This research discusses whether male authors sexually objectify their female characters in comparison to female authors. This was done by analysing two classic and two contemporary fiction novels...Show moreThis research discusses whether male authors sexually objectify their female characters in comparison to female authors. This was done by analysing two classic and two contemporary fiction novels each by male and female American authors. These novels were chosen because of their similarities and because they feature a male protagonist who narrates the story. The novels were analysed for phrases used to describe the female characters appearance and these descriptions were compared to the novels of the opposite gender to check for any sexual objectification. The results revealed that male authors were more likely to sexually objectify their female characters in comparison to female authors. However, due to the size of this research, more research must be done to understand the scale and nuances of this.Show less
This dissertation focusses on the gay identity construction in an online environment. The performativity of identity and the existence of a separate gay culture are discussed. Gay identity can be...Show moreThis dissertation focusses on the gay identity construction in an online environment. The performativity of identity and the existence of a separate gay culture are discussed. Gay identity can be constructed regardless of sexuality. 1.Can gay slang construct gay identity on a social media platform such as twitter and what context or demographics might be relevant to do so? 2.How gay are the terms coded according to the respondents of the NRE compared to the other 4 sources? 3.Can anyone participate in gay culture? This will be examined by looking at how and who use 10 slang terms on Twitter selected from Rupaul's Drag Race. Next to this a Natural Response Elicitation is also conducted, a questionnaire posted on Reddit with three questions per term regarding users, meaning and context. There were several results concerning the meaning of the terms, the users and the context of the usage. All these led to see which terms could, and in which context, construct gay-identity. And in turn, whether outsiders can participate in gay culture. The main conclusion is that the meaning given to the terms, the users of the terms and the context in which they are used are relevant in order to perform gay-identity through gay linguistic expressions.Show less
This bachelor’s thesis has investigated the use of accents in the portrayal of characters in Disney movies. The thesis is of sociolinguistic nature and will contribute to the field of language...Show moreThis bachelor’s thesis has investigated the use of accents in the portrayal of characters in Disney movies. The thesis is of sociolinguistic nature and will contribute to the field of language ideology and language attitudes. Previous studies on accent use in children’s television and Disney movies tended to only focus on animated Disney movies and did not usually take live-action versions into account (Dobrow & Gidney, 1998; Fouts, Callan & Lawson, 2006; Sønnesyn, 2011; Lippi-Green, 2012; Reinacher, 2016; Soares, 2017). To fill the niche between the animation-focused studies and the recent release of live-action remakes of older Disney movies, this thesis compared two sets of Disney movies in order to detect a change in the accent use between the first and latest release. It is important to understand language use in combination with character portrayal to see whether conveyed stereotypical messages have changed or have remained the same.Show less
Research in the field of high-proficiency in L2 speakers most commonly focuses on the age of acquisition and the corresponding critical period hypothesis. More current research tends to focus on...Show moreResearch in the field of high-proficiency in L2 speakers most commonly focuses on the age of acquisition and the corresponding critical period hypothesis. More current research tends to focus on the high-proficiency L2 speaker’s sentence structure or syntax, and their influence on comprehensibility. In this case study, a high-proficiency L2 speaker was phonetically analyzed to describe his L2 accent choices successfully and find possible deviations in his General American accent, according to listeners. 17 American born listeners were recruited to mark deviations based on an 8-minute long audio-clip containing high-proficiency L2 sentence fragments. This audio file was accompanied by a script (appendix 1), which allowed the listeners to highlight deviations, accentedness, or foreignness. The same materials were also presented to an expert listener who would be able to shed more light on the speaker’s possible deviations. Results suggested that the speaker indeed still exhibited some slight deviations according to the listeners. Elements of foreignness were found in in the /g, /l/, /t/, /ɾ/, /ɹ/, /æ/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, and /ɑ/ sound, and the word ‘campfire’ was most commonly marked as deviating according to the listeners.Show less
This thesis aims to research the way L1 pronunciation transfer occurs and how this could potentially be employed in order to improve pronunciation teaching. Dutch ESL learners were chosen for the...Show moreThis thesis aims to research the way L1 pronunciation transfer occurs and how this could potentially be employed in order to improve pronunciation teaching. Dutch ESL learners were chosen for the research and their pronunciation errors were analysed. Afterwards, the learners were offered two ways of instruction, one that explained how English sounds are made and one that compared Dutch sounds to English sounds. Finally, the learners were asked to explain which instruction type they ought to be more beneficial and their pronunciation was examined once more.Show less
