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
Newspapers all around the world have been reporting on the COVID-19 epidemic very frequently. Every newspaper however, has constructed their own narrative on the crisis, as well as on how the...Show moreNewspapers all around the world have been reporting on the COVID-19 epidemic very frequently. Every newspaper however, has constructed their own narrative on the crisis, as well as on how the People's Republic of China dealt with it. This thesis will show how "The Guardian" and the "People's Daily" have each constructed their own distinct narratives on the COVID-19 epidemic in China.Show less
Background. Anger is experienced in various mental disorders. Based on increased mental health problems in students and the adversity of the coronavirus pandemic, (1) the relations between anger,...Show moreBackground. Anger is experienced in various mental disorders. Based on increased mental health problems in students and the adversity of the coronavirus pandemic, (1) the relations between anger, depression, anxiety, stress, and being occupied with COVID-19 were explored. As traits predict interpersonal events and states identify events under situational control, it was investigated (2) if baseline trait anger predicted average state anger during a period of self-isolation to test if anger levels were determined by general tendencies, and (3) if trait and average state anger differed within and between men and women to test if the groups were affected differently by situational factors. Methods. (1) Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) data was collected from 79 undergraduates from Dutch universities, with surveys prompted via smartphone four times daily for 14 days. Contemporaneous, temporal, and between-subjects networks were computed. (2) In a multiple regression analysis, average EMA state anger was regressed on trait anger while controlling for gender, age, depression, anxiety, and stress. (3) A mixed-design analysis of covariance included standardized type of anger as a within-factor and gender as a between-factor while controlling for differences in mental health. Results. (1) Contemporaneously, anger was positively associated with irritability, feeling nervous and anhedonia. Temporally, anger and irritability positively predicted each other. Anger positively predicted difficulty to relax and itself. Between-subjects, anger was positively associated with irritability and feeling nervous but negatively with being occupied with COVID-19. (2) Trait anger did not significantly predict average EMA anger, whereas the covariate stress did. (3) Despite significantly lower trait anger compared to women, men displayed significantly increased average EMA anger in relation to their trait levels. Trait and average EMA anger did not differ within women. Conclusion. EMA anger was persistently related to stress, less likely to be the source or recipient of activation compared to other constructs, not strongly linked to trait, and increased in relation to trait levels only in the male group. Differences between our healthy participants and a clinical sample encourage an investigation of anger in phase transitions towards psychopathology and its potentially adaptive effects in healthy individuals.Show less
The present study aims to investigate a possible relationship between perceived stress and missing data. Respondents were asked to answer a series of questionnaires (Baseline, Ecological momentary...Show moreThe present study aims to investigate a possible relationship between perceived stress and missing data. Respondents were asked to answer a series of questionnaires (Baseline, Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and post assessments) over the course of a 2-week period. One hundred undergraduate students between 18 to 48 years of age comprised the sample. The respondents were asked to complete four EMA questionnaires per day, for each day of the duration of the study. The results analysed were composed of the data from 84 of the respondents: 19 males, 64 females, and one person who did not identify their gender. The level of perceived stress was collected at baseline for each individual, and the evolution of stress level was analysed in relationship to the cumulative percentage of the amount of missing data; throughout the EMA period. To explore this relationship, two hypotheses were tested: stressed individuals have more missing data and women have more perceived stress in relation to the levels of missing data. The regression analysis between the level of perceived stress, gender and missing data held a non-significant p-value of 0.861. Concerning the exploratory research question: multiple stressors such as the burden created by the questionnaires and COVID-19 pandemic showed an influence on missing data. A positive relationship between stress created by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and missing data was found with F(5,78)=2.335, p= .050 indicating the impact of the pandemic on the respondent's compliance. In conclusion, the obtained results did not show any significant results between stress, gender and missing data. Consequently, both the hypotheses were rejected. Interestingly, the stress caused by the current pandemic might have influenced the amount of missing data. A peculiarity of the study was the co-occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic that might have influenced the results, and the level of perceived stress of the respondents. In the analysis and interpretation of the results it is necessary to take into consideration this particular situation and the impact on each individual’s daily life.Show less
Background: It is well established that social contact is related to mental health. Previous research has shown that the quantity and quality of social interactions are associated with the...Show moreBackground: It is well established that social contact is related to mental health. Previous research has shown that the quantity and quality of social interactions are associated with the development, course and severity of mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression. Less is known about the psychological effects of social contact during a pandemic. Method: The current study investigates the dynamic associations among offline social interactions, depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms in undergraduates from a Dutch university (N=79; 75.95% female; MAge =20.37) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) was used for the data collection. A short online questionnaire was prompted via smartphone four times a day for two consecutive weeks. Multilevel vector autoregressive models were used for the network analysis and centrality indices were calculated. Results: We found significant dynamic associations among the duration of offline social contact and depression symptoms only. The absence of pleasure was associated with less offline social interactions, and vice versa. Having nothing to look forward to was predictive of less offline social contact three hours later. Social contact scored the lowest on centrality indices in our sample. Conclusion: Altogether, we found the duration of offline social contact to be partially related to mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results, strengths and limitations are discussed. Examining the dynamic associations among mental health and social contact can provide novel insights into the development and maintenance of mental health issues.Show less
The statement “a picture tells a thousand words” is pretty often used.I want to find out if there is real value in this statement. In this thesis I will discuss the representations of images of the...Show moreThe statement “a picture tells a thousand words” is pretty often used.I want to find out if there is real value in this statement. In this thesis I will discuss the representations of images of the SARS and COVID-19 virus in People’s Republic of China (PRC). Images help us learn, images grab attention and they are helping to explain tough concept. That is why I think it is interesting to take a look at the representations of images of SARS and COVID-19. In this context I speak about images that are directly related to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or are at least have been approved by it. In my research I will focus on two time periodes. 2002-2003, the time of the SARS virus outbreak and 2020, the year of the global pandemic caused by COVID-19. I will analyze images from both time periodes to investigate if the images show similarities in representing the virus or have changed over time and I will try to analyze why this is the case.Show less
