According to Miestamo (2005:18), a lot of cross-linguistic research has been undertaken on what is called standard negation (Dahl 1979; Payne 1985; Forest 1993; Honda 1996). However, in these works...Show moreAccording to Miestamo (2005:18), a lot of cross-linguistic research has been undertaken on what is called standard negation (Dahl 1979; Payne 1985; Forest 1993; Honda 1996). However, in these works, little attention is paid to the negation of existential clauses. Recently, a typological study of negative existential clauses was carried out by Vesselinova (2013), who focuses on how this special type of negation relates to standard negation. Since affirmative existential clauses are often related to possessive and locative clauses (Lyons 1967; Clark 1978; Payne 1997), this thesis examines negative existential clauses according to their relation with negative possessive and locative clauses in a geographically and genetically balanced sample of 12 languages. This relation is compared to the way their affirmative counterparts relate to each other. The data used in this study comes from descriptive grammars, linguistic articles on the languages, and personal communication with speakers. It appears that in the majority (66,67%) of the sample languages negative existential, possessive and locative clauses are related to each other in the same configuration as their affirmative counterparts, while a minority of the sample languages is asymmetric in this respect. The pattern that is found in most of the sample languages is that in which all three clause types are related to each other. None of the sample languages follows a pattern in which negative existential clauses are not related to either negative possessive or negative locative clauses.Show less
Upon becoming prime-minister of Malaysia in 1981,Mahathir initiated the “Look East” policy. This policy looked at Korea and Japan and sought to use these countries as examples. The policy was not...Show moreUpon becoming prime-minister of Malaysia in 1981,Mahathir initiated the “Look East” policy. This policy looked at Korea and Japan and sought to use these countries as examples. The policy was not only meant as an economic measure, but also as a cultural policy to aid the poor Malays. This thesis tries to answer the question to what extent the policy was aimed for the latter and how this was to be implemented. Firstly, it will look at Malaysia's cultural background and Mahathir's view on the matter before becoming prime-minister. It focuses on his book, the Malay Dilemma, where he stressed the need for Malays to change their values. Secondly it will look into the initiation of the “Look East” policy and what it aimed to do. Thirdly, it will go into Japan's image and how Mahathir sought to transfer values from Japan to Malaysia. Then, it will look at the implementation of the policy and how it was executed. Lastly, the conclusion talks about the cultural influence of the “Look East” policy. Saying that the policy was not effective in changing the values of the Malays, but did bring out a change in direction from looking to the West towards looking to the East.Show less
Throughout the years, young adult dystopian fiction has become a well-known and widely-read genre. Simultaneously, the division of the world into typically masculine or feminine matters has changed...Show moreThroughout the years, young adult dystopian fiction has become a well-known and widely-read genre. Simultaneously, the division of the world into typically masculine or feminine matters has changed as well. This same idea applies to literary genres. Science fiction has been dominated by male characters and writers throughout the years, for instance in books such as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, or in television series like Star Trek and Babylon 5. Nevertheless, the more contemporary young adult dystopian novels, as a subgenre of science fiction, have seen an emergence of other heroic protagonists, namely girls. These girls, such as Katniss Everdeen in Suzanne Collin’s Hunger Games, are suddenly able to exert agency in a genre that initially mainly had male protagonists, and in which female characters were merely supporting those real heroes. In fact, the modern female protagonists use their gendered traits to drastically change the society they live in. While these capacities were usually not given to young women in dominant patriarchal societies, nowadays it has been made possible by the increasing presence of conventions of the romance genre in science fiction, and its subgenre, dystopian fiction. The combination of the conventions of both genres results in a change of subject matter of dystopian fiction, but also a change in the intended audience. This is because both genres have a different focus as well, as the focus of science fiction is scientific and technical developments and societal problems, whereas the focus of romance fiction is romantic behaviour, emotions, and relationships. The increasing popularity of contemporary young adult dystopian fiction shows that adolescents are ready for a change. My thesis will analyse the portrayal of female characters in a popular Young Adult dystopian fiction series, namely Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games (2008-2010), and it will examine how the genres of science fiction and romance have merged together, and what the consequences have been. To ensure a thorough analysis that is supported by relevant and substantiating theories, the thesis is divided into two parts. The first part contains thorough analyses of the romance genre, the science fiction genre, and the latter’s subgenre dystopian fiction. The focus is on these genres, for the reason that the text in question, The Hunger Games, fuses these genres, and one of the objectives of this thesis is to place Young Adult dystopian fiction between the two seemingly conflicting genres, in order to show that these two genres have combined their characteristics. By examining these genres individually, I shall eventually demonstrate to what extent these