In deze scriptie wordt een aanpak besproken voor het vinden van een goede methode voor automatische zinsreductie. In dit onderzoek wordt gebruik gemaakt van de ondertiteling voor doven en...Show moreIn deze scriptie wordt een aanpak besproken voor het vinden van een goede methode voor automatische zinsreductie. In dit onderzoek wordt gebruik gemaakt van de ondertiteling voor doven en slechthorenden, die bij onder andere praatprogramma's beschikbaar zijn. Deze ondertiteling is naast de originele tekst gehouden. Het verschil tussen deze teksten is bekeken en aan de hand hiervan zijn enkele reductieregels opgesteld. Dit onderzoek kan worden gezien als een startpunt voor verder onderzoek naar zinsreductie.Show less
Las editoriales cartoneras son un fenómeno reciente del mundo literario de América Latina. La pionera argentina Eloísa Catonera surgió como respuesta creativa a la crisis económica de 2001. Los...Show moreLas editoriales cartoneras son un fenómeno reciente del mundo literario de América Latina. La pionera argentina Eloísa Catonera surgió como respuesta creativa a la crisis económica de 2001. Los papeles que juegan las editoriales localmente e internacionalmente, haciendo libros con tapas de cartón que los dan una apariencia única, llegaron a ser objeto de discusión académica y periodística durante la última década. Esta discusión muestra una división entre los papeles u objetivos instrumentales y simbólicos, pero la pregunta es ¿en qué medida las editoriales han llevado a cabo esas objetivos? En este tesina investigo el caso de Eloísa Cartonera y la manera en que la editorial pionera ha realizado sus objetivos instrumentales y simbólicos por medio de una investigación en su catálogo publicado y otra en la recepción del trabajo de la editorial. Llego a la conclusión de que el papel de Eloísa Cartonera todavía es más simbólico que instrumental. Más que nada, las editoriales cartoneras en general muestran la necesidad y el deseo de alcanzar sus objetivos instrumentales, que incluyen democratizar el acceso a la lectura, debilitar el aire elitista de la literatura, y romper la hegemonia del canon literario.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
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Study of the verbal system in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle. Primarily focusing on the reader effects of alternation between QTL-YQTL forms as well as long yaqtulu and short yaqtul forms in the poetic...Show moreStudy of the verbal system in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle. Primarily focusing on the reader effects of alternation between QTL-YQTL forms as well as long yaqtulu and short yaqtul forms in the poetic syntax.Show less
This thesis aims to explore the intertextual relationship between Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and the Bible, and the intertextual relationship between Oranges Are Not the...Show moreThis thesis aims to explore the intertextual relationship between Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and the Bible, and the intertextual relationship between Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and Winterosn’s documented life in her memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? and interviews. With the help of the core concepts of paratextuality, allegory, and authorship, I shall work with Gerard Genette, Angus Fletcher, and Michel Foucault to examine the intertextuality revealed among the above-mentioned texts.Show less
In “The Significance of the Frontier” Turner suggests that frontier experiences creates true – independent, individual, free – Americans, and points out that this is problematic once no actual...Show moreIn “The Significance of the Frontier” Turner suggests that frontier experiences creates true – independent, individual, free – Americans, and points out that this is problematic once no actual western frontier is left. This thesis explores how and where later great American novels have constructed new frontiers to overcome. The Sun Also Rises is a novel set in a time when the lack of a physical western frontier was just beginning to be felt. Its protagonists are among the first generations who did not have an actual American western frontier, and instead looked for a place outside America and went to find one in Europe after WWI. Their goal was to create a new identity for themselves and to build an unconventional life by distancing themselves from American society and culture. On the Road has a different take on the concept ‘frontier’ because by then it was psychological and normative rather than a physical boundary. Its main characters do physically go to the West but they do this to escape from the past and the older society with its restrictions. The experience of being on the road is what they look for as the tool to carve a new identity for themselves. Research question: What strategies do The Sun Also Rises and On the Road employ to define new frontiers since Turner’s original frontier experience can no longer be used to form authentic selves ? Thesis statement Although the frontier has changed since Turner, it has continued to exist in other forms and new forms of frontier struggle are at the heart of these novels using movement as a key strategy.Show less
Edmund Burke's views already were conservative at the time of the American Revolution and he continued with this line of thought during the French Revolution. Thomas Paine also remained consistent...Show moreEdmund Burke's views already were conservative at the time of the American Revolution and he continued with this line of thought during the French Revolution. Thomas Paine also remained consistent with his revolutionary thoughts, but his views were not as widespread as the American victory and the swiftness of the revolutionary reforms made in 1789 suggest. Meanwhile, Burke’s conservative desires were certainly not obsolete and his views saw surprising support, and not, as one might expect, just from nobility trying to keep their privileges.Show less
En mi tesina analizo el libro 'De terugkeer van Lupe García'escrito por Carolina Trujillo. Esta novela holandesauruguaya reflexiona sobre la imposibilidad del hogar en un contexto de exilio en el...Show moreEn mi tesina analizo el libro 'De terugkeer van Lupe García'escrito por Carolina Trujillo. Esta novela holandesauruguaya reflexiona sobre la imposibilidad del hogar en un contexto de exilio en el que, como vimos, el regreso se refiere más a un pasado que a un lugar, y en el que el trauma de la dictadura y la relación entre víctima y verdugo vuelve una y otra vez. El libro arroja luz sobre cómo la generación posdictatorial hace frente a la herencia de la dictadura.Show less
This thesis examines how Japan's declining birth rate and women's work-life balance are related, and how the government has responded to this in terms of policies.
