Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
Metaphors effectively explain a complex (scientific) topic in terms familiar to the non-expert audience. However, metaphors also affect attitude. This thesis investigated the effects that the path...Show moreMetaphors effectively explain a complex (scientific) topic in terms familiar to the non-expert audience. However, metaphors also affect attitude. This thesis investigated the effects that the path metaphor and the wildfire metaphor have on the personal control people experience over the further course of the COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, participants received a text about the ongoing yet hidden threat of COVID-19, in which a new outbreak was either described as a wrongly taken path, as a wildfire flaring up, or without a metaphor. To measure the experienced amount of personal control, the participants were asked about their feelings of fear and control of the virus and the measures, and how they would bring these feelings into practice by reacting to multiple scenarios involving the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Statistical testing revealed no significant effect of the metaphors on the participants’ responses, potentially due to (amongst others) the time frame of the research. It is necessary to research in which circumstances a metaphor does and does not affect attitude. Then, it can be determined how and when a metaphor can best be employed in daily life to influence the hearer’s perception of a message, for example in the contexts of climate change, disease, and politics.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
The present thesis will deal with the proto-Indo-European anaphoric and relative pronouns, and their possible shared origin. The discussion will be based on a large repertoire of relevant lexical...Show moreThe present thesis will deal with the proto-Indo-European anaphoric and relative pronouns, and their possible shared origin. The discussion will be based on a large repertoire of relevant lexical entries from the whole Indo-European family, to reconstruct the most accurate pronominal paradigm and its phonology. This overhauled paradigm will be studied to extrapolate a relative chronology that will help to clarify the steps of its creation in pre-Proto-Indo-European and its differentiation between the relative and anaphoric pronoun. In the final chapters, the anaphoric pronoun will be analyzed under the lenses of the ergative theory and will be compared with the verbal augment, to determine whether they derive from the same hypothetical deictic particle. Finally, the pre-Proto-Indo-European reconstruction of the anaphoric pronoun will be compared with the Proto-Uralic pronominal repertoire to determine whether it was inherited from Proto-Indo-Uralic.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
2023-01-31T00:00:00Z
All Tukanoan languages have gender markers and classifiers, and both can be reconstructed to the proto-language to some degree. In this thesis, I provide a reconstruction of the development of the...Show moreAll Tukanoan languages have gender markers and classifiers, and both can be reconstructed to the proto-language to some degree. In this thesis, I provide a reconstruction of the development of the classifier system in the Tukanoan family, where I argue that it developed out of the older gender system morpho-syntactically, but that many of the synchronically found classifiers can morphologically be analysed as grammaticalized nouns. My arguments for this, as elaborated in this thesis, are as follows: i) all Tukanoan languages have similar gender markers which can probably be reconstructed for Proto-Tukanoan (Chacon 2021; in prep.); ii) the gender markers seem to have undergone grammaticalization at an early stage in the family; iii) many classifiers in the family are language-internal developments or can only be reconstructed for a sub-branch; iv) a few classifiers are widely found in the family and can be reconstructed for the proto-language, but these seem to be developments of either Proto-Tukanoan gender markers or originally complex forms. I analyse these complex forms as consisting of a gender marker in combination with some other marker. I furthermore provide an analysis of the development of the Proto-Tukanoan gender system, based on Chacon (2021; in prep), where I suggest that some of its morphological material may indicate borrowings from an Arawakan source. Lastly, by contributing to the reconstruction of the Proto-Tukanoan classifier system, this thesis may contribute to a reconstruction of classifiers in the wider area, as classifiers are a pervasive feature in non-Tukanoan languages as well, where the relatively gender-like morpho-syntactic characteristics of classifiers have been the subject of much discussion (e.g. Payne 1987; Aikhenvald 2000a, 10; Grinevald 2000, 81-82, 87).Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
The Slavic proto-language was subject to a tendency commonly referred to as the “Opening of Syllables”, which is somehow connected to a number of sound changes that all had an opening effect, e.g....Show moreThe Slavic proto-language was subject to a tendency commonly referred to as the “Opening of Syllables”, which is somehow connected to a number of sound changes that all had an opening effect, e.g. nasalization and loss of various coda consonants. The nature of the phenomenon is not quite understood and no language-internal explanations have proven to be successful. This thesis explores the possibility that the Opening of Syllables was due to contact, specifically with the (unknown) language of the Avars, spoken in and around Pannonia during the Migration Period. In order to find out, the relative and absolute chronology of syllable-opening sound changes is examined and mapped onto the spread of the Slavs and the Avars, and the sound changes themselves are compared to possible phonological traits of Avar. Based on this it is argued that contact with Avar was possibly responsible for only two sound changes (monophthongization and the certain developments of consonant clusters), but that this was not the result of a contact-induced tendency toward open syllables. In general, the Opening of Syllables as a whole was not induced by contact with Avar or with any other language.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
