Leiden University Student Repository

Emelli, Giorgia (2026)

Expressing the Self in Perception: Grammatical and Conceptual Perspectives across Dutch and Japanese

Bachelor thesis | Japanstudies (BA)

This thesis explores whether differences in subject-marking between Dutch and Japanese relate to how speakers experience ownership in visual perception. Drawing on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, the study investigates whether explicitly marking the self as grammatical subject is associated with stronger feelings of personal involvement in perceptual events. Using an online questionnaire, native speakers of Dutch and Japanese described visual scenes and rated their sense of ownership. While no significant correlation was found between subject-marking explicitness and ownership within each language, clear cross-linguistic differences emerged: Dutch speakers reported higher overall ownership and used more explicit self-marking than Japanese speakers. The findings suggest that language may influence habitual patterns of framing perception, though not necessarily moment-to-moment subjective experience.

Linguistic relativity

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Japanese linguistics

Author

Emelli, Giorgia

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Japanese linguistics

Supervisors

Yoshioka, K.

ECTS Credits

10

Language

en