This thesis aims to argue that the child’s perspective elicits sympathy, empathy, and humor in order to evoke moral criticism in Henry James’ What Maisie Knew and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird...Show moreThis thesis aims to argue that the child’s perspective elicits sympathy, empathy, and humor in order to evoke moral criticism in Henry James’ What Maisie Knew and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. The dissertation consists of three chapters. The first chapter focusses on how the young girl’s perspective evokes moral criticism through sympathy in James’ Maisie. Through a close reading of the novel, this section argues that the child’s point of view brings forth sympathy through a representation of the protagonist’s beleaguered benevolence and that this feeling, in turn, is amplified by the young girl’s growing awareness. In contrast, chapter two provides an analysis of the moral criticism induced as a result of the reader’s empathy with Scout in Mockingbird. The segment displays how the child’s perspective invites the reader to empathize with the young protagonist. Furthermore, it presents how Scout’s moral development highlights the amorality of the Maycomb community. The final chapter contains an exploration of the satirical sense in both James’ Maisie and Lee’s Mockingbird. The chapter analyzes how the young girl’s perspective elicits irony and thereby criticism of characters in the novels.Show less
Mother tongue interference is suspected to be the cause of the disappointing results in writing exams of Dutch ESL students in their graduating secondary education year. Research confirms that L1...Show moreMother tongue interference is suspected to be the cause of the disappointing results in writing exams of Dutch ESL students in their graduating secondary education year. Research confirms that L1 interference could be a problem since it mostly ensues in cognate languages, such as Dutch and English. As L2 learners are often unaware of their interference errors the problem can be persistent. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine to what extent and in what ways L1 interference is of influence on the writings of the Dutch ESL students. Therefore, two sub-questions were formulated: “What are the possible mother tongue interference mistakes for Dutch learners of English?” and “What is are the most frequent mistakes made by Dutch ESL students in HAVO 5?” An error analysis of the students’ writings was carried out, using a coding tool developed for this research. The tool, based on relevant literature on L1 interference and error analysis, provides an elaborate overview of possible Dutch interference. The major findings of this analysis are in the first place that the majority of the found errors are interference related revealing wrong word as the most frequently occurring error, however affecting all aspects of language on both a grammatical as well as textual level. In the second place, the data also show a teachers’ preference to focus on a selection of error patterns to mark. Finally, the analysis confirms the correlation between the nature of errors and the nature of assignments. Future research could focus on the most occurring errors. Moreover, the developed analysis tool can be used for future error analysis.Show less
Subtitlers often find themselves choosing between adhering to subtitling constraints and improving the target audience's understanding of the source material. In other words, they make choices...Show moreSubtitlers often find themselves choosing between adhering to subtitling constraints and improving the target audience's understanding of the source material. In other words, they make choices between condensation and accessibility. This thesis examines how references to political discourse are translated in Netflix's series House of Cards, from English to Dutch. These references were categorized by using a translation taxonomy (Pedersen, 2005/2011). This categorization process demonstrated how the Official Equivalent translation strategy can be problematic, and a tendency to choose (cultural) accessibility over condensation in general.Show less
This thesis explores gender in The Miller's Tale through active speech and verbs used to describe this speech. It also looks at how closely The Miller's Tale adheres to the conventions of the...Show moreThis thesis explores gender in The Miller's Tale through active speech and verbs used to describe this speech. It also looks at how closely The Miller's Tale adheres to the conventions of the fabliau genre as a way to explain genderShow less
Dental fricatives are amongst the rarest speech sounds in the natural languages found in the world (Jekiel, 2012) and have disappeared from most Germanic languages (Laker, 2014). However, the...Show moreDental fricatives are amongst the rarest speech sounds in the natural languages found in the world (Jekiel, 2012) and have disappeared from most Germanic languages (Laker, 2014). However, the standard varieties of English still contain both the voiced and voiceless dental fricatives as phonemes. Although these phonemes are still common in e.g. Received Pronunciation (RP) and General American (GA) (Ladefoged & Maddieson, 1996), the dental fricatives are often replaced in other, non-standard varieties through processes such as th-fronting. The phenomenon of these contemporary changes in articulation has been studied, though a large portion of the research has been based mostly on sociolinguistic descriptions and discussing the phenomenon from this field’s paradigm (see e.g. Kerswill, 2003; Stuart-Smith et al., 2013) without thoroughly discussing other potential underlying phenomena that could cause the variation and change of dental fricatives in dialects: phonetic and phonological reasons, as an addition to sociolinguistic explanations, could provide a greater understanding of the factors of speech sound variation. This thesis explores some of the various ways the subfields of linguistics, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and phonetics, can work together to provide insights into the underlying factors influencing sound changes. By analysing the scientific literature concerning dental fricatives, the tentative conclusion was reached that, as dental fricatives do not have much phonemic function and are difficult to acquire and most Germanic languages have lost the dental fricatives, Britain could soon follow, especially if th-fronting loses its social stigma.Show less
