Despite SF’s general underrepresentation both in academia and the publishing world, there are scholars that have turned to this genre and studied it in relation to Lawrence Venuti’s concepts of...Show moreDespite SF’s general underrepresentation both in academia and the publishing world, there are scholars that have turned to this genre and studied it in relation to Lawrence Venuti’s concepts of foreignization and domestication, introduced in The Translator’s Invisibility (1995). Domestication has been considered “especially problematic due to its inventiveness of fictive worlds and the reliance of its estrangement function upon specific language” (Campbell, 2021, p. 6). One of the ways in which this inventiveness is expressed, is through neologisms, as Freedman (2000) explains, “this device being perhaps the most paradigmatic expression of science-fictional diction” (2000, p. 37). One of the scholars that has discussed neologisms in his work is Peter Newmark (1988), whom we will be discussing in this thesis. Newmark (1988) recognizes in his book, A Textbook of Translation, that translating neologisms is a challenging task, as he emphasizes that “neologisms are perhaps the non-literary and the professional translator’s biggest problem” (p.140). The aim of this thesis is thus to study neologisms within the SF genre in relation to Venuti’s concepts of domestication and foreignization. It will do so by conducting a case study on a SF text, namely Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (DADOES) by American writer Philip K. Dick. In the case study, three Dutch translations of DADOES will be compared to each other and the source text: De Elektrische Nachtmerrie (1969) by Frank Visser, Dromen Androïden van Elektrische Schapen? (1979) by Ivain Rodriguez de León and Blade Runner: Dromen Androïden over Elektrische Schapen? (2017) by Irving Pardoen. The research will focus on chapter three and the neologisms in it. The 26 neologisms were classified using Newmark’s (1988) nine categories of translation procedures, with an additional 10th (proposed category) and 11th category to cover instances of omission. The central research question of this thesis then, is whether the translation choices made by the three translators point to a foreignization or domestication-oriented approach, and which of the three translations can be considered the most domesticated based on the findings. As for the hypothesis, it is speculated that the 1969 and 1979 translations of neologisms will reveal a more domestication-oriented approach, whereas the 2017 text is expected to be more foreignized. In writing this thesis and conducting the case study, I set out to give insight into the potential that SF texts hold for academia and the translation field. Campbell (2021) emphasizes how SF is a “powerful means of communication, not only because it can serve to explore and explain the effect of technological developments, whether native or important, but also and more importantly because it can be a powerful means of social criticism” (p.2.). In a world that is constantly evolving as technology advances at a rapid rate, the subjects discussed in SF are more relevant than ever. Therefore, by studying the “inventiveness” (Freedman, 2000, p.37) of the SF genre in the form of neologisms and in how they are translated, we could learn more about the dynamics and developments in our own world as we speculate about the reasons for these translation choices.Show less
In this thesis, I will research the frequency of English loan words in K-pop songs that were released between 2010 and 2021. With this research I will attempt to answer three questions. Firstly:...Show moreIn this thesis, I will research the frequency of English loan words in K-pop songs that were released between 2010 and 2021. With this research I will attempt to answer three questions. Firstly: Has the average amount of English words in K-pop songs increased between 2010-2021? Secondly: How can English loans in Korean be linguistically classified? Thirdly: Why has the use of English words in Korean increased, if it is the case that it did? The found loan words will be distributed into five different categories laid out in Grant (2019) and Kim (2012), based on the identifying linguistic features. Furthermore, I will attempt to provide a sociolinguistic explanation for the reasons for the use of English words in Korean. Both broad societal factors, as well as factors specific to the K-pop industry will be taken into account to arrive at a conclusion.Show less
