Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
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This thesis proposes a sketch description of Brazilian Bergamasch, a Gallo-Italian language spoken in the town of Botuverá, in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. Brazilian Bergamasch...Show moreThis thesis proposes a sketch description of Brazilian Bergamasch, a Gallo-Italian language spoken in the town of Botuverá, in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. Brazilian Bergamasch is a non-standard variety of Bergamasch, an Italian language currently spoken in the Italian region of Lombardy, which was brought to Brazil by Italian immigrants in the late 19th century. This thesis has two main goals. Firstly, it aims to provide a grammatical and sociolinguistic sketch of the language, since Brazilian Bergamasch is currently undescribed. The description focuses on the analysis of the sociolinguistic situation present in the community, as well as on the main linguistic structures of the language (lexicon, phonology, morphology, syntax). In both cases, emphasis is given to the features that diverge from the standard variety spoken in Italy. On the basis of numerous discrepancies due to the geographic origins of the community founders on the one hand, and language internal and contact induced change on the other hand, it is argued that Brazilian Bergamasch can in fact be classified as a linguistic system independent from Standard Bergamasch. Secondly, the thesis provides a short wordlist of the basic lexicon of the language. The wordlist, which counts around 770 items, is organized by semantic fields and aims to contribute to projects of language maintenance that are currently being discussed and implemented by the community.Show less
Shibatani & Pardeshi (2002) have argued that there is a continuum from direct to indirect causatives and that there is a connection between that continuum and the productivity of the causative...Show moreShibatani & Pardeshi (2002) have argued that there is a continuum from direct to indirect causatives and that there is a connection between that continuum and the productivity of the causative form. They have also proposed a hypothesis on causative-applicative syncretism. Meanwhile Dixon (2012) has found a correlation between the ‘compactness’ of causative forms and how those forms score on nine parameters. This thesis analyses causative constructions in a geographically and genetically balanced sample of nine languages to check whether these hypotheses hold. This thesis concludes that there is no evidence against these hypotheses and that any possible counterevidence encountered in the sample can be explained on the basis of one these hypotheses.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
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In this study, the grammar and basic lexicon of the Sayan languages (Turkic), spoken in Russia and Mongolia, are compared by means of the features found in WALS (Dryer & Haspelmath 2013). The...Show moreIn this study, the grammar and basic lexicon of the Sayan languages (Turkic), spoken in Russia and Mongolia, are compared by means of the features found in WALS (Dryer & Haspelmath 2013). The main goal of this thesis is to provide a comparative study on four Sayan languages, namely Tuvan, Tofa, Soyot, and Dukha. Tuba, the fifth Sayan language, became extinct before it was described and studied and, therefore, it is excluded from the linguistic study. The data in this study came from the grammars by Anderson & Harrison (1999 and 2006, Tuvan), Rassadin (1971, 1978 and 2010, Tofa and Soyot) and Ragagnin (2011, Dukha). Another question that will be discussed in this thesis is the reason why Tuvan is not moribund, while its sister and daughter languages are. To answer this question, I looked at the history of the Sayan peoples and their current social status. Of all Sayan languages, Tofa showed the least Mongolian influences. This is probably because the Tofa people moved away from the Tuva Basin before the Mongols had a linguistic influence on the Tuvan language. Together with data from the grammars and historical information, a Sayan tree diagram is reconstructed. From the history and the current social status of the Sayan peoples could be concluded that the number of speakers and isolation together form the reason why Tuvan is not extinct and flourishes, while the other Sayan languages struggle to survive.Show less