closed access
In order to formally explain consonant-tone interactions in Element Theory, it has been assumed for many years that tone can be represented on the segmental tier with the elements |H| and |L|....Show moreIn order to formally explain consonant-tone interactions in Element Theory, it has been assumed for many years that tone can be represented on the segmental tier with the elements |H| and |L|. However, this assumption has never been fully developed within Element Theory. When one attempts to represent complex tonal inventories, it immediately becomes apparent that there are fundamental representational issues. For example, it is unclear how to generate more than two tonal contrasts or how to represent contour tones on short vowels. In this thesis, I consider how these issues could be solved while maintaining Element Theory’s central principles. The two most crucial ideas developed in this thesis are that tone needs to be represented by unheaded elements and that information on the tonal tier is visible during phonetic implementation. With these assumptions, |H| and |L| can freely appear within the same elemental expression and tones do not necessarily need to be specified at the segmental level. The result is a flexible representational system for tone with a restricted but sufficient generative capacity.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
The question of the genealogical proximity of Italic and Celtic has been an issue in Indo-European linguistics for a long time. Whereas most previous studies have looked at the innovations possibly...Show moreThe question of the genealogical proximity of Italic and Celtic has been an issue in Indo-European linguistics for a long time. Whereas most previous studies have looked at the innovations possibly shared by Italic and Celtic from a Proto-Indo-European perspective, this work takes a more bottom-up approach by attempting to reconstruct (parts of) the Proto-Italo-Celtic language on the basis of the attested linguistic data in both branches’ daughter languages. The areas under focus are Italo-Celtic phonology and verbal morphology. As the Italo-Celtic reconstructions of both of these sub-systems of the language are substantially different for the systems traditionally reconstructed for Proto-Indo-European, I will argue that there is good reason to posit Italo-Celtic as a genetic unit that must have lasted for a substantial amount of time.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
2022-08-31T00:00:00Z
Research has shown that code-switching (CS) is morpho-syntactically constrained (e.g. Poplack, 1980; Myers-Scotton, 1993; MacSwan, 1999; Lipski, 2019). The fact that phonology and syntax interface...Show moreResearch has shown that code-switching (CS) is morpho-syntactically constrained (e.g. Poplack, 1980; Myers-Scotton, 1993; MacSwan, 1999; Lipski, 2019). The fact that phonology and syntax interface in bilingual performance (Bullock, 2009) has been largely neglected in CS research. It is likely that the interface between prosody and morphosyntax, and not merely morphosyntax alone, may play a role in constraining CS. However, the phonetic and phonological reflexes of CS remain relatively unexplored. This thesis aims to improve our understanding of prosodic constraints on CS by examining the speech from a Papiamento- Dutch conversation corpus (Gullberg, Indefrey & Muysken, 2004; 2009). This language pair is eminently suitable for a prosodic analysis because Papiamento has a tonal system with two level tones that interacts with lexical stress, and Dutch a different lexical system: with stress, without tone. I examined whether stress constrains CS in the nominal domain (Akinremi, 2016), and whether Papiamento tone constrains Dutch insertions (Zheng, 1997; Tuc, 2003). Furthermore, I examined whether speech rate in bilingual vs. unilingual utterances differ to add to the research on speech planning in CS (Johns & Steuck, 2021). My findings are that the stress of switched nouns does not constrain CS, but the stress of adjacent words might; Dutch insertions occur mostly in a context where the prosodic systems of Papiamento and Dutch coincide; and speech rate in bilingual vs. unilingual utterances does not significantly differ. I conclude that congruency in prosody facilitates CS and that CS does not inhibit speech planning. Taken together, my findings are compatible with the view that CS may be an opportunistic strategy that bilinguals use to aid speech planning as prosody in both languages openly contributes to production (Beatty-Martinez, Navarro-Torres & Dussias, 2020).Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
In Dutch, one can order a drink, denoted by a mass noun, using phrases such as: Ik will graag twee (glazen) rode wijn, "I would like two glasses of red wine". Interestingly, the usage of the...Show moreIn Dutch, one can order a drink, denoted by a mass noun, using phrases such as: Ik will graag twee (glazen) rode wijn, "I would like two glasses of red wine". Interestingly, the usage of the classifier, in this case glazen ‘glasses’, is not obligatory. Borer (2005) argues that such sentences, without classifiers, are possible in a register she calls Restaurantese. This construction, however, is not possible with all adjective-noun combinations. Therefore, this study proposes two main hypotheses, similar to van Erkel (2020). First, one could argue that the acceptability of these configurations depends on the syntactic classification of the adjective. Second, one could argue that it depends on the relation between the adjective and the noun, which I refer to with the term combinability. There are different approaches one could take to define combinability. This study takes three different approaches: the collocation of the adjective and