English and Farsi are languages that maintain a plosive voicing contrast in word-final position, unlike Dutch, a language that neutralizes this contrast in word-final position, while maintaining it...Show moreEnglish and Farsi are languages that maintain a plosive voicing contrast in word-final position, unlike Dutch, a language that neutralizes this contrast in word-final position, while maintaining it in word-initial and word-medial position. With the use of an online questionnaire, I wanted to find out whether native speakers of Farsi are better at categorizing the English word-final plosive voicing contrast than native speakers of Dutch, because native speakers of Farsi have native-language experience with the same contrast in the same position. The results show that both the Dutch and the Farsi group were relatively successful in distinguishing this contrast, but the Farsi group categorized it significantly better. The results of the Dutch group are in line with previous literature that indicate that perception of an L2-contrast is supported by native-language experience with the same contrast in other positions. Additionally, the results of the Farsi group imply that perception of an L2-contrast becomes even better when there is native-language experience with the same contrast in the same position.Show less
This thesis discusses and analyses the commonalities and disparities in syntax between English as a superstrate and Sranan, an English-based pidgin that is now a creole. As freed slaves and new...Show moreThis thesis discusses and analyses the commonalities and disparities in syntax between English as a superstrate and Sranan, an English-based pidgin that is now a creole. As freed slaves and new generations of native speakers have continued using the creole, it has separated itself from the original context as a pidgin dependent on English lexicon and grammar. The study conducted for the thesis functioned as an opportunity to learn how modern-day Sranan modal expressions help demonstrate tense in simple clauses compared to modern-day English modals. The comparative analysis was based on the Burton-Roberts analytic methodology (2016), including syntactic trees, to aid in visualising relations between clauses and within phrases. A native speaker was interviewed to gain practical and implemental knowledge about the translations used in the analysis. Since English was the superstrate for Sranan, the sentences were translated from English to Sranan to ensure non-variable sentences with modals for comparison. After these translations, the syntactic structure of simple clauses, including modals in both languages, were compared, focusing on how modals may facilitate the specification of tense. A comparative analysis of English and Sranan simple declarative and interrogative clauses was conducted to discover potential patterns. These analyses revealed patterns in the simple clauses and verb phrases in English and Sranan that were influenced by modality. Each analysis demonstrated overlap and contrast between the languages in tense marking and verb inflection. By the end of the thesis, it becomes clear that, in English, there are differences in word order in clauses. English verb phrases can contain auxiliary and lexical verbs that influence tense in declarative and interrogative sentences. However, in Sranan, word order does not change in either declarative or interrogative sentences. Additionally, Sranan does not use auxiliary and lexical verbs in clauses to indicate tense, using tense markers instead to imply timeframe. Based on the results of the comparative analysis, it can be concluded that Sranan modals function differently than English modals in verb phrases and clauses. As Sranan modals do not directly influence tense, there is a need for another functional class, in this case, tense markers.Show less
The aim of this thesis was to determine whether Polish-Dutch bilinguals benefit from knowing a second language when learning to assign stress to English words. Specifically, the research targeted...Show moreThe aim of this thesis was to determine whether Polish-Dutch bilinguals benefit from knowing a second language when learning to assign stress to English words. Specifically, the research targeted children who were learning English in Dutch primary education, aged 10 to 12 years old. Earlier research on second language acquisition shows that because of language transfer, knowing an extra language is beneficial for learning a new language (Bartolotti & Marian 2016, Ellis 2015, Schwartz 2015). To find out if the bilingual children did better or worse in assigning stress to English words than monolingual Dutch children, a survey was carried out as a small pilot study on three participants. Here, the participants had to pronounce fifteen words from a word list. Next, the number of words where the participants had assigned stress correctly or incorrectly were counted and presented in different tables. This showed that although the overall performance of the Polish-Dutch bilingual participant was not better than that of the monolingual Dutch participants, the bilingual participant did significantly better in assigning stress to the English words that receive penultimate stress.Show less