This thesis compares the consonant inventories of constructed languages with the consonant inventories of natural languages, in an attempt to find out what natural languages are most similar to...Show moreThis thesis compares the consonant inventories of constructed languages with the consonant inventories of natural languages, in an attempt to find out what natural languages are most similar to these constructed languages in terms of consonant inventories. The main objective is to find out whether language creators are influenced by their native languages when creating their own languages. For this purpose, two programming scripts were created in order to quickly compare consonant inventories with each other. Using these programs, 7 constructed languages were each compared to 3,019 natural languages from the online database PHOIBLE. In more than half of the analysed constructed languages, the consonant inventories of the constructed language and the creator’s native language had an overlap of 70% or more, which, when compared to the overlap with other natural languages, is on the higher end of the scale, but rarely the highest end. These results point towards an influence of the native language of the creator on the consonant inventory of their created language.Show less
20% of the Brazilian Amazon has been deforested to date; this threatens the provisioning of vital ecosystem services, some of which are of relevance internationally. This thesis analyzes how...Show more20% of the Brazilian Amazon has been deforested to date; this threatens the provisioning of vital ecosystem services, some of which are of relevance internationally. This thesis analyzes how neoliberalism has influenced the development of deforestation and agri-business in the Brazilian Amazon. The implementation of neoliberal policies in the 1990’s has been instrumental in the exponential growth of agri-business sectors such as cattle and soy within the Brazilian Amazon. Neoliberalism also reconfigured the primary driver of deforestation from the national government to private enterprise, Brazilian agri-business currently represents the primary driver of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. In addition, federally directed development and conservation policies have also been influential in terms of deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon. Neoliberalism, deforestation, agri-business, development policy and conservation policy will all be engaged in order to assess how neoliberalism has impacted agri-business and deforestation within the Brazilian Amazon.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
This thesis attempts to give a clear outline of the distribution of case in Australian languages and thereby aims to clarify the common divsion between Pama-Nyungan and non-Pama-Nyungan languages....Show moreThis thesis attempts to give a clear outline of the distribution of case in Australian languages and thereby aims to clarify the common divsion between Pama-Nyungan and non-Pama-Nyungan languages. That is, Australianists have not always agreed about which cases and core cases occur in which language groupings and what the alignment looks like in each language. On the basis of a representative sample of 12 Australian languages, I give an overview of the core cases and the alignment of these languages. The initial outcome shows a mixture of features, like a widespread ergative case and multiple forms of split ergativity, which not necessarily define the difference between the Pama-Nyungan and the non-Pama-Nyungan language family. As Pama-Nyungan and non-Pama-Nyungan are valid terms, one can, strictly speaking, still make the distinction between these two language families, yet not convincingly on the basis of case.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
The conceptual link between space and time is accounted for by two different theories: Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT, Lakoff and Johnson 1980) and A Theory of Magnitude (ATOM, Walsh 2003). Within...Show moreThe conceptual link between space and time is accounted for by two different theories: Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT, Lakoff and Johnson 1980) and A Theory of Magnitude (ATOM, Walsh 2003). Within a linguistic framework, CMT provides evidence for an asymmetric conceptual link between space and time, opposed to the symmetric link predicted by ATOM. Casasanto and Boroditsky (2008) and Casasanto (2010) presented evidence in favour of CMT from non-linguistic psychophysical tasks. Longer lines appeared to positively affect participants’ estimation of duration, analogous to metaphors for duration using spatial words such as long and short, but duration did not influence the perception of space (Casasanto and Boroditsky 2008). A subsequent study revealed language specific differences in effects of different stimulus types, parallel to the typical duration metaphors found in these languages (Casasanto 2010). The present investigation of Dutch shows that the relation between duration metaphors and the perception of space and duration is less straightforward than what might be expected on the basis of the accounts of Casasanto and Boroditsky (2008) and Casasanto (2010). The results of an experiment with speakers of Dutch reveal a symmetric link between space and duration in the case of space presented in the form of one-dimensional length, but an asymmetric link is reported in case of more-dimensional size. Overall, this provides evidence for ATOM rather than CMT.Show less
