Recently, there has been a renewed interest in understanding the linguistic behaviour of humans when profanity is used. However, much of the current literature focuses on adult participants, the...Show moreRecently, there has been a renewed interest in understanding the linguistic behaviour of humans when profanity is used. However, much of the current literature focuses on adult participants, the factual usage of swear words or the distinction between English as an L1 and L2 when using profane expressions. Thus, the perceived profane behaviour amongst Dutch adolescents still has to be understood. Hence, this research aimed to analyse the perception of frequency and severity with regard to profane behaviour amongst Dutch adolescents. As a result, four research questions were posed in order to compare the perceptions of adolescents to profanity in relation to two demographic factors, namely, socioeconomic status and urbanity. The different social contexts and the perception of severity related to such contexts were also explored. The current study employed a crosslinguistic approach using both a questionnaire and follow-up interviews as tools. The results of this research show that the lower socioeconomic status group perceived their swearing behaviour as less frequent compared to average and higher socioeconomic statuses. The degree of urbanity for the places in which the schools were situated was divided into three categories: urban, semi-urban, and rural, based on the official ranking of the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek considering the address density (CBS, 2019). When regarding the perceptual parameter for frequency and severity, the findings yield similar results, concluding that the students in rural areas perceive to use the most frequent, and severe profane words. Lastly, the different social environments in which Dutch adolescents perceive to use profane words were analysed. The findings show a general tendency of profanity being expressed in informal environments, and in particular in the presence of friends. However, it seems unacceptable to utter swear words when in the presence of a family member or an authoritative figure. This study implies that Dutch adolescents perceive to use swear words frequently, distinguishing between mild swear words such as ""kut"" ""fuck"", and ""shit"" versus more severe expressions such as ""kanker"" ""tyfus"" and ""homo"". This is in line with the existing literature 4 (see, e.g. Jay, 1992; Jay & Janschewits, 2008). In order to gain more insight into the perspective of Dutch adolescents, further research could be required.Show less
Climate change is a scientific discipline that received extensive attention from both specialists and general public. This puts additional pressure on scientific writers in this domain to use...Show moreClimate change is a scientific discipline that received extensive attention from both specialists and general public. This puts additional pressure on scientific writers in this domain to use language means successfully to render their ideas to such a wide readership. Manty studies have researched the use of rhetorical moves and metaphors in scientific writing, but never in climate change writing and never in interrelation. This thesis, therefore, aims at bridging this gap and studies rhetorical moves, metaphors and the ways they may be interrelated in abstracts of climate change research articles in high-impact journals Science Advances and Nature Climate Change. It has been found that many abstracts in the data favor the Introduction-Purpose-Product-Conclusion structure, and overall the Product move is obligatory for all abstracts. However, Science data showed more variation both in the use of moves and in the usage of metaphors. The results of this study could be a starting point for a more in-depth research in the area, as well as of use to those studying scientific discourse for academic or practical reasons.Show less