For decades an objective within Linguistics as a study field has been to assess the existence or strength of a link between language and thought. The present study focuses on crosslinguistic...Show moreFor decades an objective within Linguistics as a study field has been to assess the existence or strength of a link between language and thought. The present study focuses on crosslinguistic differences of intrusion of the spatial domain within the temporal domain by comparing Native English speakers to Mandarin-English bilinguals. With deviation in linguistic construction of space = time metaphors between the two languages, the main question subject to this study is whether linguistic differences bear influence on the conceptualization of the abstract domain of time. Furthermore, an insight is given in the manner abstract concepts are concreted by the human mind with an emphasis on bilingual processing. As the processing within the bilingual mind has been subjected to much debate over recent year, an attempt to reconcile various views has been laid bare. The present study exists of two replicated tasks which yielded different conclusions in their original state. While the results of the present study remain inconclusive, one task hints at a global difference between Mandarin-English bilinguals' conception of time and English native speakers' conception of time. The other task has not revealed any implication on linguistic processing due to crosslinguistic differences.Show less
For decades an objective for linguistics as a study field has been to assess the existence and/or strength of a link between language and thought. The present study focuses on crosslinguistic...Show moreFor decades an objective for linguistics as a study field has been to assess the existence and/or strength of a link between language and thought. The present study focuses on crosslinguistic differences in observed intrusion of the spatial domain on the temporal domain by comparing English monolinguals toMan darin-English bilinguals. The main question in this study is whether the observed linguistic differences in the temporal domain between Mandarin and English bear influence on the conceptualization of this domain by the human mind. The present study comprises of two replicated experiments. When the two presently replicated experiments were conducted originally they drew deviating conclusions from one another regarding a similar question. While the results of the present study remain inconclusive, results hint at a global difference between Mandarin-English bilinguals’ conception of time and English native speakers’ conception of time based on language. This hint implicates that there might be an underlying effect of language on the mental representation of time. The second experiment has not revealed any implication on linguistic processing due to observed crosslinguistic differences.Show less
This thesis describes a study in which Dutch learners of English are asked to interpret a set of novel Dutch and English noun-noun compounds. The complete set of test items is divided into a set...Show moreThis thesis describes a study in which Dutch learners of English are asked to interpret a set of novel Dutch and English noun-noun compounds. The complete set of test items is divided into a set with compounds designed to encourage participants to select the appropriate semantic relation in the compound, and another set with compounds designed to elicit figurative interpretations. The thesis investigates whether there are significant differences between Dutch ESL learners’ interpretations of Dutch (L1) novel noun-noun compounds and their interpretations of English (L2) compounds. Differences were found for the figurative compounds, but not for the relation-based compounds.Show less
This thesis examines transferability of sociopragmatic knowledge to L2 speech act realization by studying request production in English and Russian. It aims at investigating whether native Russian...Show moreThis thesis examines transferability of sociopragmatic knowledge to L2 speech act realization by studying request production in English and Russian. It aims at investigating whether native Russian speakers transfer sociopragmatic knowledge to the requests in English and how they assess their linguistic behaviour in L2 compared to the performance carried out by native English speakers. To study the subject, native Russian speakers and native English speakers were asked to participate in two speech tasks: the Oral Discourse Completion (the ODCT) Test and the stimulated recall interviews (the SRI). The ODCT was aimed at elicitation of requests in eight situations that were constructed with consideration of three social parameters: social distance, power, and imposition. Native Russian speakers were asked to produce requests both in Russian and in English to detect transfer. Native English speakers produced requests in English, and their answers served as a baseline for comparison. Native Russian speakers as well as native English speakers were asked to reflect on their language use during the SRI. Three groups of requests, as well as speakers’ reports, were obtained and compared in relation to social distance, power, and imposition. The qualitative research method showed that even though there is cross-cultural variation in the Russian and English languages, sociopragmatic knowledge that is embedded in Russian culture does not affect the second language use. Russian speakers do tend to use more direct strategies in request production in the native language, as suggested by other related research on the Russian language. However, the findings of this study suggest that Russian speakers more often opted for indirect strategies, which relates their linguistic behaviour to Western tradition.Show less