the noun; the familiarity of the combination; the chance one could find a combination on a menu, which I call the Restaurantese reading. Through different surveys, this study has shown that the syntactic level of the adjectives does not influence the acceptability of sentences in which you order drinks in Dutch. The combinability of the adjective-noun pair, on the other hand, plays a large role in the acceptability. This effect is, remarkably, not restricted to Restaurantese expressions. By comparing adjective-noun pairs that were ranking differently amongst the three approaches for combinability, I show that the Restaurantese reading is the best indicator for the acceptability of different adjective-noun pairs. Then I discuss the connection between the sentences with and without the overt classifier. I argue that the configurations without the overt classifier contain a covert classifier that introduces countability and the portion needed to express such sentences. Lastly, I note that the acceptability of these configurations is not set in stone. It is hugely dependent on cultural history and the usage of language by all its language users on the one hand, and one’s personal background and world knowledge on the other hand.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
2023-08-31T00:00:00Z
In the West, discourse on and about migrants is often characterised by inclusive and exclusive discursive practices that contribute to constructing an “us” vs “them” dichotomy. In Italy, as well as...Show moreIn the West, discourse on and about migrants is often characterised by inclusive and exclusive discursive practices that contribute to constructing an “us” vs “them” dichotomy. In Italy, as well as in Europe, the rise of right-wing and populist parties has advanced an increasingly xenophobic and exclusionary rhetoric. Discriminatory ideologies are not innate, but they are produced and reproduced in society through discourse. The present thesis aims to uncover such discriminatory and exclusionary discourses and to understand how the dichotomous “us” and “them” relationship is constructed in a selection of Italian newspapers. This study investigates the discursive strategies employed in migrant representation in right-wing Il Giornale (IG) and centrist Corriere della Sera (CS) drawing from a combination of theoretical and methodological critical discourse study (CDS) frameworks, namely Wodak’s (2001) Discourse-Historical approach, van Leeuwen’s (1996) Social Actor approach, and KhosraviNik’s (2010) systematisation of CDS analytical categories. A final total number of twenty-six newspaper articles were qualitatively analysed. The study found that topics such as “arrivals”, “landings”, and “irregular arrivals” are particularly salient in both newspapers. The findings fit in with macro-level discourse on migration in Italy (and the EU) as well as with their migration policies that are almost exclusively focused on managing irregular arrivals. Amongst the most common discursive strategies identified in both newspapers are aggregation (presenting migrants in large numbers), objectivation (naming migrants with terminology that lacks the semantic feature “human”) and classification (naming social actors on the basis of their ethnicity, e.g. Tunisians vs Italians). Furthermore, Il Giornale was found to engage in explicitly anti-immigrant arguments drawing on topoi of financial burden, threat, law, and number.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis investigates German-English and Dutch-English codeswitching in conversations between strangers. The aim was to grasp speakers’ perceived norms towards using English in German and Dutch...Show moreThis thesis investigates German-English and Dutch-English codeswitching in conversations between strangers. The aim was to grasp speakers’ perceived norms towards using English in German and Dutch speech. In order to do so, this study draws comparisons between German and Dutch speakers’ codeswitching, as well as compares codeswitching towards strangers to previous findings on codeswitching amongst members of specific communities. The dataset consisted of spoken data from the German and Dutch version of the TV programme First Dates. Over 600 codeswitches from 74 German and 99 Dutch speakers were analysed. The analysis examined structural elements (e.g. word category) as well as semantic elements of the switch (translation equivalence). In addition to this, the analysis considered speakers’ sociolinguistic features (age, gender, etc.) to see how widespread codeswitching is amongst various speaker types. The findings include that speakers do not engage in “creative” switching (i.e. new formations regardless of standard English grammar) while communicating with strangers, in contrast to codeswitching between community members. Overall, Dutch speakers switched more often and the word categories of switches were more diverse than German speakers. This is likely due to the higher level of English exposure in the Netherlands. Moreover, accommodation in codeswitching (i.e. speakers adjust their behaviour either to emphasise similarities or emphasise differences) was correlated with whether partners wanted a second date. This suggests that speakers managed their codeswitching to moderate social distance. The use of codeswitching was not limited to specific groups (e.g. youth speakers); rather, the majority of the speakers used English expressively and functionally. These findings imply that codeswitching is generally perceived as acceptable in German and Dutch.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