Since 2006, Mexico has experienced periods of very high levels of violence and homicide rates, product of a developing conflict between the government and drug trafficking organizations (DTOs)....Show moreSince 2006, Mexico has experienced periods of very high levels of violence and homicide rates, product of a developing conflict between the government and drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). Following a shift in political regimes in 2000 which resulted in the decentralization of government power and an increased focus on combatting corruption, relations between the DTOs and the government grew tense. In 2006, President Felipe Calderón decided to militarize the drug war, resulting in a number of developments which appear to have compromised Mexico’s public security. This thesis attempts to create a timeline of the developments that have occurred since 2006 linked to this conflict. It argues that the government’s interventions against DTOs have amplified the intensity of violence in conflict through applying brute force and poorly thought out policies. The timeline is constructed through the presentation of empirical data coupled with a number of key events that I believe have played a role in the development of drug-related violence in Mexico.Show less
In this thesis I will be looking at complex predicates of Dutch, Jaminjung, Saramaccan and Japanese. The approach will be to part from Dutch and investigate which semantic types of complex...Show moreIn this thesis I will be looking at complex predicates of Dutch, Jaminjung, Saramaccan and Japanese. The approach will be to part from Dutch and investigate which semantic types of complex predicates are also present in the other languages. I found that, although they differ greatly in the combination of word classes in forming complex predicates, they show a great amount of similar semantic types. Each language has complex predicates which are in meaning predictable from the combination of their parts, and those which are not. Both in the predictable and in the non-predictable types they have similar functions, among which one part expresses a causative, inchoative, directional, quantificational, aspect or resultative.Show less
This thesis looks at positive and negative existentials in Finnish and Hungarian with the help of the framework of Denis Creissels’ 7 types of existentials for the positive constructions, as well...Show moreThis thesis looks at positive and negative existentials in Finnish and Hungarian with the help of the framework of Denis Creissels’ 7 types of existentials for the positive constructions, as well as Croft’s Cycle for the negative constructions. The findings are that neither language fits neatly within Creissels’ types, as both show several different constructions. Finnish has three distinct ways of forming existentials: ‘olla + locative’, ‘olla + agent participle of olla + locative’, or a ‘copula only’ construction. Hungarian has two different ways of forming existentials: with ‘lenni + locative’, as well as a ‘copula only’ construction. Not every construction is grammatical in every context. Often existentials cannot be clearly separated from locatives and possessives. Generally, word order and context work together with a specific construction to somewhat differentiate it from other constructions. However, multiple interpretations of a single construction are often possible, so this is not absolute. These findings go against multiple claims often made in conventional literature.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis investigates the linguistic expression and conceptualization of lexical temporal concepts in Kavalan, a highly endangered Austronesian (Formosan) language spoken on the east coast of...Show moreThis thesis investigates the linguistic expression and conceptualization of lexical temporal concepts in Kavalan, a highly endangered Austronesian (Formosan) language spoken on the east coast of Taiwan. The first part consists of a grammar sketch. The second part is the core component, describing and analyzing lexical time in Kavalan based on fieldwork data. The lexical temporal concepts are taken from Haspelmath’s (1997) typological semantic classification of temporal NP-based adverbials. The conceptualization of these concepts is examined using the Conceptual Metaphor Theory as advanced by Lakoff & Johnson (e.g. 1980, 1999b) and adjusted and expanded by Moore (2000, 2006, 2014). Expressions motivated by various TIME IS SPACE metaphors are found to be fairly frequent in Kavalan. The third and final part contains a small typological study, in which Kavalan’s linguistic behavior in terms of temporal expression and conceptualization is compared to that of four other Formosan languages: Tsou, Saisiyat, Isbukun Bunun, and Paiwan. A general pattern is the different encoding of temporal clauses in past situations as opposed to those in future and generic/habitual situations (Zeitoun 1997). Both Kavalan and Saisiyat are curiously found to deviate from this two-way distinction by being more implicit. Tsou is an obvious outlier in various respects, as expected from its likewise diverging general linguistic properties.Show less
