Leiden University Student Repository

Arnhem, Max van (2014)

Is that a Yes?

Bachelor thesis | Engelse taal en cultuur (BA)

This thesis will attempt to provide a short analysis of a test conducted among Dutch and RP speakers of English, a test that mainly considered the ways in which the word “yes” could be interpreted by both groups of speakers. This study aimed to analyse the ways in which intonation is understood, and how this differs between English native speakers and Dutch speakers of English. Based on work and research by Hoorn, Mitrofanova, Hewings, So and Best, and Grabe, Rosner, Garcia-Albea and Zhou—from which one may gather that non-native speakers will find it both more problematic to distinguish between different intonation patterns as well as understand them see the following chapter for an elucidation on these theories—it was hypothesised that native speakers would have less difficulty with understanding intonation in general, and that Dutch speakers would have a more ambiguous understanding of certain types of intonation patterns.

English

Sociolinguistics

Intonation

Author

Arnhem, Max van

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

English language and culture

Supervisors

Smakman, Dick

ECTS Credits

10

Language

en