The present study investigates to what extent students, who originate from outside of the Randstad area, accommodate their accent, during their studies here, to Leiden students who have studied in...Show moreThe present study investigates to what extent students, who originate from outside of the Randstad area, accommodate their accent, during their studies here, to Leiden students who have studied in Leiden for a longer time. Moreover, a linguistically marked feature, the ''Gooise r'' is also said to be employed in Leiden and cultivated among these Leiden students. Both of these phenomena were investigated through qualitative interviews. This was researched via the following questions. 1. To what extent do students who come from outside of Leiden accommodate their accent to their peers and why? a. What did they alter? b. To what extent do students possess the so-called Gooise ''r''? c. What are the social and or linguistic connotations of the Gooise ''r'' in Leiden student circles? d. Do they align with existing academic and popular media ones? It turned out that these students accommodated their accent and language to their peers in varying degrees. Possible reasons were their social network, intergroup relations, remarks and preventing miscommunication. The ''Gooise r'' was also present among the majority of the participants. They associated its usage with posh Leiden students or posh people in general, middle class ''Leids'' or working class ''Leienaren''. They all attributed its usage to the Randstad region.Show less
This thesis describes the linguistic innovations of pronominal self-reference and particle usage of cisgender women and third-gender (transgender, non-binary) speakers in Thailand, using Thai talk...Show moreThis thesis describes the linguistic innovations of pronominal self-reference and particle usage of cisgender women and third-gender (transgender, non-binary) speakers in Thailand, using Thai talk shows and series as a source of data. The study finds that both groups of speakers innovate self-reference strategies and index their gender/sexual identities through gender-neutral pronouns, zero anaphora, kinship terms, nicknames and the frequent use or avoidance of feminine forms. Additionally, the study looks into how other people refer to women and third-gender persons in a discursive context.First, this paper begins with an introduction to the relevant theoretical framework regarding language, gender/sexuality, and identity. Following that is background information concerning the current reconceptualizations of gender/sexual identities in Thailand. Next, the traditional Thai pronominal reference strategies and gendered status particles are introduced, followed by the case study about the pronominal self-reference strategies and other particle choices made by cisgendered women, transgender women, and non-binary persons in Thai talk shows and series. I conclude with a discussion of these innovative linguistic practices in the context of changing gender roles in Thailand, and of how speakers use these features to establish new gender identities in day-to-day interaction.Show less
This thesis addresses verbal and non-verbal aspects of Russian identity, namely word order and smiling. It aims at investigating whether Russian national identity is shifting and can be qualified...Show moreThis thesis addresses verbal and non-verbal aspects of Russian identity, namely word order and smiling. It aims at investigating whether Russian national identity is shifting and can be qualified as ‘Western’. In order to examine these aspects, the Matched Guise Test was used, which proved its efficiency in measuring verbal and non-verbal sociolinguistic aspects that existed in a particular language community. For this experiment, native Russian speakers (n=22) were offered to participate in two tests that focused on common and uncommon word order use and use of a sincere smile in a situation where it was not commonly used. In the first task, native Russian speakers were asked to evaluate two equivalent Russian phrases produced by a guise. The phrases were different in their word order. During the second task, a video scene was shown to participants where a stranger smiled sincerely when making eye contact with another stranger. Participants were supposed to assess both tasks across seven characteristics on Likert scales. The results of the first task were compared and correlated with gender and age, as were the findings of the second task. Overall, participants pointed out that uncommon word order and a genuine smile to a stranger could not be regarded as a Russian way of verbal and non-verbal behaviour. This led to the conclusion that participants were sensitive towards these aspects. Also, their responses supported the idea that both aspects contributed to Russian identity formation. Apart from that, the study revealed that female participants were more conservative concerning uncommon word order use, and younger participants were more sensitive towards the sincerity of a smile received from a stranger. However, according to previous research, more studies are needed in order to outline a clear-cut sociolinguistic situation in Russia, especially in measuring attitudes of its population by means of the matched-guise technique.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