The current study provides insight into how Dutch students react to two different didactic methods used to learn English vocabulary. In order to investigate this, students at a high school in The...Show moreThe current study provides insight into how Dutch students react to two different didactic methods used to learn English vocabulary. In order to investigate this, students at a high school in The Hague voluntarily participated. The participants were divided over two classes which were split into two groups. One group memorized 15 words with help of visualization while the other group memorized the words with plain memorization in silence. Results showed that the group who memorized the words with plain memorization did better on the questionnaires they had to fill out to test their retainment. The same questionnaire had to be filled out again a week later and showed that the students did not remembered much, as they now made more mistakes. To see how this pattern arose, opinions of students were asked on how they felt about the method they had to use.Show less
This study focuses on the way Spanish ESL speakers pronunce the English phonemes /v/ and /w/. It parts from the hypothesis that the issue starts with language interference from the speakers’ mother...Show moreThis study focuses on the way Spanish ESL speakers pronunce the English phonemes /v/ and /w/. It parts from the hypothesis that the issue starts with language interference from the speakers’ mother tongue (Ellis, 2008). In order to find whether the mispronunciation comes from the mother tongue, the two phonetic systems of English and Spanish were analysed in relation to /v/ and /w/. By doing so, the results showed some overlap between both language systems and possible language transfer. Consequently, the speech of five participants was analysed through two tasks to see whether the theory matched the practice. This research concludes with the statement that indeed there is language transfer at stake, in addition to possible overgeneralization of English rules. These results show the relevance for English teachers of ESL students to spend more time and give more attention to raising awareness of the manner of pronunciation of these phonemes. This can be done by showing the different environments the phonemes can be found and how they can be realized respectively.Show less
This paper examines through an empirical research whether Dutch students exhibited the pronunciation issues mentioned by sources in the field of applied phonetics such as Collins and Mees (2003),...Show moreThis paper examines through an empirical research whether Dutch students exhibited the pronunciation issues mentioned by sources in the field of applied phonetics such as Collins and Mees (2003), and Swan and Smith (2001). In addition, the students’ opinions were tested to see how they judged aesthetic appreciation for another speaker who exhibited the pronunciation features in an exaggerated way. After reviewing the literature, the ten most significant problems that could complicate mutual intelligence were collected, and a list of ten sentences with each five tokens of the same phenomena were used to test if 30 students in the South-West part of the Netherlands exhibited these ten specific pronunciation difficulties. The students read the ten sentences aloud and their speech was recorded and analysed. Additionally, the students filled in a questionnaire grading a native Dutch speaker who consciously exhibited these problems on a scale from 1 (ugly) to 5 (beautiful), and accounted for their reasoning. Only five out of these ten problems were distributed by the students, namely, final devoicing of [z], [d] to [s] and [t], [ae] realised as [a] or [e], the [ð] becomes [d], the voiced fricative [v] is realised as the voiceless counterpart [f] , and lastly, voiced [b], [d] and [g] for aspirated [pʰ], [tʰ] and [kʰ]. This paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of this study and suggestions for further study.Show less
This study aims to investigate whether subtitles have a beneficial effect on incidental L2- vocabulary acquisition among students in the first grade of secondary school aged 12-13 years old....Show moreThis study aims to investigate whether subtitles have a beneficial effect on incidental L2- vocabulary acquisition among students in the first grade of secondary school aged 12-13 years old. Previous studies seem to indicate that subtitles have a beneficial effect on L2-vocabulary acquisition in adults, and so a case study was devised to investigate the effects of subtitles on children. These children were subjected to a cartoon YouTube clip of approximately 3 minutes recounting Aesop’s fable ‘The Frogs Who Desired a King’; half of the children viewed this clip with subtitles in their native language, or L1, the other half with captions in their non-native language, or L2. This clip contained a total of 15 words that were assumed the children would not yet know. After having seen the clip, the children were asked to provide accurate translations of these words to test the possible effects of the subtitles. The eventual conclusion was that subtitles seemed to have no effect on incidental L2-vocabulary acquisition, while captions may actually prove beneficial.Show less
