The current research project has employed qualitative methods to conduct a language attitude study that gauges the inter-generational perspectives of South Africans about the variety of English...Show moreThe current research project has employed qualitative methods to conduct a language attitude study that gauges the inter-generational perspectives of South Africans about the variety of English spoken in the country and its accents. The objective of this research project is to evaluate how South Africans feel about English, 26 years since the inception of democracy in the country, its role in education, governance and business, and the value they assign to language status. Ten South Africans between the ages of 17 and 65 from the main ethnicities in the country (Black, White, Coloured, Indian, Muslim) have been interviewed according to a semi-structured Interview Protocol. The attitudes of the younger speakers were compared to those that were born in previous generations, before democracy. The phonological properties of the participants’ speech were recorded within the BATH, KIT and GOOSE vowel spaces which have been identified as important social markers in South Africa and the South African English (SAE) sound. The participants pronunciations across the ethnic and social class spectrum were evaluated. The interviews and phonological recordings were conducted according to an elicited communications methodology (computer-mediated) using WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook. The participant attitudes were coded into six categories, i.e. positive, negative, perceptiveness, awareness, overcompensation, political correctness. Their vowel recordings were analysed according to its place of articulation and the presence of fronting. The participants displayed an innate positive attitude toward SAE and its role in stimulating future progress in the country.Show less
This study deals with morphosyntactic variation in Paraná Dutch, an endangered heritage variety of Dutch spoken in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná. Its original objectives were (i) to...Show moreThis study deals with morphosyntactic variation in Paraná Dutch, an endangered heritage variety of Dutch spoken in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná. Its original objectives were (i) to describe divergences from Dutch as spoken in the Netherlands (NLD) as well as retained dialectal features (ii) to compare these variations to findings of other studies on Dutch as a heritage language (HL), and (iii) to relate the findings to extralinguistic features. Due to the situation of intergenerational language loss encountered during the fieldwork conducted for this study, it was deemed important to add a fourth objective, namely to assess the vitality of the heritage variety. No previous linguistic research on language variation in Dutch as a HL in Paraná exists, and this study will therefore extend our knowledge of morphosyntactic divergences and dialectal retentions in the Dutch heritage varieties. More than 22 hours of naturalistic speech data of 82 Dutch heritage speakers (HSs) in three communities – Arapoti, Carambeí and Castrolanda – was gathered between November 2018 and January 2019, and coded for morphosyntactic divergence from NLD or dialectal variation. The sample consisted of speakers of different ages (16-91), generations (first till fourth) and with varying levels of exposure to and usage of Dutch. Two models for language vitality assessment (UNESCO, EGIDS) were used to describe the endangerment of Paraná Dutch. According to the models, the heritage variety is definitively endangered (UNESCO), and threatened or shifting (EGIDS). Morphosyntactic divergences from NLD found in the speech of the participants include the overgeneralization of SVO word order, omission of determiners, variation in grammatical gender assignment, variation in nominal plural markers, pronoun drop, and variation in present verb inflection. Morphosyntactic divergences from the standard language that can be attributed to Dutch dialects or regional languages include the merger of the verbs kennen ‘to know’ and kunnen ‘can’, use of heb ‘to have’ for the 3SG.PRES, and the use of periphrastic doen ‘to do’. Of the morphosyntactic divergences found in the data, the six mentioned previously were used by a sizeable part of the sample (at least ten participants). Many of these divergences have also been attested in Dutch heritage varieties in Anglophone countries, Indonesia and in other parts of Brazil. The divergences from NLD are either due to interference from the majority language Portuguese, due to internal development in the HL, or due to a combination of the former two (multiple causation). Participants whose speech contained morphosyntactic divergences from NLD tend to be of the second generation or later and have a lower usage of and exposure to Dutch than the average of the sample. Although most of the dialectal features present in the speech of the first-generation participants have not been attested in the speech of later generations, some have been retained or even spread throughout the community. The three morphosyntactic features that originate from Dutch dialects or regional languages mentioned above have been retained and transmitted to speakers of the second generation or later.Show less
This thesis studied the translation of the Scots dialect according to a model provided by Pinto (2009) for two types of translations: Annemarie Lodewijk’s Dutch translation of Diana Gabaldon’s...Show moreThis thesis studied the translation of the Scots dialect according to a model provided by Pinto (2009) for two types of translations: Annemarie Lodewijk’s Dutch translation of Diana Gabaldon’s novel Outlander (ST1), De Reiziger (TT1), and the Dutch subtitles (TT2) of the Outlander DVD (Starz, 2014-) (ST2), which is the first season of ST1’s adaptation on television. In addition, it was studied how the differences in the procedures adopted by the translators have affected characterisation and character relationships. A final aspect of this thesis’ research is the inclusion of one of the translators’ views and approach to dialect translation. Based on the results of this study, it was found that the main procedure adopted in both translations is the use of only a standard variety of language, followed by omission, and finally the direct import of dialect vocabulary. As a result of the first two procedures, there is a major loss of meaning and characterisation in the translation. However, this loss is compensated in TT1 mostly through the inclusion of dialect vocabulary and in TT2 through other visual and audible means that result from ST2 and TT2 being perceived simultaneously. Finally, it is the translator of TT1’s view that there is no way of including ST dialect in the translation without making the translation incomprehensible. However, second languages in translations can be retained, and depending on the knowledge of the TT audience, the translator is allowed to retain some lexical instances of dialect in the translation.Show less