The construction of signs in the linguistic landscape (henceforth LL) of a given territory is driven by different reasons, and it can reflect upon an area's cultural, social, political, and...Show moreThe construction of signs in the linguistic landscape (henceforth LL) of a given territory is driven by different reasons, and it can reflect upon an area's cultural, social, political, and economic circumstances. The COVID-19 pandemic that influenced all countries in the year 2020 has kept a common and stable topic for many signs, which provides a unique opportunity to conduct a comparative LL study. The current study investigates COVID-19 related signs displayed on public transport, shop windows, city noticeboards, inside museums and churches in France, Italy, and the Netherlands. By conducting a mixed-method comparative study in three European countries that were (and still are) affected by the pandemic to different degrees, this study contributes to detecting how their multilingual status, identities, cultural values, and socio-political differences are constructed through a combination of linguistic and visual/multimodal representations, using LL signs as a relevant dataset. The data include 766 COVID-19 related signs collected from July to September 2020, in densely populated, urban areas of France, Italy, and the Netherlands. The quantitative and qualitative results show that monolingual ideologies prevail in France, in line with the country's long-lasting "one nation, one language" policy known as "the Toubon Law". The French signs heavily emphasized the importance of following the rules for the sake of safety and public health as well as illustrated the Parisian identity as a fashion hub. France also had the highest number of multimodal signs, showing a greater focus on visual representation to get important messages across during the pandemic. Italy featured a fair amount of English influence on LL signs, which may reflect the importance of tourism to economic recovery in the summer of 2020. A trademark of the Italian data were the many unique and humorous signs, which, alongside the low percentage of government-created signs used during COVID-19, reflect the cultural values of the country (use of humour in response to adverse conditions, preference for individual efforts, distrust of government). The Netherlands featured the highest proportion of English influence in LL signs, in line with the country's high proficiency in English. Minority languages spoken by large immigrant communities were better represented in the Netherlands, showcasing its linguistic and ethnic diversity. Solidarity, collective action and cooperation were emphasized in many COVID-19 related signs, illustrating Dutch cultural values and the fact that people in the Netherlands may have more trust in their government compared with France and Italy.Show less
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
In this thesis, I will address the following research question: Do sarcastic and hiniku utterances without humoristic intent exist? I will explore the relationship between sarcasm, irony and humor...Show moreIn this thesis, I will address the following research question: Do sarcastic and hiniku utterances without humoristic intent exist? I will explore the relationship between sarcasm, irony and humor and hiniku and humor. More often than not, sarcastic utterances are known to have humoristic intent and make the listener and any outside observers laugh by playfully making fun of the listener, i.e. making a joke. Hiniku, the closest Japanese equivalent of sarcasm, has similar aspects for it makes fun of the addressee by criticizing him or her. I want to find out whether sarcasm and hiniku can be used without humoristic intent, i.e. the speaker does not want to be funny when he or she says something sarcastic or hiniku.Show less
Between 2003 and 2006, the Gairaigo Committee, part of the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL), released the Proposal for paraphrasing loanwords, which advocates the...Show moreBetween 2003 and 2006, the Gairaigo Committee, part of the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL), released the Proposal for paraphrasing loanwords, which advocates the usage of Japanese paraphrases for 176 poorly understood loanwords. In the creation of this proposal, the committee prioritized an emphasis on the function of language (i.e., communication problems caused by loanwords) rather than an emphasis on tradition (i.e., ideological issues caused by loanwords). While this is true on an official level, an interview with a key member of the former committee suggests the conceivability that some of its members personally feared the corruption of the Japanese language and culture by loanwords. This outcome has led to an analysis of how Yomiuri Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun, two ideologically distinct newspaper companies represented in the committee, have dealt with the loanwords in NINJAL’s proposal. The research mainly involved a diachronic study of the words between 1995 and 2019 and a comparison of the two newspapers in this regard. The target words show significant differences according to newspaper, as there is an overall tendency of increasing usage in (the more progressive) Asahi Shimbun, while (the more conservative) Yomiuri Shimbun shows a decrease. However, in many cases, it is difficult to associate these changes with NINJAL’s proposal directly. The analysis concludes that there is no clear indication for a relation between the implementation of loanword policy and political ideology.Show less
