verb form when in fact, it doesn't. "Administrate" is rarely used. Thus, "administration" serves as a false clue, that is a miscue, that points to an understandable, but erroneous, conclusion. Thus, we call terms such as "administrate" logical nonwords because they are not simply random misspellings. With this insight, you may be able to avoid many of these errors (especially if you keep your English-Spanish dictionary handy).
The following diagram will help you visualize the imperfect match between English and Spanish words that seem to exhibit the same pattern. Only where the circles overlap, however, are these word patterns valid.
Spanish/English Overlap
Figure 1
As indicated earlier, some speakers assume the circles in Figure 1 completely overlap, namely that all -ión/-ar pairs in Spanish are equivalent to "-ion"/"-ate" pairs in English. This assumption leads to the errors shown in parentheses on the English side of the figure. These are the errors we refer to as "logical nonwords." Although the diagram focuses on a verb pattern, similar situations exist with other parts of speech. In fact, the concept behind this diagram could also apply to grammatical issues, in which certain patterns are incorrectly extended to contexts in which they do not apply (as in the common problem of regularizing irregular verbs, which is treated in Vt-3d).
Below are tables (related to various parts of speech) showing many of the common logical nonwords that we have observed in our students' speech and writing. In these tables we list the logical nonword first, followed by the Spanish word, then the "miscue" word from English, and finally the real word that English actually uses.
Sp-1a. Verbs
Because verbs are so important in any language, it is not surprising that people learning a new language strive to bring them under their control by a variety of methods. Here is one example of a logical nonword used as a verb.
Error: The inspector determinated that no crime had been committed.
Correct: The inspector determined that no crime had been committed.
Below are four tables devoted to the various ways "non-verbs" are created. The so-called "nonword" (or error) is in the left-hand column and the "real word" (or correct one) is in the right-hand column. The middle columns show the Spanish word and the miscue that we believe triggers the creation of the nonword.
Logical Nonwords: Verbs
Table 1
Verbs:
Assumed Pattern -ion/-ate with -ión/-ar
*See Table 3
for another nonword arising from beneficiar xxx **You can, however, use "considerate"
as an adjective: "She is a very considerate young woman."
***Using "orientate"
rather than "orient" as a verb is an error many native speakers also make.
Table 2
Verbs:
Assumed Pattern -ion/-ion with -ión/-ionar
* "To deceive"
is the verb counterpart of "deception," but decepción and "deception" are false
cognates. The English words that mean decepcionar and decepción are "to disappoint"
and "disappointment." The Spanish words that mean "deception" and "to deceive"
are engaño and engañar.
** Sometimes this pattern is combined with the one
in Table 1 to produce "impressionate."
Table 3
Other Verbs in Incomplete Patterns with Varying Influences