In film and television, actors are sometimes expected to speak in a particular accent in order to convey their character’s identity as accurately as possible. A term in sociolinguistic research...Show moreIn film and television, actors are sometimes expected to speak in a particular accent in order to convey their character’s identity as accurately as possible. A term in sociolinguistic research fields that describes this connection between identity and language is indexicality: it “refers to the way an observable linguistic fact can be indexical of social identities in the same way, for instance, that clothing can. Language features can thus be semiotic signs associated with such identities.” (Smakman 2018: 57). Filmmakers make use of this fact when they include a specific dialect in their films: “film uses language variation and accent to draw character quickly, building on established preconceived notions associated with specific loyalties, ethnic, racial or economic alliances” (Lippi-Green 1997: 81). However, as the actors in film may be required to speak in an accent that is different than their own, inaccuracies can occur in their pronunciation, which may lead to linguistic stereotyping, appropriation or even racism. In this thesis, I examined this phenomenon in relation to the Birmingham (or, ‘Brummie’) accent, which is spoken in the series Peaky Blinders. I first established the most prototypical accent features of the Birmingham accent by comparing several sources, after which I analysed the use of these features in the speech of native speakers and actors. I then juxtaposed the differences in frequency and consistency between the pronunciation of the native speakers and actors, and several patterns emerged. These patterns could all be related to four sociophonetic processes detected by Bell and Gibson in a similar study: selectivity, mis-realisation, overshoot and undershoot (2011: 568). It was then found that these sociophonetic processes can account for the inaccuracies that may occur in actors’ accent use, which ultimately pointed out that there is, in fact, a correlation between dialect use in film and linguistic stereotyping.Show less
With the upcoming renewal of comics books from their paper copies to TV series one may wonder whether they sometimes very gendered stereotypes in the stories have changed. The language in the...Show moreWith the upcoming renewal of comics books from their paper copies to TV series one may wonder whether they sometimes very gendered stereotypes in the stories have changed. The language in the Netflix series Daredevil and their comic book counterpart have been analysed to see if there are any improvements visible.Show less
Dutch speakers have differing ways of pronouncing the English loanword . This thesis attempts to research these different pronunciations, through auditory analysis using phonetics, and through...Show moreDutch speakers have differing ways of pronouncing the English loanword . This thesis attempts to research these different pronunciations, through auditory analysis using phonetics, and through formant measurements. Additionally, Dutch speakers’ evaluations of the different phonetic realisations of were researched. 15 Dutch speakers were interviewed, and their ways of pronouncing noted. The results show, among other things, which form of pronunciation of was most used by the participants; the degree of consistency in pronunciation per participant (using a newly-developed technique called the IVS-technique); the formant measurements of the vowels participants used for in ; and the participants’ attitudes towards specific pronunciations of .Show less
This thesis examined which pronunciation of the three existing variants of the English swearword fucking, which are FAKKING ([fɑkɪŋ]), FUKKING ([fʏkɪŋ]), or FOKKING ([fɔkɪŋ]), is L1 Dutch speakers’...Show moreThis thesis examined which pronunciation of the three existing variants of the English swearword fucking, which are FAKKING ([fɑkɪŋ]), FUKKING ([fʏkɪŋ]), or FOKKING ([fɔkɪŋ]), is L1 Dutch speakers’ preferred use. In addition to this, this thesis studied which variant is considered most offensive to Dutch speakers. An experiment was conducted in which 50 L1 Dutch speakers were interviewed on these issues. In addition, a smaller second experiment was conducted in which an L1 English speaker was interviewed via email on the offensiveness of the word fucking to a native speaker of English and on their opinion on Dutch speakers using it. The results of the main experiment suggested that the ‘nativeness’ or ‘Dutchness’ of the pronunciation is the main influence on offensiveness ranking, not sound iconicity, which was originally hypothesised to be the main influencing factor.Show less
The research conducted in this paper revolves around the interpretation and meaning of temporal adverbial clauses in English. The research was based on Diessel’s (2008) study of the positioning of...Show moreThe research conducted in this paper revolves around the interpretation and meaning of temporal adverbial clauses in English. The research was based on Diessel’s (2008) study of the positioning of temporal adverbials in English. The study consisted of a survey that the participants were asked to fill out. The questions regarded their personal interpretation of different sentence pairs. The results showed no significant difference between the meanings of the sentences in each pair. However, the results did show that the participants recognized that a change in emphasis was present in the sentence pairs.Show less