Research in the field of high-proficiency in L2 speakers most commonly focuses on the age of acquisition and the corresponding critical period hypothesis. More current research tends to focus on...Show moreResearch in the field of high-proficiency in L2 speakers most commonly focuses on the age of acquisition and the corresponding critical period hypothesis. More current research tends to focus on the high-proficiency L2 speaker’s sentence structure or syntax, and their influence on comprehensibility. In this case study, a high-proficiency L2 speaker was phonetically analyzed to describe his L2 accent choices successfully and find possible deviations in his General American accent, according to listeners. 17 American born listeners were recruited to mark deviations based on an 8-minute long audio-clip containing high-proficiency L2 sentence fragments. This audio file was accompanied by a script (appendix 1), which allowed the listeners to highlight deviations, accentedness, or foreignness. The same materials were also presented to an expert listener who would be able to shed more light on the speaker’s possible deviations. Results suggested that the speaker indeed still exhibited some slight deviations according to the listeners. Elements of foreignness were found in in the /g, /l/, /t/, /ɾ/, /ɹ/, /æ/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, and /ɑ/ sound, and the word ‘campfire’ was most commonly marked as deviating according to the listeners.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
The reality in many cities across the world today is one of multilingualism (Kraus & Grin, 2018; Smakman & Heinrich, 2018). Municipalities need to deal with this linguistic superdiversity...Show moreThe reality in many cities across the world today is one of multilingualism (Kraus & Grin, 2018; Smakman & Heinrich, 2018). Municipalities need to deal with this linguistic superdiversity to be able to communicate with their citizens and to navigate inhabitants’ linguistic needs (Blommaert & Rampton, 2001; Kraus & Grin, 2018; Skrandies, 2016). There is a relative lack of research into municipal language policy, while it can have a profound impact on citizens’ lives and sociolinguistic identities (Backhaus, 2012; Siiner, 2014; Skrandies, 2016). The Hague, as the third largest city in The Netherlands, is a prime, but understudied example of such a multilingual reality and associated municipal language policy and politics (Tieken-Boon van Ostade, 2019). Moreover, allegedly, The Hague is the most segregated city in The Netherlands (Cornips et al., 2018), which makes issues of language policy, politics, and practice all the more prominent and interesting to investigate. Therefore, I examined two research questions: what are the language policy and politics regarding multilingualism in The Hague and how are these reflected in practice in municipal signage? The analysis takes a sociolinguistic and language policy perspective to answer these questions and is threefold: it consists of a Corpus Analysis of the language policy and politics of the current municipal council, a Critical Discourse Analysis of two language policy documents, and a Linguistic Landscape analysis of municipal signs in the city. The results of all three analyses indicate that the municipality focuses mostly on the acquisition and use of Dutch and generally describes multilingualism negatively, instead of as a resource. More specifically, the multilingualism of citizens who are already disadvantaged is viewed as an obstacle, while the multilingualism of so-called expats and internationals is embraced. This points to a social divide in The Hague based on socioeconomic class, language, and ethnic background, and is indicative of language ideologies about nationalism and economics (Skrandies, 2016).Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
closed access
Although there have been many studies looking into the integration process, likelihood and types of loans, the position of loans in the recipient language is less clear. They seem to be part of a...Show moreAlthough there have been many studies looking into the integration process, likelihood and types of loans, the position of loans in the recipient language is less clear. They seem to be part of a grey area, between the lexicon and incidental language use, bordering on code-switching. Through the analysis of a Dictionary Project, a Survey Project and Language Expert Interviews, this study attempts to map the factors that influence the perceived Dutchness of English loans in Dutch and attempts to narrow the grey area that loans are part of. The results show that the Linguistic Aspects, Age and Semantics of loans most strongly influence the perceived Dutchness. Moreover, the loans should not be a niche concept or be rarely used. Subsequently, the results make it possible to create a tentative blueprint for the characteristics a loan should have to be perceived as part of Dutch, in effect slightly narrowing the grey area loans are part of.Show less
Computer-Mediated-Communication is bereft of any intonation markers usually found in face-to-face conversations. As a result, how a sender meant to send out a message versus how their addressee...Show moreComputer-Mediated-Communication is bereft of any intonation markers usually found in face-to-face conversations. As a result, how a sender meant to send out a message versus how their addressee reads it sometimes differ. This can lead to uncooperative and confusing online communication. This paper set out to examine if (and what) effects different punctuation types have on the interpretation of meaning in WhatsApp communication, and whether one’s age or native language influences the perception of these markers. The punctuation types were the exclamation mark, ellipsis, periods, and no punctuation. Unlike previous studies conducted on this topic which focussed only on students, this study was conducted among 123 respondents from a wide variety of ages and countries. Through an online survey, participants were asked for their opinions and thoughts to different types of punctuation used in recurring but otherwise identical