genres merged together, and what the consequences have been in terms of role division and the distribution of power between the male and female characters. The second part of my thesis explores the portrayal of female characters in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, to research the extent to which certain characteristics of the romance genre and the strong female characters have invaded the science fiction and dystopian genre, and what the effects have been in this particular series. In other words, the second part will demonstrate how romance in The Hunger Games has resulted in the creation of a strong female character, Katniss Everdeen, who exerts agency and who is able to use her femininity in order to rebel against and change the government of Panem. This part consists of three chapters, all of which contain an analysis of one book of the trilogy. The three analyses will show how the female protagonist in the series has obtained agency by embracing her own femininity, which has been made possible by the addition of important characteristics of the romance genre, and how this change in agency, created by the combination of the two genres, enables her to fight against and bring down the totalitarian government, and create a better place for all Panem’s citizens.Show less
Prosody and structure are important cues for infants when they are learning a language. In this thesis, I investigated which of these two cues infants of seven months old find more salient. A Head...Show moreProsody and structure are important cues for infants when they are learning a language. In this thesis, I investigated which of these two cues infants of seven months old find more salient. A Head-Turn Preference procedure was used in both Experiment 1a and Experiment 1b to see whether infants found an inconsistent prosody pattern or inconsistent structure pattern compared to a familiarized pattern more interesting. Results revealed that infants had a longer looking time for the inconsistent prosody pattern than for the inconsistent structure, which indicates a stronger interest for the inconsistent prosody. If infants have a novelty preference, which is commonly assumed, this would mean that infants rely more on prosodic cues than structural cues. Whether or not this is the case will be examined further in Experiment 2. Also the points of improvement for Experiment 1 and the design of how Experiment 2 is conducted are discussed.Show less
An analysis as to how people in Medieval looked at music and musicians in their society. Done by historical accounts and by looking at famous literary work from the period involving music and/or...Show moreAn analysis as to how people in Medieval looked at music and musicians in their society. Done by historical accounts and by looking at famous literary work from the period involving music and/or musicians; such as Beowulf, Sir Orfeo and the Canterbury Tales.Show less
This study focuses on the variation in pronunciation of 18 Dutch loanwords. These loanwords know variation in a vowel or consonant, or in their stress pattern. With the help of a questionnaire and...Show moreThis study focuses on the variation in pronunciation of 18 Dutch loanwords. These loanwords know variation in a vowel or consonant, or in their stress pattern. With the help of a questionnaire and wordlist, the varying pronunciation forms of these Dutch loanwords were analysed. By studying the origin of these loanwords, it became evident whether the donor language influenced the pronunciation. It became clear that French is the most influential donor language with regards to the pronunciation. Correlations with sex, age, region, educational level, and dialect proficiency were also studied to find any patterns. The social variables sex and educational level influenced the choices speakers made for a certain pronunciation form the most.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis aims to adduce new arguments to the discussion concerning the Italo-Celtic hypothesis from the nominal derivational morphology of the relevant languages. This is achieved by...Show moreThis thesis aims to adduce new arguments to the discussion concerning the Italo-Celtic hypothesis from the nominal derivational morphology of the relevant languages. This is achieved by systematically comparing the derivational morphology of the Italic and Celtic languages (predominantly Latin and Old Irish) with the aim of identifying morphological innovations that are possibly exclusive to Italic and Celtic. These shared innovations could then serve as arguments supporting the idea of an Italo-Celtic linguistic unity.Show less
De paper geeft een overzicht van het fenomeen shanzhai en intellectueel eigendomsrecht in China. Daarnaast gaat de paper in op intellectueel eigendomsrecht omtrent medicijnen. Ook wordt de...Show moreDe paper geeft een overzicht van het fenomeen shanzhai en intellectueel eigendomsrecht in China. Daarnaast gaat de paper in op intellectueel eigendomsrecht omtrent medicijnen. Ook wordt de geschiedenis van het zorgstelsel in China belicht. Dit alles geeft een beeld van de manier waarop shanzhai is ontstaan en dat het vooral in de geneesmiddelenindustrie belangrijk is het onderscheid te maken tussen 'shanzhai' en 'namaak'.Show less
