This thesis examines whether native speakers of Dutch can aspirate unvoiced word-initial plosives in English as a second language and if they are able to do so to the same degree as native speakers...Show moreThis thesis examines whether native speakers of Dutch can aspirate unvoiced word-initial plosives in English as a second language and if they are able to do so to the same degree as native speakers of English. Aspiration was measured in word-initial unvoiced plosives /p, t, k/ using Voice Onset Time (VOT). Influence of sex, age, age of onset of the second language, and self-reported general pronunciation ability in English were also examined. Native Dutch VOT generally lies between 0-20ms, while native English VOT is anywhere between 50-100 ms. Using recordings from 19 participants who read both Dutch and English sentences out loud, it was found that participants increased their aspiration with an average of 10 ms when switching from Dutch to English. The analysis also shows that two participants out of 19 had an average VOT at a native-like level (>50 ms). Further investigation showed that sex, age, and age of onset did not influence VOT. Participants who graded their general pronunciation abilities with an 8 or higher did show a bigger increase in VOT, but there was no correlation to higher VOT in English when compared to other speakers. Other results showed that /p, t, k/ were not aspirated to the same extent, with /t/ being aspirated significantly more and /p/ significantly less. Lastly, the co-existence of words in both English and Dutch did not significantly alter the VOT, only when words started with /k/ did aspiration significantly improve when the exact word also existed in Dutch. These results conclude that native speakers of Dutch increase aspiration and can aspirate to a native-like degree while speaking English. Any defining factors of the participants who were able to do so are not available due to the limited sample size.Show less
This study explores the impact of video gaming on the English vocabulary proficiency of Dutch teenagers from the ages of 11 to 16. Recent academic research argues that the beneficial impact of...Show moreThis study explores the impact of video gaming on the English vocabulary proficiency of Dutch teenagers from the ages of 11 to 16. Recent academic research argues that the beneficial impact of video games lies in the unintentional and natural acquirement of a second language, which is enabled by the element of interactivity in games (Plass & Jones, 2005). According to language acquisitional theory, language is most effectively acquired when the message is provided with context, as this enriches the apprehension of the subject (Krashen, 1989). Furthermore, intrinsic motivation to acquire a language is intertwined with the motivation to engage in play, which in turn leads to more linguistic confidence and eventually successful language acquisition (Melzi & Schick, 2012; Prince, 1996). This research contains a survey-based analysis on the linguistic impact of video games on Dutch teenagers. The survey was answered by 59 Dutch teenagers of the age group and consisted of a translation exercise and a sentence exercise. The answers of both exercises were analyzed on the basis of how often the participants engaged in the activity of video gaming. To avoid faulty analysis, the answers were also compared to the factor of age. The results of this study suggest that teenagers who game more frequently are linguistically more confidant as compared to the participants that did not game frequently and lack this confidence. More importantly, the results suggest that the frequent players are more proficient in English vocabulary than the non-players as they translated more words correctly. Besides this, the players with the highest frequency seemed to engage more often in English communication with other players. This all indicates that not only do video games have a beneficial impact on the vocabulary proficiency of Dutch teenagers, but they also contribute to the linguistic confidence and experience in English communication.Show less