The verbal system of Old Irish is characterized by the existence of two sets of verbal endings, which are used in complementary distribution in a number of moods and tenses inherited from Proto...Show moreThe verbal system of Old Irish is characterized by the existence of two sets of verbal endings, which are used in complementary distribution in a number of moods and tenses inherited from Proto-Indo-European. The distinction between these so-called absolute and conjunct endings is found only in the Celtic branch of Proto-Indo-European, most notably in Old Irish. The PIE origins of the two sets of endings continues to be obscure, although many ideas have been published over the years. The goal of this thesis is to determine which of these scenarios best explains the creation of two sets of verbal endings, through a critical assessment of the most important literature written on this problem in the last century and a half.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
Although most ancient Indo-European languages share the same grammatical three-gender system of masculine, feminine and neuter gender, the lack of a feminine gender in the archaic Anatolian branch...Show moreAlthough most ancient Indo-European languages share the same grammatical three-gender system of masculine, feminine and neuter gender, the lack of a feminine gender in the archaic Anatolian branch suggests that development of this gender is a relatively recent development in "Core PIE". This thesis investigates how such a development may have come about. I analyse the attested functions of the suffixes often connected to the rise of the feminine gender: *-eh2, *-ih2 and *-sor. Moreover, I consider the emergence of the PIE feminine from a typological perspective and compare it to gender developments in other language families. On the basis of morphological and typological considerations, I suggest that not the traditional feminine suffix *-eh2, but rather the "secondary" suffix *-ih2 played a crucial role in the emergence of the PIE feminine gender.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
closed access
This thesis traces the lexical influence of Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955-c. 1010) in two twelfth-century English translations: Ralph d'Escures' homily on the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, and...Show moreThis thesis traces the lexical influence of Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955-c. 1010) in two twelfth-century English translations: Ralph d'Escures' homily on the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, and Honorius Augustodunensis' Elucidarium.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
It has been observed that pre-PIE *d sometimes turns into PIE *h₁, also referred to as the Kortlandt effect, but much is still unclear about the occurrence and nature of this change. In this thesis...Show moreIt has been observed that pre-PIE *d sometimes turns into PIE *h₁, also referred to as the Kortlandt effect, but much is still unclear about the occurrence and nature of this change. In this thesis, I provide an elaborate discussion aimed at establishing the conditions and a phonetic explanation for the development. All words that have thus far been proposed as instances of the *d > *h₁ change will be investigated more closely, leading to the conclusion that the Kortlandt effect is a type of debuccalisation due to dental dissimilation when *d is followed by a consonant. Typological parallels for this type of change, as well as evidence from IE daughter languages, enable us to identify it as a shift from pre-glottalised voiceless stop to glottal stop.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
The construction of signs in the linguistic landscape (henceforth LL) of a given territory is driven by different reasons, and it can reflect upon an area's cultural, social, political, and...Show moreThe construction of signs in the linguistic landscape (henceforth LL) of a given territory is driven by different reasons, and it can reflect upon an area's cultural, social, political, and economic circumstances. The COVID-19 pandemic that influenced all countries in the year 2020 has kept a common and stable topic for many signs, which provides a unique opportunity to conduct a comparative LL study. The current study investigates COVID-19 related signs displayed on public transport, shop windows, city noticeboards, inside museums and churches in France, Italy, and the Netherlands. By conducting a mixed-method comparative study in three European countries that were (and still are) affected by the pandemic to different degrees, this study contributes to detecting how their multilingual status, identities, cultural values, and socio-political differences are constructed through a combination of linguistic and visual/multimodal representations, using LL signs as a relevant dataset. The data include 766 COVID-19 related signs collected from July to September 2020, in densely populated, urban areas of France, Italy, and the Netherlands. The quantitative and qualitative results show that monolingual ideologies prevail in France, in line with the country's long-lasting "one nation, one language" policy known as "the Toubon Law". The French signs heavily emphasized the importance of following the rules for the sake of safety and public health as well as illustrated the Parisian identity as a fashion hub. France also had the highest number of multimodal signs, showing a greater focus on visual representation to get important messages across during the pandemic. Italy featured a fair amount of English influence on LL signs, which may reflect the importance of tourism to economic recovery in the summer of 2020. A trademark of the Italian data were the many unique and humorous signs, which, alongside the low percentage of government-created signs used during COVID-19, reflect the cultural values of the country (use of humour in response to adverse conditions, preference for individual efforts, distrust of government). The Netherlands featured the highest proportion of English influence in LL signs, in line with the country's high proficiency in English. Minority languages spoken by large immigrant communities were better represented in the Netherlands, showcasing its linguistic and ethnic diversity. Solidarity, collective action and cooperation were emphasized in many COVID-19 related signs, illustrating Dutch cultural values and the fact that people in the Netherlands may have more trust in their government compared with France and Italy.Show less