I explain in my thesis that there is a reason to suggest that besides marriage and singles, also childless couples are affecting Japan's fertility negatively. In regard to these childless couples,...Show moreI explain in my thesis that there is a reason to suggest that besides marriage and singles, also childless couples are affecting Japan's fertility negatively. In regard to these childless couples, I try to answer the following question in my thesis: what factors influence Japanese childless married couples in their decision to remain childless, despite their wish to have children? Through making use of available statistics and insights of researchers like Higuchi, I conclude that from an economic/attitudinal perspective, it can be stated that the factors that influence Japanese childless married couples in their decision to remain childless, despite their wish to have children are varied. However, the vast majority of the respondents to surveys conducted by the IPSS, expressed that they are either too old, not healthy enough or physically restricted and therefore unable to have children. A smaller percentage of the respondents also expressed that it costs too much to raise and educate children. Based on these results I state that economists and politicians should improve fertility among childless couples by focusing on creating policies that financially support them during the early years of their employment. This will generate a satisfying environment for childless couples to have children while they are young. This way Japan’s fertility is likely to rise again.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
The main objective of this thesis is to tackle the key questions that arise when one becomes aware of the omnipresence and seemingly unrestricted polysemy of the Czech reflexive marker se/si. Do...Show moreThe main objective of this thesis is to tackle the key questions that arise when one becomes aware of the omnipresence and seemingly unrestricted polysemy of the Czech reflexive marker se/si. Do all its different functions have something in common? And why are its equivalents in languages like English and Dutch exploited to a much lesser degree? Building on insights and solutions offered both by Czech structural grammarians and scholars working within different functionally oriented frameworks of present-day linguistics such as linguistic typology and Construction Grammar, the thesis attempts to draw a coherent picture of the semantic network underlying the different functions of the marker and to set this picture in a historical and crosslinguistic context.Show less
Shale gas offers both big opportunities and big risks. This has resulted in a fierce debate in the EU over the past years which placed research in a central role. This thesis investigates whether...Show moreShale gas offers both big opportunities and big risks. This has resulted in a fierce debate in the EU over the past years which placed research in a central role. This thesis investigates whether oil and gas producers (OGPs) use research to manipulate the debate. Between June 2013 to March 2014 all public available research has been collected in a database for the use of this thesis. The reports are ranked in tiers, distinguishing between primary, secondary, quantitative and qualitative research. Consequently the current level of knowledge on shale gas is assessed and linked to the research coverage of the different topics. This analysis shows the nascent state of research and the general lack of consensus on virtually all issues. Furthermore, it is establishes that economic research offers the biggest potential for manipulation. This economic research will be analyzed based on the organizational features and the content of three primary reports in order to establish whether OGPs manipulated the outcome of the research. Using the theory of Value Sensitive Design it will be established how this manipulation could influence the decision making process on shale gas.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
open access
After the conquest of Egypt by the Roman Empire many political, cultural and social changes occurred. Egyptian society underwent a process of transformation that had already begun in the last few...Show moreAfter the conquest of Egypt by the Roman Empire many political, cultural and social changes occurred. Egyptian society underwent a process of transformation that had already begun in the last few centuries with the government of foreign rulers. These changes affected the identity of many individuals, both Egyptians and foreigners living in the country, and left their mark on the material culture. In this study is analysed for the first time the collection of Graeco-Roman stucco masks from the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden. These funerary masks become an object that provides valuable information about the ethnicity and identity of their owners, belonging to the new elites. This analysis will be performed by an indirect observation of the objects, through photographs. Stylistic comparisons will be made with other masks from other collections. These comparisons may provide evidences that in some cases can lead to the proposal of relative dating. At the same time, this analysis will put forward interpretations about the possible identity of some of the masks’ owners.Show less
Media bepalen voor een groot gedeelte hoe wij grote bedrijven zien en hoe wij denken over deze bedrijven (Rosson & Brooks 2004, Hellgren et al. 2002). Met deze berichtgeving hebben ze niet...Show moreMedia bepalen voor een groot gedeelte hoe wij grote bedrijven zien en hoe wij denken over deze bedrijven (Rosson & Brooks 2004, Hellgren et al. 2002). Met deze berichtgeving hebben ze niet alleen invloed op het imago van het bedrijf, maar indirect ook op de identiteit ervan. Persvoorlichters ontvangen feedback op hun zorgvuldig gecreëerde imago via de media (Grandy & Mavin 2011). Accountants hebben de afgelopen jaren te maken gehad met een groot aantal schandalen waarbij werknemers samen met de bedrijven waarvan ze de boeken controleerden de regels overtraden om er zelf beter van te worden. Dit heeft invloed gehad op het imago van accountant Deloitte. In maart 2012 moest daar zelfs de hoogste baas aftreden omdat hij belangen had in een bedrijf dat Deloitte als onafhankelijk accountant zou moeten controleren. In de periode rond het aftreden van Meeter zijn veel meer schandalen aan het licht gekomen. Het is moeilijk om te zien of er voor zijn aftreden anders over Deloitte en haar accountants werd gesproken dan daarvoor, maar het is duidelijk dat journalisten al deze schandalen telkens weer achter elkaar zetten en zo een soort trend lieten zien waardoor accountancy wordt geportretteerd als beroep waar het werk wordt gezien als moreel verwerpelijk, als dirty work (Grandy & Mavin 2011). Het is niet duidelijk of al deze schandalen echt als trend kunnen worden gezien, zeker het aftreden van Meeter lijkt eerder een vergissing dan een bewuste overtreding. Accountants worden in berichtgeving over Deloitte geportretteerd als commercieel en gericht op winst (Carnegie & Napier 2010) en regelmatig ook als frauderen accountants en witte-boorden criminelen (Minkes & Minkes 2008). De taken die niets met accountancy te maken hebben, blijven buiten deze typering, ook al gaat het om hetzelfde bedrijf. Als er alleen gekeken wordt naar de accountancytak van Deloitte, wordt het stigma van accountancy als dirty work over de volle breedte van het beroep toegepast. Omdat niet alle accountants fraude plegen en omdat het ook regelmatig gaat om een verdachtmaking in plaats van een veroordeling, gaat de typering van accountancy als dirty work niet diep (Kreiner et al. 2006).Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