Het Helmonds is een taal (ook wel dialect genoemd) gesproken in de stad Helmond, gelegen in het oosten van de provincie Noord-Brabant. Het behoort tot de Peellandse tak van het Oost-Brabants. Deze...Show moreHet Helmonds is een taal (ook wel dialect genoemd) gesproken in de stad Helmond, gelegen in het oosten van de provincie Noord-Brabant. Het behoort tot de Peellandse tak van het Oost-Brabants. Deze scriptie beschrijft zijn fonologie, morfologie en morfofonologie. In deze domeinen verschilt het Helmonds het sterkst van het Standaardnederlands (SN). Zo heeft de taal veertien monoftongen, één meer dan de dertien die Booij (1995: 5) voor het SN beschrijft. Dit is ook typologisch opvallend. Maddiesons (2013) sample van 564 talen bevat bijvoorbeeld maar één taal met veertien klinkers. Daarmee is het Helmonds een zeldzaamheid onder de talen van de wereld. Naast de grotere klinkerinventaris verschilt het Helmonds van het SN op het gebied van flexie. Het heeft affixen die niet voorkomen in het SN. Ook wordt modificatie van de wortel van een woord veelvuldig gebruikt om bepaalde morfologische functies uit te drukken. Verder heeft de toevoeging van morfologie vaak invloed op de realisatie van de wortel, waardoor de fonetische realisatie van de taal vaak afwijkt van haar onderliggende structuur. De morfofonologie is daarmee erg complex. Ondanks deze complexiteit is deze scriptie toch een erg volledige beschrijving van de eerdergenoemde domeinen. De data waar deze beschrijving zich op baseert is door de auteur zelf verzameld in Helmond. Hierbij heeft hij rekening gehouden met sociolinguïstische factoren als gender en plaats van geboorte binnen Helmond. Uit dit onderzoek is daarmee ook gebleken dat er twee variëteiten in Helmond gesproken worden, hier Perifeer Helmonds (PH) en Centraal Helmonds (CH) genoemd. Deze variëteiten zijn te verbinden met de plaats van geboorte van de spreker. Deze beschrijving is de eerste volledige beschrijving van de fonologie, morfologie en morfofonologie van het Helmonds. Het is daarmee een onmisbare bron voor eenieder die geïnteresseerd is in het Helmonds, maar ook in Noord-Brabantse dialectologie in het algemeen. Verder is de sectie over fonologie ook interessant voor het vakgebied van de taaltypologie.Show less
Ameka en Levinson (2007) hebben de verschillende locationele constructies die voor kunnen komen in talen van de wereld opgedeeld in vier types. Bij twee types kan er gebruik worden gemaakt van de...Show moreAmeka en Levinson (2007) hebben de verschillende locationele constructies die voor kunnen komen in talen van de wereld opgedeeld in vier types. Bij twee types kan er gebruik worden gemaakt van de positiewerkwoorden ‘liggen', ‘zitten’ en ‘staan’, zoals het Nederlands dat doet. Maar, hoe maken talen in de rest van de wereld gebruik van positiewerkwoorden in locationele constructies met onbezielde objecten? Aan de hand van literatuur onderzoek en een questionnaire afgenomen onder moedertaalsprekers van het Zweeds is er in deze scriptie gekeken worden naar het gebruikt van (positie)werkwoorden in locationele constructies in talen van de wereld. De talen die aan bod komen zijn het Zweeds (Indo-Europees, Noord-Germaans), Seri (isolaat), Gurenɛ (Niger-Congo, Gur), Tzeltal (Maya, Yucatecan-Core Maya), Ese Ejja (Tacana), Yélî Dnye (isolaat) en het Galo (Tibeto-Birmees, Tani). Deze talen maken ruwweg op dezelfde manier gebruik van positiewerkwoorden: ‘liggen’ wordt vooral gebruikt bij horizontaal georiënteerde objecten, ‘staan’ bij verticaal georiënteerde objecten en ‘zitten’ wanneer het object in of vast zit aan de ondergrond. Ook ‘hangen’ wordt in enkele talen gebruikt bij onbezielde objecten. Er zijn enkele uitzonderingen te vinden in de locationele constructies van het Galo, Tzeltal, Ese Ejja, en GurenɛShow less
This Bachelor’s thesis analyzes the influence of the ideologies marianismo and machismo on society in Mexico. By analyzing the country’s past, from pre-Hispanic times until after the conquest, it...Show moreThis Bachelor’s thesis analyzes the influence of the ideologies marianismo and machismo on society in Mexico. By analyzing the country’s past, from pre-Hispanic times until after the conquest, it is safe to say that the past continues to have a significant influence on present day Mexico. Marianismo and machismo were used by the Spaniards, as tools for controlling the indigenous people of Mexico, and this has led to the subordinate social position of women. As marianismo and machismo continue to be deeply embedded in Mexican culture, it is important to detect the main institutions that perpetuate these traditions, and cause them to live on in the present. Even though we can see the presence of marianismo and machismo throughout the whole of Mexican society, this work will focus on the economic position and political participation of women. Generally speaking, the family can be considered the main institution that keeps these ideologies alive, doing so by means of traditional norms and values. This thesis will show that, besides the impact on the family unit, marianismo and machismo also have significant effects on the labor market and the political sphere.Show less