“Oh shit, [I have] said fuck! Oh fuck, [I have] said shit!” Brian Blessed spoke these words on an episode of Stephen Fry’s show Planet World (Fry, 2011b). Why might some people perceive this...Show more“Oh shit, [I have] said fuck! Oh fuck, [I have] said shit!” Brian Blessed spoke these words on an episode of Stephen Fry’s show Planet World (Fry, 2011b). Why might some people perceive this sentence as shocking, rude or offensive? For the simple reason that it contains swearwords. Swearing is not something one is supposed to do and this is told us in, amongst others, the Bible: “But I say unto you, Swear not at all ; neither by heaven ; for it is God’s throne : / Nor by the earth ; for it is his footstool : neither by Jerusalem ; for it is the city of the great King. / Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black” (The Bible, Mat. 5.34–36). Swearing has always been taboo (Montagu, 1967; Stapleton 289). In one of his comedy routines, the American comedian George Carlin talked about the number of swearwords in the English language compared to the total number of words in it: “There are 400,000 words in the English language, but there are seven of them you cannot say on television. What a ratio that is!” (2011; Pinker, 2008). These seven words are shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits. As a reaction to this sketch, the US Supreme Court and the federal government established a law which could regulate speech on broadcast television and radio in the United States (Poetry Genius): if one uttered one of the ‘seven dirty –’ or ‘filthy words’ on television or radio, one had to pay a large fine. The ban has been established about thirty years ago and there is an ongoing debate on whether it should be lifted (Nighty News, 2012). What makes a word an effective swearword? “In order to be useful for the purposes of swearing, a word […] must have reference to an object possessing, or thought to possess, force or power of some kind” (Montagu 15). Many of these words refer to excrement and filth, like shit, or sexual intercourse, like fuck. Not all words can function as swearwords, “because they [lack] the acquired weight of tradition in the speech community” (Hughes, 1992:22). All swearwords are therefore emotionally charged terms (Hughes, 1992). Native speakers of English mainly use English words when they swear. Native speakers of Dutch, however, swear both in their native tongue and in English (van de Krol, 2013). Are people these days really offended when someone utters a “filthy word”? Is the perceived rudeness of swearing dependent on factors such as nationality and gender? Do British people perceive swearwords with a different level of harshness than Americans? How do their results compare to people who are native speakers of Dutch? These are questions which this thesis would like to answer.Show less
Casting the Other in a villainous light has been a trend long known in the U.S. entertainment business. Asian villains have been employed since the late 19th century, leading to the birth of the...Show moreCasting the Other in a villainous light has been a trend long known in the U.S. entertainment business. Asian villains have been employed since the late 19th century, leading to the birth of the yellow peril trope in entertainment narratives. More recently a trend of shifting this yellow peril trope from Chinese, Japanese, or any other Asian nationality to North Korean has appeared. Since the late 20th, but mostly 21st, century there has been an increase of North Korean antagonism in entertainment media. This thesis examines this shift and attempts to explain and explore this, including the effects essentialist representations (could) have on the consumer. This is done by analysing 3 films and 2 video games, all dealing with North Korean antagonism as narrative. There are also parallels drawn between the increase of North Korean antagonism in fiction and real politics, as fiction often feeds off of reality to create dramatic storylines.Show less
This thesis attempts to establish an adequate framework to describe question words. On the basis of this framework some universal tendencies within the constructions of question words will be...Show moreThis thesis attempts to establish an adequate framework to describe question words. On the basis of this framework some universal tendencies within the constructions of question words will be established and some new insights will be exposed. Through the analysis of the question words of several languages an implicational hierarchy of the semantic categories of question words will be postulated. Furthermore, it will become clear that general question words need to be treated differently from question words which have a specified meaning regardless of the context. When looking at the internal constructions of question words, I conclude that all question words consist of a Q-element (QE), which indicates the interrogative mood and a Semantic Indicator Element (SIE), which specifies the exact content of the interrogative mood. The order of these two elements appears to be similar to the order of the head and dependent of nominal constructions. Finally I discuss the fact that this division between QE and SIE is also to be found in sign languages, and therefore universally applicable. Also, from a historical point of view the order of QE and SIE within submorphemes can be an indication of the head and dependent order in Proto-languages.Show less
