If the process of conversion is gradual, what part of the process is influenced by a particular evangelistic strategy? And if conversion means that the old and the new get mixed, then what is the...Show moreIf the process of conversion is gradual, what part of the process is influenced by a particular evangelistic strategy? And if conversion means that the old and the new get mixed, then what is the role of evangelism in this? For my thesis, I want to use these new perspectives on conversion to analyze the role that evangelism plays in people's conversion stories. My main question will be the following: “What role do evangelistic efforts by growth-oriented churches in Leiden play in people's conversions and how can this influence be explained?”Show less
A comparative study attempting to explain the occurrence of non-V2 in Dutch comparative correlatives ("Hoe A-er, hoe B-er"). The presented theories (from previous studies) described in the thesis...Show moreA comparative study attempting to explain the occurrence of non-V2 in Dutch comparative correlatives ("Hoe A-er, hoe B-er"). The presented theories (from previous studies) described in the thesis are based on non-V2 phenomena in Dutch and Northern Norwegian. The research question ("Can theories about non-V2 in the Tromsø Norwegian wh-questions be applied to the Dutch non-V2 comparative correlative constructions with wh-elements?") is answered by using analyses in comparative syntax, phonology, information structure and psycholinguistics.Show less
In order to find out more about figure-ground relationships in motion events, the central question for this study was whether describing a figure-ground motion event influences the degree to which...Show moreIn order to find out more about figure-ground relationships in motion events, the central question for this study was whether describing a figure-ground motion event influences the degree to which participants remember a video. Choi, Goller, Hong, Ansorge and Yun (2018) found a difference between German and Korean speakers with regard to how they encode different aspects of figure-ground relationships in their speech. This study aims to build on the findings of Choi et al. (2018) and make a small contribution to the question how figure-ground relationships are encoded in speakers’ minds in different languages. To investigate this, 54 target videos were created, divided over 9 different categories that all depicted a different motion type. Two versions of each video were created, one depicting a canonical direction of motion and the other a reverse direction. In the first part of the experiment, the description task, two groups of participants were given a different task. The motion description group (18 participants, L1 Dutch, 16 participants L2 English, 2 participants L2 French, Bulgarian and/or Japanese) was asked to describe the motions they saw in a video, the object description group (24 participants, L1 Dutch, L2 English, 10 participants L2 French, German, Italian and/or Swedish) got the task to describe the objects. Participants filled out a language background questionnaire during part two, the intermission, and in part three, the recall task, participants from both groups had to judge whether they had seen a video during the first part or not. For each category in the recall task there were 2 true videos (videos participants had seen before in the description task) and 4 deviant videos (videos they had not seen before in the description task). A repeated measures ANOVA was conducted for which proportion correct, category type, exposure status (true or deviant), canonicity (canonical or reverse) and participant group (motion or object description) were entered as variables. The results showed that while there was no difference between the groups, there were differences between the put over/under category and the hook category, the put on loose support and the put through category, the put on tight attachment and put through, and the put through and hook category, and whether the videos were true or deviant. I conclude that these factors influence the amount of correct judgments the participants make and discuss what the implications for these conclusions might be in the context of the influence of language on cognition.Show less
The present study explored the attitudes of secondary school teachers and non-teachers towards different degrees of Dutch-accented English and whether there was a difference in attitudes between...Show moreThe present study explored the attitudes of secondary school teachers and non-teachers towards different degrees of Dutch-accented English and whether there was a difference in attitudes between these groups. In addition to this, it investigated whether there were certain pronunciation features that would lead to a lower grade. This was tested through an online survey consisting of two parts, namely a listening task and an open-ended question. The listening task asked the participants to grade a total of twelve recordings on a scale from 1 to 10 and to motivate their answer as to why they gave a certain grade. The recordings consisted of two native speakers and ten speakers with different degrees of Dutch accentedness. The degree of accentedness was determined by three people who had listened to the recordings beforehand and these recordings were then categorized into three different groups based on the degree of accentedness. These three groups consisted of (1) native speakers/light Dutch-accented English, (2) medium-Dutch accented English, and (3) heavy Dutch-accented English. The survey ended with an open-ended question which asked the participants wat they thought was the most important aspect to be taught when teaching a foreign language. The results showed that teachers graded most of the recordings (77.8%) higher than the non-teachers, though there was only a small difference. Furthermore, the results showed that both the teachers’ and non-teachers’ grades were lower for the medium- and heavy-accented Dutch Englishes than they were for the native speakers/lightly-accented Dutch Englishes. When asked why a certain grade was given, however, pronunciation only came up 25.8% of the time in the teachers’ answers and only 16.4% of the time in the non-teachers’ answers. A similar pattern was found in the open-ended question, where pronunciation as an important aspect of language learning came up 21.4% of the time in the teachers’ answers and 26.8% in the non-teachers’ answers.Show less
This study aims to clarify the general attitudes of Dutch people towards the usage of anglicisms in Dutch. To this end the function and presence of anglicisms in Dutch are analysed, followed by the...Show moreThis study aims to clarify the general attitudes of Dutch people towards the usage of anglicisms in Dutch. To this end the function and presence of anglicisms in Dutch are analysed, followed by the creation and distribution of a survey that presents ten frequently used anglicisms in Dutch. The results of the survey display an overall neutral stance towards the presence and usage of anglicisms in Dutch, with some interesting outcomes considering the age, education level, and province of origin of the participants.Show less