messages. Results indicated that different punctuation types elicit strong and differing views, based on what punctuation type is used, and that these types influence their feelings towards the message as well as to the personal state of their interlocutor. The most significant findings were found for ellipsis points and messages lacking any punctuation: ellipses can lead to very negative interpretations in respondents, and a lack of punctuation can lead to respondents feeling sidelined. Interpretations of certain punctuation types are influenced by a reader’s age and native language. Using Yus’ theory of a phatic internet and cyber literacy, this paper posits that the reason respondents assign these meanings to different types of punctuation is to avoid misunderstandings, form identities, and stay on good terms with people in a world in which most daily conversation happens online.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
The present study explores the relationship between multilingualism and expressiveness, with reference to the case of ideophones in Zulu. Ideophones make up a large and productive word class in...Show moreThe present study explores the relationship between multilingualism and expressiveness, with reference to the case of ideophones in Zulu. Ideophones make up a large and productive word class in Zulu, as they do in most Bantu languages (Nkabinde, 1986; Doke & Vilakazi, 1951). However, a study by Childs (1996) found that ideophone knowledge and use is in decline among young Zulu speakers in South Africa, likely because of influence from Afrikaans and English as prestige languages which do not have ideophones. This study seeks to follow up on this and expand upon it with the inclusion of gestures and an investigation of the attitudes surrounding ideophone use. The central finding is that the results here conform to Childs’s (1996) prediction that ideophone use is decreasing among Zulu speakers; however, ideophones are generally positively perceived by urban speakers, which stands in stark contrast to what Childs (1996) found. The implications of these positive attitudes are discussed in light of South Africa’s sociolinguistic history and current context. Lastly, I posit the tentative hypothesis that many of the functions of ideophones have persisted into urban Zulu in the form of onomatopoeia and even code-switching.Show less
In a pronunciation evaluation task, 30 Dutch students of English Language & Culture responded to questions about the ‘correctness’ in pronunciation of 4 speakers of global Englishes. This...Show moreIn a pronunciation evaluation task, 30 Dutch students of English Language & Culture responded to questions about the ‘correctness’ in pronunciation of 4 speakers of global Englishes. This included two L1 speakers (from London and New Delhi), and two L2 speakers (from Groningen and Zhengzhou). Follow-up interviews were conducted with 10 participants for further insight. Results showed that the pronunciations were ranked as most to least correct in regard to their similarity to RP. However, three factors were highly influential in participants’ evaluations. Firstly, prosodic features were found to be the defining feature of ‘good’ pronunciation. Secondly, identification of a speaker’s accent affected participants’ overall evaluations. Finally, a speaker was thought to have a lower standard of pronunciation if they did not have an RP accent, regardless of how easy they were to understand. Overall, English was found to be indexical of the UK or USA due to RP and GA being the standard pronunciation models, and if these teaching models are to continue to be the norm, there is an overwhelming need to increase the use of other pronunciation models as stimuli in the classroom to address the practical realities of using English today.Show less
This apparent-time study examines generational phonetic change in the Finland-Swedish community, occurring as a result of increased contact with the Finnish majority language. Finland-Swedish is a...Show moreThis apparent-time study examines generational phonetic change in the Finland-Swedish community, occurring as a result of increased contact with the Finnish majority language. Finland-Swedish is a variety of Swedish that is spoken as a first language by approximately 300,000 people in Finland, while also retaining a status as an official national language alongside Finnish (Hult & Pietikäinen 2014: 4). In the past Finnish and Swedish were largely spoken in different regions and culturally distinct communities. However, lately the Finnish society has become more linguistically mixed, causing the Finnish language to have a larger impact on the lives and language of Finland-Swedish speakers. Using acoustic analysis of formants, the study explores whether Finland-Swedish vowel production in young highly proficient bilingual speakers is undergoing change due to influence from Finnish. The project focuses on the Swedish open-mid front rounded vowel [œ], a more open allophone of [ø] that only occurs before /r/ (Riad 2014: 38; Leinonen 2011: 78). Sample tokens for [ø] and [œ] in different phonological contexts were collected through recordings of photo-elicited interviews from several consecutive generations of bilingual Finland-Swedish speakers. Measuring the first and second formants of the samples, the study examines the phonological differences between the older and younger generations of speakers. The measurements showed that while older-generation late bilingual speakers produced distinct formant values for both allophones, younger native and early bilingual speakers demonstrated more variation in their abilities to differentiate between the allophones in production. Additionally, a survey investigating the perception of [œ] and [ø] in Finland-Swedish suggested that native bilingual Finnish and Finland-Swedish participants were less accurate in matching allophones to target words than monolingual Finland-Swedish participants. The results of both the acoustic analysis and the survey suggest that input from Finnish may affect the perception and production of allophones [œ] and [ø] in the spoken Swedish of native and early bilingual Finland-Swedish speakers.Show less
