Non-Native English Speakers Use of Prepositions in Saudi Arabia: A Cognitive Linguistics Study

Abstract

Prepositions have a significant role in languages as users of language depend on them to produce sentence meanings and structures. This study investigates the non-linguistic factors like cognitive, social context and experiential that are beyond linguistics and affect the use of English prepositions by Saudi non-native speakers of English. As the student’s psychology to comprehend language and the centrality of the cognition are bases of cognitive linguistics, this research aimed to analyze factors that validate the use of English prepositions by examining a variety of background and personal information,to find out whether Arabic negative pragmatic transfer resulted in the choice of the simple English prepositions used by Saudi non-native speakers of English, explore if the choice of a preposition was affected by social or geographical factors as it is hypothesized that they have an effect on the production of prepositions, and to examine if gender affected the use of prepositions. Using a sample of 50 non-native English speakers aged 19–25 years, the research instrument consisted of two tests. The first test investigated the use of prepositions through multiple choices and the second consisted of descriptive questions. Independent sample t-tests, linear regression tests, and ANOVA tests were used to compare the results. Results revealed that age and reading time were two social factors that affected the use of prepositions. There were no significant gender differences in the prepositional use, while geographical factors that may intervene had a negative effect.