This study aimed to provide a clearer understanding of the phonetic influence a native speaker of Arabic can experience during the acquisition of English as a second language (ESL), specifically...Show moreThis study aimed to provide a clearer understanding of the phonetic influence a native speaker of Arabic can experience during the acquisition of English as a second language (ESL), specifically for the consonants /p/ and /v/ in spelling and pronunciation. In a small-scale experiment, Arabic speakers of English were asked to translate an Arabic story to English by hand to create an authentic product of their spelling abilities. Afterwards, the same participants read a short story in English, which was recorded with audio equipment to later evaluate their pronunciation through the program PRAAT. Contrary to existing literature, the small-scale experiment conducted for this study found no significant effect for the influence of Arabic on English spelling despite this being hypothesised and proven in previous research. Along with this, no effect was found for the experiment based on the pronunciation of /p/ and /v/. Whereas the results did show that Arabic speakers of English had a Voice Onset Time (VOT) of /p/ that was considerably lower, they did not realise a [b] instead of the target [ph] as hypothesised. Speakers did not significantly devoice their /v/ to an [f], which does not directly coincide with the literature that has hypothesised the influence of native language phonology on the pronunciation of English as a second language. When evaluating the results as a whole, two things are implied: (1) there is a possible focus in ESL learning on spelling and therefore no issues were found, and (2) pronunciation is a difficult aspect of ESL learning due to the unfamiliar articulatory processes involved and Arabic learners experience difficulties when faced with the unfamiliar /p/ and to a lesser degree also /v/. However, they are able to make the distinction between the phoneme pairs. These implications may help ESL learners in the future to focus on problem areas, further improve their skills, while simultaneously providing the research niche of phonology with new material to investigate.Show less
In this thesis, the concept of identity as presented in The Handmaid’s Tale - both the novel and the Hulu series - will be dismantled to reveal the identity politics within its narrative and...Show moreIn this thesis, the concept of identity as presented in The Handmaid’s Tale - both the novel and the Hulu series - will be dismantled to reveal the identity politics within its narrative and literary context. In the first chapter, identity politics within the 1985 novel will be explored, to find out how these fit in with the contemporary identity politics debate. The second chapter will contain an analysis of the 2017 series, which will be compared to the 1985 novel, to further explore how the book's identity concepts have been adapted for the modern small screen. Furthermore, the second chapter will critically discuss which adaptation choices have been made and how these affect The Handmaid’s Tale (2017- ) as an updated version of the book. The second chapter will also display the use of The Handmaid’s Tale within contemporary identity politics, to show how The Handmaid’s Tale - both the novel's source material and the series' adaptation - have become part of the current popular culture. As this thesis will show, The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) contains the identity politics elements that are necessary to adapt it to a twenty-first century version. The Handmaid’s Tale is a still relevant speculative version of reality that (1) explores a possible outcome of the essentialism - constructivism debate, (2) where totalitarianism is used as a political framework, inspired by historical politics - and where (3) the exploration of gender identity, minority identities and identity in general is a main objective. Through these elements, The Handmaid’s Tale has been able to participate in critical debates concerning the construction of identities, especially gender identities, in the broader context of feminism and identity politics as a whole, and to establish itself as a symbol of the modern identity politics debate featured on the small screen.Show less
Linguistics is the field of study that is concerned with language. This field includes the study of syntax, grammar, phonology, morphology and more. Morphology and syntax are the two main...Show moreLinguistics is the field of study that is concerned with language. This field includes the study of syntax, grammar, phonology, morphology and more. Morphology and syntax are the two main linguistic fields that this thesis is concerned with. Morphology is the subfield of linguistics that is concerned with words and their structure. Compounding is a process that unites two lexemes to create a new, unique lexeme. Within this field of study, linguists such as Bauer and Giegerich have concerned themselves with the compounding process. One important question that has not received an answer to this day is whether Noun + Noun constructions are created through the morphological process called compounding or whether they are created in the syntax and therefore are noun phrases consisting of a head and a nominal modifier. This debate has split the linguistic community into two factions.Show less