The Dialect of Vlasotince is a Torlak variety of South Slavic spoken in and around the small town of Vlasotince in southern Serbia, between Kosovo (KiM) and Bulgaria. This grammar sketch aims to...Show moreThe Dialect of Vlasotince is a Torlak variety of South Slavic spoken in and around the small town of Vlasotince in southern Serbia, between Kosovo (KiM) and Bulgaria. This grammar sketch aims to provide a succinct description of its phonology, morphology and select syntactic features as currently used by the inhabitants of Vlasotince, supplemented with a small number of texts to illustrate its use in practice. Due to Vlasotince’s considerable growth since the end of WWII (Vukmirović 2013: 106) and the proliferation of media and schooling in the standard language, what is most commonly heard on the street nowadays is a variety with stronger influence from the standard language than is usually found in the works on Torlak dialectology from the past century, yet one that clearly retains much of its distinctive character. It is this contemporary, commonly used register, sprinkled with influences from the standard, that I have tried to describe here. It should serve as a representative snapshot of the way people from Vlasotince speak amongst themselves today.Show less
De Venlose carnavalsvereniging Jocus werd in 1842 opgericht en bestaat tot op de dag van vandaag. In het Gemeentearchief van Venlo wordt een omvangrijk archief van Jocus uit de periodes 1842-1845...Show moreDe Venlose carnavalsvereniging Jocus werd in 1842 opgericht en bestaat tot op de dag van vandaag. In het Gemeentearchief van Venlo wordt een omvangrijk archief van Jocus uit de periodes 1842-1845 en 1876-1906 bewaard. Carnaval was in die tijd een belangrijk feest voor de Venlonaren, net als voor veel andere inwoners van Limburg. Het regionale feest hangt sterk samen met de Limburgse regionale identiteit die in de negentiende eeuw opkwam, waar ook het gebruik van een eigen dialect aan heeft bijgedragen. Carnaval en dialectgebruik zijn dan ook nauw verwant en een onderzoek naar het taalgebruik van Jocus biedt inzichten in die wisselwerking. In deze scriptie staat de volgende onderzoeksvraag centraal: Hoe zag de taalsituatie van carnavalsvereniging Jocus uit Venlo (1842-heden) er in de negentiende eeuw uit en in hoeverre werd deze taalsituatie gekenmerkt door meertaligheid en taalcontact? Een analyse van het het negentiende-eeuwse archiefmateriaal van Jocus biedt antwoorden op deze vraag. De analyse van de taalkeuze per inventarisnummer laat zien dat er vijf domeinen te onderscheiden zijn, waarin elke taal een eigen functie vervult. Over het algemeen is in de formele domeinen, administratie en brieven, het Nederlands dominant en is in de andere drie domeinen, externe publicaties, voordrachten en liedjes, naast het Nederlands ook een belangrijke rol weggelegd voor het Venloos en Duits. De grove indeling beantwoordt een deel van de onderzoeksvraag: de negentiende-eeuwse taalsituatie van Jocus laat zich in hoge mate kenmerken door meertaligheid. Naast het Nederlands en Venloos dat in veel archiefstukken te vinden is, nemen ook het Duits en in iets mindere mate het Frans een belangrijke plaats in. Waar er in zeer ruime mate sprake was van meertaligheid, kan dat van taalcontact tussen die talen niet gezegd worden. In een selectie van brieven en voordrachten komen slechts enkele gevallen van code-switching voor. Dit geringe aantal gevallen is te weinig om te spreken van een continuüm van talen, waarbij er tussen het Nederlands en Venloos als uitersten op een schaal intermediaire varianten voorkomen. De taalsituatie van Jocus is dan ook niet diaglossisch, maar veel meer diglossisch, waarin de Nederlandse standaardtaal en het Venlose dialect gescheiden van elkaar blijven, in verschillende domeinen gebruikt worden en dus aparte functies vervullen.Show less
In this thesis the dialect attitudes towards the Kyoto dialect are studied. A list of stereotypical characteristics of the dialect, seen from the perspective of the Tokyo standard is provided,...Show moreIn this thesis the dialect attitudes towards the Kyoto dialect are studied. A list of stereotypical characteristics of the dialect, seen from the perspective of the Tokyo standard is provided, according to which the results of the study are evaluated. A survey on Japanese native speakers is used, which mainly confirmed the validity of the stereotype of the Kyoto dialect.Show less
This thesis tells about the system and derivation of definite articles in the dialect of Busto Arsizio, Lombardy. It also concerns the influence of the Ligurian dialect on this variety.
In this paper language attitudes of native Japanese speakers towards native Hakata dialect speakers are researched, to find out about the interdependency between spoken language and linguistic...Show moreIn this paper language attitudes of native Japanese speakers towards native Hakata dialect speakers are researched, to find out about the interdependency between spoken language and linguistic stereotypes, which tends to heavily influence interpersonal relationships as well as the process of establishing biases. Research was conducted by application of the matched-guise experimental technique in combination with a questionnaire. The main questions were: Are Hakata dialect speakers consistently perceived differently in comparison to standard Japanese speakers as a consequence of linguistic stereotyping? If so, then what are the prevalent stereotypes held by native Japanese speakers about people who speak Hakata dialect?Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
Aspects of the acquisition of one or more languages are influenced by many variables, e.g. age of acquisition, quality and quantity of input, social economic status, and the presence of older...Show moreAspects of the acquisition of one or more languages are influenced by many variables, e.g. age of acquisition, quality and quantity of input, social economic status, and the presence of older siblings. The influence of these factors has been investigated in monolingual learners, adult second language learners, less in child second language learners, and not at all in young bidialectal speakers. This study investigated how various factors influenced vocabulary scores of bidialectal children from Limburg, the Netherlands. Results show that input quantity and age of acquisition are significant predictors of vocabulary scores, but in a different manner than in traditional bilinguals. Other significant predictors are mother fluency and socioeconomic status. The specific situation of bidialectal speakers in the Netherlands might be of influence on their language acquisition, making it different from traditional bilingual language acquisition.Show less