In the genre of Contemporary Romance, there is a certain pattern of characterization of male and female protagonists that is reminiscent of the medieval convention of Courtly Love. Characteristics...Show moreIn the genre of Contemporary Romance, there is a certain pattern of characterization of male and female protagonists that is reminiscent of the medieval convention of Courtly Love. Characteristics of traditional medieval romantic narratives include idolatry of the female protagonist, who oftentimes fulfills a passive role despite her idealization. While the role of female characters in Contemporary Romance novels has become exponentially more active, certain popular characteristics might be traced back directly to their medieval ancestor.Show less
This BA thesis considers the difficulties of assessing translated song texts, as there are few theories suitable for the assessment of this type of translation. Three Dutch translations from the...Show moreThis BA thesis considers the difficulties of assessing translated song texts, as there are few theories suitable for the assessment of this type of translation. Three Dutch translations from the musical All Shook Up were compared to the original English musical lyrics using Peter Low’s Pentathlon Principle. Based on this Principle, it was concluded that most lines develop problems in several of the categories at once, meaning that there is not one specific category in the Dutch translations that is most problematic. Furthermore, it was concluded that the Pentathlon Principle can be useful in the assessment of existing song translations as it provides a clear understanding of which category is flawed. However, it has not become clear how to properly apply the Pentathlon Principle in practice.Show less
This thesis establishes the origin of Stephen Fry's accent by applying research into his use of intrusive and linking consonants. /r/, /j/ and /w/ are researched and analyzed using John Harris'...Show moreThis thesis establishes the origin of Stephen Fry's accent by applying research into his use of intrusive and linking consonants. /r/, /j/ and /w/ are researched and analyzed using John Harris' work as a baselineShow less
This thesis examines two approaches to ellipsis in order to gain further insight into the behaviour of clausal ellipsis when targeting constituents. In their recent article, Ott and Struckmeier ...Show moreThis thesis examines two approaches to ellipsis in order to gain further insight into the behaviour of clausal ellipsis when targeting constituents. In their recent article, Ott and Struckmeier (2018) advocate the usefulness of German modal particles (MPs) as a test to show selective targeting in swiping, in contrast to the generally accepted unselective move-and-delete approach of ellipsis argued by Merchant (2001). This thesis adopts Ott and Struckmeier’s argument in order to determine whether the interaction between R-pronouns and MPs in clausal ellipsis in Dutch, also known as sweeping, results in evidence supporting selective targeting of constituents in the clause. This investigation was done via an acceptability judgment task, completed by 162 native speakers of Dutch and Flemish. Comparing acceptability scores of differing syntactic configurations shows that ellipsis does seem to target selectively, as MPs are demonstrated to be resistant to movement and are allowed as remnants in the ellipsis site. Further research into Dutch sweeping constructions thus seems to be advisable.Show less
This thesis presents a comparative analysis of Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House and the 2018 Netflix TV series adaptation by director Mike Flanagan based on the interpretive...Show moreThis thesis presents a comparative analysis of Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House and the 2018 Netflix TV series adaptation by director Mike Flanagan based on the interpretive-focused theoretical approach within the field of film adaptation studies. The main argument is that as the result of the change in narrative structure, the TV series steps away from the individual psychological Gothic with Eleanor as its primary subject, and instead moves towards an intersubjective exploration of trauma and loss of the Crain family members.Show less
Dr Watson is usually seen as Sherlock Holmes's less intelligent helper. However, Watson adds more to the "Sherlock Holmes" canon than one might expect because of the twisted views created by...Show moreDr Watson is usually seen as Sherlock Holmes's less intelligent helper. However, Watson adds more to the "Sherlock Holmes" canon than one might expect because of the twisted views created by Hollywood movies. Watson is a unique, likeable and round character whose imperfections help provide a contrast between him and Holmes. Close reading analysis has shown that Watson’s presence is important to the stories (especially The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes), as it adds dimension and depth as well as a close connection to the reader. The variety in Watson's character is shown by his ability to change Holmes, but also by his allowance to be changed by Holmes. Watson is the only character in the "Sherlock Holmes" canon to have multiple roles (narrator and character), which makes him a unique character.Show less
This study focuses on the way Spanish ESL speakers pronunce the English phonemes /v/ and /w/. It parts from the hypothesis that the issue starts with language interference from the speakers’ mother...Show moreThis study focuses on the way Spanish ESL speakers pronunce the English phonemes /v/ and /w/. It parts from the hypothesis that the issue starts with language interference from the speakers’ mother tongue (Ellis, 2008). In order to find whether the mispronunciation comes from the mother tongue, the two phonetic systems of English and Spanish were analysed in relation to /v/ and /w/. By doing so, the results showed some overlap between both language systems and possible language transfer. Consequently, the speech of five participants was analysed through two tasks to see whether the theory matched the practice. This research concludes with the statement that indeed there is language transfer at stake, in addition to possible overgeneralization of English rules. These results show the relevance for English teachers of ESL students to spend more time and give more attention to raising awareness of the manner of pronunciation of these phonemes. This can be done by showing the different environments the phonemes can be found and how they can be realized respectively.Show less