Teachers are expected to provide students with instructional and informational lessons, but students want to enjoy their time spent in a classroom as well. With the use of technology gaining ground...Show moreTeachers are expected to provide students with instructional and informational lessons, but students want to enjoy their time spent in a classroom as well. With the use of technology gaining ground in schools a new realm of classroom activities opens up which are able to combine both qualities demanded of lesson plans. As a teacher myself I think that these digital developments could be a valuable asset in the classroom and to prove that I analyzed in this study whether my own students, who range between the age of 11 and 14 and attend pre-university education, experience the use of digital technology in the classroom as both efficient and/or enjoyable and if that experience is influenced by their preferred learning styles. The respondents filled out a VARK questionnaire to determine their learning style preferences and subsequently wrote down how they valued the use of digital technology as a learning tool. Most respondents turned out to favor a Kinesthetic learning style, but the other three learning styles or combinations of them were also ascribed to respondents. Furthermore a majority of the respondents, regardless of learning style preference, considered the use of digital technology both enjoyable and an efficient. Overall the results of this research indicate that digital technology is considered a valuable and fun learning tool by most students, but further research is required to expand on these first conclusions. Variables such as age, level of education and chosen learning style model all need to be taken into more careful consideration, because these aspects create different populations and therefore also possible different results.Show less
Elements of English have been infiltrating Dutch casual speech to great extent (Edwards, 2016). Not only loans from English can be found; elements that are not fully accepted into the language, but...Show moreElements of English have been infiltrating Dutch casual speech to great extent (Edwards, 2016). Not only loans from English can be found; elements that are not fully accepted into the language, but that are merely a replacement of English elements for Dutch words, are also present in Dutch. This phenomenon (called code-switching) has been described by various researchers already, such as in Clyne (1987), and more specifically in Dutch by scholars such as Zenner and Geeraerts (2015). However, none of the existing studies have researched the grammatical structure of codeswitching to English in Dutch, or which particular speakers of Dutch are more inclined to use codeswitching. This report investigated whether there are patterns to be found in the use of codeswitching to English by speakers of Dutch; specifically grammatical, semantic and sociolinguistic patterns. The database for this research consisted of a Dutch TV programme called “First Dates” as a primary source for instances of codeswitching, for it contains casual Dutch conversations in an unscripted setting. In total, 421 instances of codeswitching to English were found in the dataset and analysed in terms of length, word category, semantic field, intentionality, creativity and pronunciation. The speakers’ sociolinguistic features, i.e. age, gender, social class and sexual preference, were also included in the analysis. Among other things, the speakers showed a tendency towards short codeswitches in various semantic categories and most of the codeswitches were intentional and uncreative in their structure. Additionally, speakers belonging to youth and gay communities were found to codeswitch very often, whereas social class or gender did not seem to affect the speakers’ codeswitching behaviour. Implications that can be interpreted from the results are the following: the elements of English seem to be integrated into Dutch speech to great extent; generally, unintentional codeswitching may be used to relate to cultural phenomena; and intentional codeswitching is possibly used in a conversational manner. Moreover, socio-pragmatic motivations for codeswitching is likely to involve constructing identity or indexing membership of a cultural subgroup. Hence, these patterns assist in providing a deeper understanding of codeswitching to English, i.e. what kind of tendencies there are on structural, semantic and socio-pragmatic levels, and, more generally, day-to-day language use of speakers of Dutch.Show less
This thesis intended to find must-have features and the added value of digital language learning applications (DLLAs) based on the opinions and attitudes of both high school teachers and students....Show moreThis thesis intended to find must-have features and the added value of digital language learning applications (DLLAs) based on the opinions and attitudes of both high school teachers and students. This information was obtained through qualitative interviews. These results were then compared to the findings of the literature review. Ultimately, four must-have features and two main elements of added value were found. It is important that (1) DLLAs are free, (2) they need to be adjustable, (3) their interface needs to be user-friendly and (4) there needs to be an element of control for the teachers. Most of these must-have features have been considered by researchers, although they have not always been implemented thoroughly. The added value of DLLAs can be found in (1) time-saving and (2) the personalisation of language learning. It is important that developers take these findings into account when developing new DLLAs, for their products to be practical in use and to have added value besides merely replacing paper notepads.Show less