Word-final clusters have been reported to develop earlier than word-initial clusters for children learning English (Kirk & Demuth, 2005),German (Lleo & Prinz, 1996), and Dutch (Levelt, et...Show moreWord-final clusters have been reported to develop earlier than word-initial clusters for children learning English (Kirk & Demuth, 2005),German (Lleo & Prinz, 1996), and Dutch (Levelt, et al.,2000). This is opposite to the development of singleton consonants which generally develop in word-initial position first, e.g. /m, n, t/ (Mennen et al., 2006). In this study I investigated the possible role of frequency in the acquisition of consonant onset and coda clusters. The hypothesis was that the frequency of the input of adult child-directed speech which here was a child’s name (repeated by caregivers many times a day and directly to a child) influences the child’s ability to acquire certain type of consonant clusters. Ideally Floortje would acquire onset clusters before codas and Max would acquire coda clusters before onset ones. The evidence collected however, suggests that there is no immediate association between a child’s name and the acquisition of consonant clusters in words. So here, the frequency accounts do not seem to provide a satisfactory explanation for the two way developmental path of cluster acquisition. Nevertheless, the research may be treated as a pilot study and will hopefully stimulate further exploration of the problem.Show less
Within the linguistic field, structural or syntactic priming has been investigated for L1 and L2 speakers. Studies show mixed results for the role of the mother language and the duration of the...Show moreWithin the linguistic field, structural or syntactic priming has been investigated for L1 and L2 speakers. Studies show mixed results for the role of the mother language and the duration of the priming effect. This thesis carried out an experiment with English and German L2 speakers of Dutch in comparison to native speakers of Dutch in a two-day structural priming task for relative clauses and prepositional phrases. The results show that priming works among English L2 speak-ers of Dutch, but not among the other two language groups. The priming effects for the English participants lasted at least one day, which indicates implicit learning as a result of long-term priming. A time-pressure component did not impact the effect of priming among the native speakers. The study adds to the existing body of knowledge of structural priming and confirms the existence of a difference in priming effects for familiar or unfamiliar syntactic structures in the L1 of the participant.Show less
This study considers the main research gaps that are important for future studies regarding the improvement of the quality of interlingual live subtitling. To identify these gaps, this thesis...Show moreThis study considers the main research gaps that are important for future studies regarding the improvement of the quality of interlingual live subtitling. To identify these gaps, this thesis provides a literature review of the available research on this topic, as well as an updated outline of the current situation of interlingual live subtitling in the Netherlands.Show less
This study investigates the acquisition of gender agreement between determiner- noun-adjective by Spanish L2 speakers whose L1 is Dutch, and tests the effect of language proficiency by comparing...Show moreThis study investigates the acquisition of gender agreement between determiner- noun-adjective by Spanish L2 speakers whose L1 is Dutch, and tests the effect of language proficiency by comparing beginner- intermediate- advanced Dutch speakers of Spanish. Earlier research on second language acquisition, like research on the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis (Hwang and Lardiere 2013; Lardiere 2009) that states that acquisition of uninterpretable features like grammatical gender pose difficulty, together with the differences between languages when it comes to their gender systems, have led to this study. Both Dutch and Spanish have grammatical gender with a binary system. This system is particularly transparent in Spanish gender, since nouns ending in –o tend to be masculine and nouns ending in –a feminine. Whereas in Dutch the gender system is less transparent, based on common gender (de) or neuter gender (het). Given this background, how is the acquisition of gender agreement between determiner- noun- adjective by Spanish L2 speakers whose L1 is Dutch? Comparing beginner, intermediate and advanced Dutch L2 learners of Spanish, which has been done in earlier investigations on English L2 learners of Spanish (Sagarra and Herschensohn 2011), gives us an insight on the effect of proficiency. I used the Leiden Learner Corpus (LLC), a collection of data from Dutch learners of Romance languages to extract determiner- noun-adjective combinations, produced by Dutch speaking participants who are studying Spanish as their L2 or L3 at Leiden University (n= 27; 10 beginners, 6 intermediate and 11 advanced). An overall better performance on gender agreement by higher proficiency levels was found. The performance on gender agreement between determiner- noun was better than the performance on gender agreement between determiner- noun- adjective. This research creates a new angle on the acquisition of gender agreement between the determiner- noun- adjective structure because it is the first study on a new language pair: Dutch- Spanish.Show less
The early modern period, spanning from c. 1500-1750 A.D., is a turbulent era for the maritime trade and the maritime landscape as a whole. Developments in shipbuilding techniques and international...Show moreThe early modern period, spanning from c. 1500-1750 A.D., is a turbulent era for the maritime trade and the maritime landscape as a whole. Developments in shipbuilding techniques and international economics means that already existing trade-routes expand and the rise of intercontinental trade and large conglomerates. The increasing importance of maritime trade is also visible in the archaeological record which shows a steady rise in the amount of shipwrecks during this period. Advances in modern technology and an ever increasing amount of fishing vessels means that these wrecks also get uncovered at a higher rate than ever before. Researching this ever growing amount of maritime archaeological sites with limited means has proven to be a challenge and many ships remain unpublished when they eventually degrade. Furthermore, when ships do get researched they are often treated as single individual sites with an outdated view of what a shipwreck assemblage actually is. Often the intangible aspects and the bigger picture are ignored. This thesis therefore aimed to research the trade-route for a large number of shipwrecks by looking at their assemblage. At the same time, the aim was to research these assemblages as efficiently as possible by using the classification system created by Reinders in the 80’s. The results show that researching trade-routes via shipwreck assemblages gives a much more detailed view of each ship’s trade-route. It is important though to first research each aspect individually to prevent any bias, before combining the results to come to a conclusion. Furthermore, the importance of the intangible aspects of a shipwreck’s assemblage becomes clear during the scope of this thesis as the information gained from this is often even more valuable than that gained from the tangible. The results also show that using the functional classification system created by Reinders makes researching shipwreck assemblages far easier and more efficient. It is even possible to link the categories from this system to specific trade-route identifying features. However, the classification system would benefit further defining its categories.Show less
