Variation in yes/no questions in non-native language among Polish people living in Malta

Abstract

The study focuses on the question formation of Polish speakers of English living in Malta. The research involves six participants aged 20-40. Three of them are from the mixed Polish and Maltese environments and the other three come mostly from the Polish environment, working or living with other Poles in Malta. Participants had to complete a task, which elicited yes/no questions. The main aim of the study was to observe the way non-native speakers of English acquire variation in MaltE in question formation. The reason behind it was that similar question formation can be found in the Polish language. Similarly to MaltE, question formation in Polish is free and the use of auxiliary verbs is not strict. The use of question forms of both Polish- Maltese and Polish- Polish groups was compared and analyzed. The results of the study showed that both groups make questions with and without auxiliary verbs. However, it is hard to state what is the reason of the omission of auxiliaries. It can be related to many factors, e.g. L1 interference or level of English, but not necessarily MaltE interference. The most important finding of this research study confirms that the exposure to English language at school is an important factor that influences the production of questions marked with auxiliary verbs.