Bachelor thesis | Oude culturen van de mediterrane wereld (Bachelor)
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The Sumerian language is often perceived as a so-called "Ergative language". As many works on different languages have illustrated this is a very vague and often imprecise term for languages that...Show moreThe Sumerian language is often perceived as a so-called "Ergative language". As many works on different languages have illustrated this is a very vague and often imprecise term for languages that pattern parts of their grammar in such a way. Sumerian is no exception to this as it uses several alignments in different parts of its morphology. This paper attempts to give an overview of the alignment system in the Sumerian verb.Show less
This research examines the effects of the new language policy and language planning in Rwanda where English has replaced French as the medium of instruction in education. The main aim is to study...Show moreThis research examines the effects of the new language policy and language planning in Rwanda where English has replaced French as the medium of instruction in education. The main aim is to study the impact of this change in the language policy in primary education, looking particularly at the practice of this policy and attitudes of the affected stakeholders in different school systems (public and private) in Kigali, with the final purpose of determining the effect this change has on the education of pupils. The data in this comparative case study has mainly been gathered through participant-observation, semi-structured interviews and a review of policy documents and literature. The main finding is that the socio-cultural and –economic background of the stakeholders influence the interpretation of the language policy, affecting the way in which it is being practiced, and gradually also influencing the success of the implementation. This research discusses and concludes that a language policy would need to be better adapted to the realistic and specific circumstances of a school type, which includes teaching methodology, teaching conditions and motivation of the stakeholders.Show less
Bachelor thesis | Nederlandse taal en cultuur (BA)
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Hoe beargumenteren aanhangers en tegenstanders van de Illuminati-theorie hun standpunten en hoe sterk staat deze theorie in pragma-dialectisch perspectief? De aanhangers beargumenteren de...Show moreHoe beargumenteren aanhangers en tegenstanders van de Illuminati-theorie hun standpunten en hoe sterk staat deze theorie in pragma-dialectisch perspectief? De aanhangers beargumenteren de Illuminati-theorie, zowel in de theorie zelf als in discussies op internetfora, vooral met behulp van kentekenrelaties. In een grote verscheidenheid aan waarnemingen zien zij kenmerken van het complot van de Illuminati. Vooral de vele misstanden op onze aarde - oorlogen, ziektes, aanslagen, moorden – worden geweten aan de Illuminati met hun kwaadaardige plannen. Ook wordt de ondersteuning van de Illuminati-theorie door allerlei (semi-)autoriteiten als kenmerk aangevoerd voor de kracht van de theorie.Show less
This is a transnational research on the way Dutch Catholic media perceived the Kulturkampf in Germany from 1880 to 1884. This dissertation examines two Dutch Catholic newspapers and one magazine to...Show moreThis is a transnational research on the way Dutch Catholic media perceived the Kulturkampf in Germany from 1880 to 1884. This dissertation examines two Dutch Catholic newspapers and one magazine to explain three things. Firstly, what the main motives of Dutch Catholic media were to report on German social struggles after 1880. Secondly, how the Milder-ungsgesetzen – that were intended to end this social struggle – influenced the content of the reports of Dutch Catholic media. Thirdly, to what extent the German social struggles were put in an international perspective by these media. The conclusion adds to the debate that ques-tions the nineteenth century as the ‘age of the nation state’.Show less