closed access
In 2011 an unprecedented wave of protests erupted from Tunisia and soon spread throughout the Arab World. While the initial euphoria was backed by the revolutions in Tunis and Cairo, the course of...Show moreIn 2011 an unprecedented wave of protests erupted from Tunisia and soon spread throughout the Arab World. While the initial euphoria was backed by the revolutions in Tunis and Cairo, the course of events in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and ultimately Syria began to highlight that a romantic view of revolutions seems out of place. The two kingdoms of Jordan and Morocco have also witnessed significant protests in 2011 especially. However, these did not lead to a revolution – in fact, this was not their goal. The vast majority of those rallying in the streets demanded reforms of Jordan's and Morocco's political institutions, including the parliament, the electoral law and the constitution. This development, combined with the resilience of the Gulf monarchies (with Bahrain as a critical case), has once again brought the monarchy debate back into the limelight. The major underlying question here is does monarchy matter? Facing protests, both Abdullah II and Muhammad VI responded by reforming institutions. In Jordan, the constitution was amended and elections were held. In Morocco, the people could decide on a new constitution by means of a referendum and early elections were held. While ostensibly giving in to the demands of the protesters, these changes did not challenge the status quo but left Abdullah II and Muhammad VI with their almost omnipotent power. From a theoretical perspective this seems particularly interesting. Different approaches, stressing the impact of rentierism, foreign support or family participation, have attempted to explain the survival of monarchies in the Arab World over the past decades. The euphoria of the 'third wave of democratization' (Huntington) and the 'end of history' (Fukuyama) then transcended into scholarly publications during the 1990s, fostering the idea of institutions, once in place, contributing to a gradual process of democratization. During the second half of the 2000s scholars then began to realize that such effects failed to materialize in many cases. In fact, incumbents seemed to have employed democratic rhetoric and (re-)installed parliaments as well as elections while at the same time limiting their power and impact. In Jordan and Morocco these institutions also included another crucial function to Abdullah II and Muhammad VI respectively: they provided an intermediary level between king and people that can be criticized. In order to underpin this analysis, several primary sources for selected key dates since 2011 were taken into account besides the secondary literature. For Jordan, speeches of Abdullah II were considered as well as the text of the constitution, seeing that the latter was subject to change in 2011. Moreover, the coverage of the pro-monarchy newspaper Al-Dustour, the independent Ammon News and the country's main political opposition, the Islamic Action Front IAF, was analyzed. In a similar fashion, the statements of Muhammad VI and the kingdom's constitution were looked at for Morocco. Furthermore, the pro-monarchy newspaper Al-Sabah and the independent Al-Masa' were part of the analysis as well as Morocco's Islamist political opposition party, the Parti de la Justice et du Développement PJD, and the 20 February Movement, a youth group that was founded in early 2011. As the analysis suggests, the discourse about changes in the political system that erupted again in 2011 was almost entirely directed at reforming political institutions. Across the board official statements, pro-monarchy newspapers, but also independent and oppositional groups, made use of a technical language that focused on reforming the parliament, the electoral law or the constitution. These actors also approved the changes made respectively, seeing a solution and a step forward in them. Here, only little demands for a continued reform were raised. All these actors seemed to operate within the boundaries defined by the palace. The example of the 20 February Movement in Morocco stressed how deviating from this public reform discourse can result in selective repression and crackdown. The monarchies Jordan and Morocco have dodged the Arab Spring by allowing and engaging in institutional reforms. Although constitutions were amended or changed and elections were held the power balance has not changed. Accordingly, these institutions have helped Abdullah II and Muhammad VI to maintain their hold onto power rather than lowering it. Such an understanding of political institutions challenges the idea of them ultimately bringing about democratic change. Moreover, with regards to the monarchy debate the findings suggest that such a political setup, in which institutions serve as intermediary between king and people, allows the kings to remain seemingly distant from daily politics. It appears more difficult for presidents or prime minister, as heads of states in republics, to act in a similar fashion as they are by definition presiding the government.Show less