Dutch speakers have differing ways of pronouncing the English loanword . This thesis attempts to research these different pronunciations, through auditory analysis using phonetics, and through...Show moreDutch speakers have differing ways of pronouncing the English loanword . This thesis attempts to research these different pronunciations, through auditory analysis using phonetics, and through formant measurements. Additionally, Dutch speakers’ evaluations of the different phonetic realisations of were researched. 15 Dutch speakers were interviewed, and their ways of pronouncing noted. The results show, among other things, which form of pronunciation of was most used by the participants; the degree of consistency in pronunciation per participant (using a newly-developed technique called the IVS-technique); the formant measurements of the vowels participants used for in ; and the participants’ attitudes towards specific pronunciations of .Show less
In the study of the left periphery, the syntax of exclamatives is often overlooked. Although research on exclamatives exists (You 2014; Villa-García 2015), comparative research, such as that of Ono...Show moreIn the study of the left periphery, the syntax of exclamatives is often overlooked. Although research on exclamatives exists (You 2014; Villa-García 2015), comparative research, such as that of Ono & Lasnik (2006), is still even more sparse. In this paper, the left periphery of English and Spanish exclamatives will be explored. By comparing and contrasting data from the two languages, this thesis seeks to further expand upon our knowledge of the left periphery of exclamatives. Using the split CP hypothesis, first proposed by Rizzi (1997), as a framework, this paper specifically focuses on how complementizers are distributed within the left periphery of the exclamative. It explores the identification of exclamatives using the clause type’s syntactic and semantic properties as defined in Zanuttini & Portner (2003). In addition, this paper establishes that A-bar movement occurs in both English and Spanish exclamatives, while head movement occurs only in the latter. I construct data consisting of wh-exclamatives with various word orders and use native speaker input to determine whether these examples are grammatical. Based on these results I analyse the distribution of the constituents that undergo movement. The paper concludes that the syntactic structure of Spanish exclamatives can allow for topicalization and focalization, whereas that of English exclamatives cannot, and it proposes that the complementizers of English exclamatives are positioned higher than those of Spanish exclamatives without the emphatic particle que.Show less
Despite the fact that English became the second official language of Puerto Rico in 1902 (Muñiz Argüelles, 1989), the English language is still not widely spoken in Puerto Rico. In fact, according...Show moreDespite the fact that English became the second official language of Puerto Rico in 1902 (Muñiz Argüelles, 1989), the English language is still not widely spoken in Puerto Rico. In fact, according to the most recent data, 78.1% of the population claims to speak English less than very well (U.S. Census, 2016). Prior research has demonstrated that there is a connection between education, wealth and English in Puerto Rico. English has the reputation of being the language of the Puerto Rican elite (i.a. Pérez Casas, 2016; Torruellas, 1990). This is due to the high costs of private primary and secondary education and not easily accessible English language resources such as a network of English speaking friends, high speed internet and cable television (i.a. Pousada, 2000; Urciuoli, 2013). This current study builds on Bischoff (2017), who argues that the English language requirements at public universities are a barrier to economically disadvantaged students. As a result, one’s economical and educational background can serve as either a privilege or a misfortune in one’s professional aspirations as well (i.a. Barreto, 2000; Schweers and Hudders, 2000). The aim of this study was to gain insight into public university students’ perceptions of the connection between education, wealth and English in Puerto Rico. Data to address this was collected through the distribution of an online questionnaire and carrying out in-depth interviews with students from the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez (UPRM) and the University of Puerto Rico Río Piedras (UPRRP). In total, 119 questionnaire responses followed by in-depth interviews with 12 UPRM students were used for analysis. The results showed that, contrary to prior research (i.a. Bischoff, 2017; Pérez Casas, 2016; Pousada, 2000), public university students deny or do not recognize a connection between wealth, education and English in Puerto Rico. Instead, they view English language acquisition as a matter of putting in effort in