The study investigates conditionals in Chinese within the framework of English conditional construction, developed by Sweetser and others. Its central concern is to find out in what ways Chinese...Show moreThe study investigates conditionals in Chinese within the framework of English conditional construction, developed by Sweetser and others. Its central concern is to find out in what ways Chinese conditional construction differs from the English one. The study is situated in a Chinese diplomatic discourse. Based on a qualitative analysis, it is found that four main forms of Chinese conditionals occur in the corpus in a way that might be influenced by the strategic way of delivering information in the discourse. Meanwhile, the contrast between Chinese conditionals and English conditionals has been concluded, regarding syntactic differences. This study sheds light on the cross-culture use of conditionals and offers valuable suggestions for further research into this domain.Show less
The current report is an examination of language and identity in the context of Brussels. Brussels is sociolinguistically interesting as an official bilingual city with great diversity in languages...Show moreThe current report is an examination of language and identity in the context of Brussels. Brussels is sociolinguistically interesting as an official bilingual city with great diversity in languages and cultures. Theoretical notions of language attitude, accommodation and social identity are linked in the multilingual context of Brussels. To investigate a possible relation between language and identity, the language choice preferences of speakers of Dutch are mapped, as well as identifications they make on different levels. The link between language choice and identification is examined by investigating three small groups of speakers of Dutch in Brussels. An attitudinal online survey, expert interviews and a rapid and anonymous survey offer data that provide insights in the language, and identifications the speakers make. Qualitative analyses imply that speakers of Dutch in Brussels show a tendency to be flexible towards language switch and being addressed in another language. The Dutch language tends not to be a distinctive feature to the speakers’ identity, but multilingualism and positive traits attributed to multilingualism are part of the identity of the speakers of Dutch in Brussels.Show less