In this thesis, we present an experiment designed to examine the interpretation of scalar implicatures in Greek. Scalar implicatures appear to examples like “I ate some of the pasta.” This sentence...Show moreIn this thesis, we present an experiment designed to examine the interpretation of scalar implicatures in Greek. Scalar implicatures appear to examples like “I ate some of the pasta.” This sentence implies that the speaker uses the term “some” because s/he had reasons not to use the stronger word “all” in the sentence, e.g. “I didn’t eat all of the pasta.” Recent studies of experimental pragmatics suggest that the inference “I ate some (but not all) of the pasta” would not exist in face-saving acts (Bonnefon, J.-F., Feeney, A. & G. Villejoubert (2009). By contrast, Terkourafi and Weissman claim that face-boosting contexts favor lower-bound interpretations. We conducted an experiment addressing this issue, by testing a group of 40 adults (all native speakers of Greek) on four different scalar terms, , , , . Overall, our results indicate that Boost story Version favors lower bound interpretation and are consistent with Terkourafi and Weissman’s conclusions and opposite to Bonnefon’s and colleagues’ hypothesisShow less
This thesis provides an exploratory account of white lies in Dutch. There is no literature explicitly dedicated to white lies in the Dutch language. This gap provides the starting point for this...Show moreThis thesis provides an exploratory account of white lies in Dutch. There is no literature explicitly dedicated to white lies in the Dutch language. This gap provides the starting point for this exploratory study which aims to contribute to a wider research agenda investigating the definition of lying and how different types of lies may be distinguished in different contexts and cultures. The main research question of this thesis is: How are white lies used by native speakers of Dutch? A two-part investigation, consisting of a questionnaire and a role-play, shows that native speakers of Dutch use white lies in everyday conversations. White lies are used to benefit both the speaker and the hearer, but they are also used to avoid undesirable scenarios.Show less
This study aims to provide an insight into the effect an international teaching background can have on language users’ attitudes and prejudices. The motivation behind this study focuses on the...Show moreThis study aims to provide an insight into the effect an international teaching background can have on language users’ attitudes and prejudices. The motivation behind this study focuses on the contact hypothesis, which posits that under certain conditions of prolonged contact, favourable impressions of other speakers may develop based on shared experience. Given the lack of previous research into more international contact settings, this study aimed to provide a brief insight into how prolonged exposure to language variation might allow for the development of more positive language attitudes. Eleven teachers from the International School of the Hague volunteered to take part in this study which aimed to test the hypothesis that prolonged contact in an immersive international environment could make raters more tolerant of other speakers’ diverse accents in English. The data was derived from an anonymous survey and short fifteen- minute participant interviews. Though no solid conclusions can be drawn due to a small sample size, the implications of this study are profound and far-reaching. Establishing how extensive contact may influence a person’s language attitudes has value in a number of fields that go beyond sociolinguistic research, with implications in international politics, economic and social relations (both national and international) and importantly, teaching. It is the hope that more in-depth research will follow this study.Show less