Elements of English have been infiltrating Dutch casual speech to great extent (Edwards, 2016). Not only loans from English can be found; elements that are not fully accepted into the language, but...Show moreElements of English have been infiltrating Dutch casual speech to great extent (Edwards, 2016). Not only loans from English can be found; elements that are not fully accepted into the language, but that are merely a replacement of English elements for Dutch words, are also present in Dutch. This phenomenon (called code-switching) has been described by various researchers already, such as in Clyne (1987), and more specifically in Dutch by scholars such as Zenner and Geeraerts (2015). However, none of the existing studies have researched the grammatical structure of codeswitching to English in Dutch, or which particular speakers of Dutch are more inclined to use codeswitching. This report investigated whether there are patterns to be found in the use of codeswitching to English by speakers of Dutch; specifically grammatical, semantic and sociolinguistic patterns. The database for this research consisted of a Dutch TV programme called “First Dates” as a primary source for instances of codeswitching, for it contains casual Dutch conversations in an unscripted setting. In total, 421 instances of codeswitching to English were found in the dataset and analysed in terms of length, word category, semantic field, intentionality, creativity and pronunciation. The speakers’ sociolinguistic features, i.e. age, gender, social class and sexual preference, were also included in the analysis. Among other things, the speakers showed a tendency towards short codeswitches in various semantic categories and most of the codeswitches were intentional and uncreative in their structure. Additionally, speakers belonging to youth and gay communities were found to codeswitch very often, whereas social class or gender did not seem to affect the speakers’ codeswitching behaviour. Implications that can be interpreted from the results are the following: the elements of English seem to be integrated into Dutch speech to great extent; generally, unintentional codeswitching may be used to relate to cultural phenomena; and intentional codeswitching is possibly used in a conversational manner. Moreover, socio-pragmatic motivations for codeswitching is likely to involve constructing identity or indexing membership of a cultural subgroup. Hence, these patterns assist in providing a deeper understanding of codeswitching to English, i.e. what kind of tendencies there are on structural, semantic and socio-pragmatic levels, and, more generally, day-to-day language use of speakers of Dutch.Show less
This thesis describes a study surrounding the applicability of politeness theory and the presence of communities of practice in the online game environment of World of Warcraft. By applying theory...Show moreThis thesis describes a study surrounding the applicability of politeness theory and the presence of communities of practice in the online game environment of World of Warcraft. By applying theory and methodologies of sociolinguistics in new media, more specifically computer game studies, this is a completely original and multidisciplinary study. Its main hypotheses revolve around communities of practice and politeness theory. First: Multiple communities of practice potentially exist in the social in-game online environment of World of Warcraft. These communities are likely based on different in-game activities players engage in, and what players have achieved in the game environment. Second: Tied to communities of practice, politeness theory is likely applicable in online game environments, despite social distance, power of speakers over one another, and the absolute ranking of impositions being based on game-specific concepts rather than socio-demographic factors. The research conducted involves: participant observation of several in-game environments and communities; the logging of face-threatening acts committed and face-saving strategies employed by players in different game environments; and the analysis of collected data in order to test hypotheses.Show less
In Japan, public attitudes towards loanwords are not necessarily positive. However, the country does not have a language regulating governmental body that makes a great effort to translate the...Show moreIn Japan, public attitudes towards loanwords are not necessarily positive. However, the country does not have a language regulating governmental body that makes a great effort to translate the continuously growing amount of western terminology into Japanese. This seeming inconsistency can be attributed to a combination of circumstances. Firstly, those undesirable outlooks towards loanwords have not necessarily formed a trigger for language policy in Japan. Secondly, language policy in Japan has had a clear emphasis on practical matters (e.g. communication) in recent decades and is seldom ideology-based. Thirdly, the current situation in Japan becomes clearer from the perspective of its history, geography, law and the linguistics of its language.Show less
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