Wat Praat Jij Raar!: A qualitative case study into Randstad accent Accommodation in Leiden Student Circles.

The present study investigates to what extent students, who originate from outside of the Randstad area, accommodate their accent, during their studies here, to Leiden students who have studied in Leiden for a longer time. Moreover, a linguistically marked feature, the ''Gooise r'' is also said to be employed in Leiden and cultivated among these Leiden students. Both of these phenomena were investigated through qualitative interviews. This was researched via the following questions. 1. To what extent do students who come from outside of Leiden accommodate their accent to their peers and why? a. What did they alter? b. To what extent do students possess the so-called Gooise ''r''? c. What are the social and or linguistic connotations of the Gooise ''r'' in Leiden student circles? d. Do they align with existing academic and popular media ones? It turned out that these students accommodated their accent and language to their peers in varying degrees. Possible reasons were their social...Show moreThe present study investigates to what extent students, who originate from outside of the Randstad area, accommodate their accent, during their studies here, to Leiden students who have studied in Leiden for a longer time. Moreover, a linguistically marked feature, the ''Gooise r'' is also said to be employed in Leiden and cultivated among these Leiden students. Both of these phenomena were investigated through qualitative interviews. This was researched via the following questions. 1. To what extent do students who come from outside of Leiden accommodate their accent to their peers and why? a. What did they alter? b. To what extent do students possess the so-called Gooise ''r''? c. What are the social and or linguistic connotations of the Gooise ''r'' in Leiden student circles? d. Do they align with existing academic and popular media ones? It turned out that these students accommodated their accent and language to their peers in varying degrees. Possible reasons were their social network, intergroup relations, remarks and preventing miscommunication. The ''Gooise r'' was also present among the majority of the participants. They associated its usage with posh Leiden students or posh people in general, middle class ''Leids'' or working class ''Leienaren''. They all attributed its usage to the Randstad region.Show less

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Wat Praat Jij Raar! A qualitative case study into Randstad accent Accommodation in Leiden Student Circles.