learning and practicing instead of wealth. Furthermore, English language skills are perceived as necessary tools for professional successes and feeling like a global citizen. Puerto Ricans who lack English skills are perceived as unmotivated, missing out on life and not wanting to feel connected to the US Mainland. Nonetheless, it appeared that the majority of public university students have attended private primary and/or secondary schools, have access to English resources and grow up in a social environment filled with English speakers. In other words, public universities serve increasingly wealthy Puerto Ricans who seem unaware of their privileges, whereas economically disadvantaged Puerto Ricans are blamed for their lack of English skills and presumably experience a misfortune while aiming to reach their academic and professional goals. Studying the perceptions of private university students in Puerto Rico in further research would create the opportunity to compare the perceptions of the current studied Puerto Rican elite students versus those of the presumably economically disadvantaged private university students.Show less
The main topic of this thesis is yakuwarigo in translation. Yakuwarigo, the Japanese word for role language, is a type of language use often used in works of fiction which evokes the image of a...Show moreThe main topic of this thesis is yakuwarigo in translation. Yakuwarigo, the Japanese word for role language, is a type of language use often used in works of fiction which evokes the image of a certain type of character, such as an old man or a young girl, by using certain first-person pronouns, copula and sentence-ending particles (Kinsui 2013). Translating yakuwarigo can be extremely challenging because the Japanese language has many opportunities for variation where English does not. For that reason, yakuwarigo is often standardised in the target text, even though this negatively impacts the uniqueness of the characters (Terada, 2015). While there is quite a bit of literature available on yakuwarigo, hardly any research has been done on the topic of yakuwarigo in translation. In this thesis, the feasibility of translating yakuwarigo from Japanese to English using a foreignising translation strategy is examined. The research question is: “To what extent is it possible to translate yakuwarigo from Japanese to English with a foreignising translation strategy?”. The answer to this question is formed by two parts: a theoretical framework and a case study. In the theoretical framework, a number of different topics are discussed, such as translation strategies, equivalence, and stereotyping. In the case study, six characters of a manga (Japanese cartoon) are analysed in the original version as well as in a fan translation. Additionally, a new translation of is proposed based on the acquired information. It was found that despite the fact that it is impossible to translate yakuwarigo to English perfectly, it is possible to translate characters in such a way that their language reflects their main personality traits. This is done by adapting the font, punctuation and lexical choices, among others, to the character’s personality as a way of compensating for the original yakuwarigo.Show less
This thesis focuses on the factors influencing the language of determiners in nominal constructions in two sets of bilingual data, Spanish-English from Miami and Spanish- Nicaraguan Creole English...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the factors influencing the language of determiners in nominal constructions in two sets of bilingual data, Spanish-English from Miami and Spanish- Nicaraguan Creole English from Nicaragua. Previous studies (Liceras, Fernández Fuertes, Perales, Pérez-Tattam, and Spradlin, 2008; Quintanilla, 2014) have argued that Spanish determiners are preferred in mixed nominal constructions because of their grammaticized nature, since they mark gender. However, those studies did not take the matrix language into account, even though Herring, Deuchar, Parafita Couto, and Quintanilla (2010) found that the language of the determiner generally matched the matrix language. For that reason, the hypothesis of this study is that the matrix language is the main influence on the language of the determiner in both mixed and unmixed nominal constructions. This would mean that bilinguals will have to option to switch language in selecting the noun, meaning that the noun complement could be influenced by extra-linguistic factors. The results are consistent with this hypothesis: once the matrix language is controlled for, the Miami data shows a greater tendency for Spanish determiners to appear in mixed DPs than English determiners. However, the reverse tendency is found in the Nicaragua data, in which we found only mixed DPs with an English creole determiner. The results suggest that bilingual communities can follow different patterns, and that social factors play a role as well. This study concludes that while the language of the determiner is influenced by clause-internal structure, the language of its noun complement and the matrix language itself depend on extralinguistic considerations.Show less
