Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
closed access
There are large individual differences among late second language learners. The present study investigated whether individual differences in late L2 acquisition could be explained by individual...Show moreThere are large individual differences among late second language learners. The present study investigated whether individual differences in late L2 acquisition could be explained by individual differences in musical experience, because a large number of prior studies showed that musicians have enhanced auditory processing abilities. Dutch late-learners of English performed an AXB identification task, a 4I2AFC discrimination task and a passive oddball task with the English vowel contrast DRESS-TRAP. Data was analyzed with a multilevel single-trial approach to focus on the explanation of individual differences. The results showed large individual differences in all three tasks, good behavioral discrimination of the vowel contrast, and a large mismatch negativity (MMN) effect. A relation between discrimination performance and the variables musical experience and MMN amplitude was found, indicating that better behavioral discrimination of small acoustic differences was related to more musical experience and larger MMN differences. The absence of a similar relation with identification performance was attributed to a ceiling effect and restricted range of results on this task. The fact that no significant relation was found between musical experience and MMN amplitude, was explained by the required discrimination difficulty to measure a positive effect of musical experience, which was not met by the stimuli in the oddball task.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
This thesis dives into a question of relevance and connection between musical experience and geo-political conflict. Based on fieldwork with the Palestine Community Music Project in the West Bank,...Show moreThis thesis dives into a question of relevance and connection between musical experience and geo-political conflict. Based on fieldwork with the Palestine Community Music Project in the West Bank, it concludes that the musical activities of Palestine Community Music are meaningful in contrast to the participants’ lived experience of the Israeli occupation as a source of relief and an aid in the construction of hope. By choosing a field that does not fit the war-peace framework usually maintained in music and conflict studies, and by exploring the mechanisms behind the constitution of meaning and significance of the musical activities, this thesis ventures towards a more complete understanding of the construction of socio-political significance in music. In addition to the main conclusion of this thesis therefore, light is shed on the dependency of social relevance in music on sensitive dimensions of daily life, as well as on the experience-structuring embracing capacity of musical practices.Show less