The origin of the research idea of this thesis comes from a feature discovered through fieldwork on Bugis, a Western Malayo-Polynesian language. In this language, two different word orders are...Show moreThe origin of the research idea of this thesis comes from a feature discovered through fieldwork on Bugis, a Western Malayo-Polynesian language. In this language, two different word orders are possible: in the basic order, different affixes occur on the verb and the arguments, while the non basic order receives no marking. The goal of this thesis is to examine some unrelated languages in order to find out if, with different word orders, there is any difference in marking. Seven languages belonging to different families and areas have been chosen for this purpose: Tuvan (South Siberian Turkic), Lao (Tai, Tai-Kadai), Figuig Berber (Berber, Afroasiatic), Itonama (Amazonian isolate), Savosavo (Papuan), Madurese (Western Malayo-Polynesian, Austronesian) and Santali (Munda, Austroasiatic). The obtained results indicate that most languages show some different marking with different word orders, and a few languages that do not, have a rigid word order that does not allow changes. The changes in marking are not as obvious as in Bugis except in Madurese, which shows a high interaction between marking and word order. Moreover, the fact that clauses with the basic word order receive more marking occurs also in Figuig Berber. Further research with many more languages would be needed in order to discover if this feature may be common cross linguistically, given that the low number of the studied languages does not allow cross linguistic generalisations.Show less
The Mapuche community is an indigenous group in Chile and Argentina and can be considered a cross-border nation. Since the establishment of national borders and nationalization programs by the...Show moreThe Mapuche community is an indigenous group in Chile and Argentina and can be considered a cross-border nation. Since the establishment of national borders and nationalization programs by the Chilean and Argentinian governments, the group has diminished. There are less Mapuche in Argentina and only a small amount of speakers of Mapudungun (the Mapuche language). Chile has a larger Mapuche community and is well known for its activism, such as political participation and protests. This thesis analyses the differences between the Chilean and Argentinian Mapuche and what the reasons are behind those differences. The main focus is on the indigenous rights, including land rights and the offer of bilingual education. The most important reasons lined out for the differences can be traced back to historical events, and are often a result of the nationalization processes and governmental policies towards indigenous groups.Show less
This thesis analyzes the ongoing debate to what extent Mexico can be considered a failed state. There are different points of view about the concept of the failed state, on the one hand it is...Show moreThis thesis analyzes the ongoing debate to what extent Mexico can be considered a failed state. There are different points of view about the concept of the failed state, on the one hand it is commonly accepted; and on the other hand it is mainly seen as a Western paradigm. Mexico has longstanding problems with violence and the failure of the government to provide internal security, both a result of the democratization of this century and the war on drugs by the government. The government cannot address the violence effectively because of the dysfunction of institutions like the police. Another longstanding problem that influences the country are the human rights abuses, in relation to the war on drugs. However, despite these longstanding problems, the Mexican state overall is not failed and will not fail in the near future because it functions effectively on other levels. Economically the country has a strong position in the region. Moreover, the government is able to perform its daily tasks effectively. The failed state paradigm does not take into account the specific cultural and historic characteristics of state development, which is different in every region. The structural problems in Mexico can pose a threat to democracy in the country, but will not lead to state failure.Show less
According to Miestamo (2005:18), a lot of cross-linguistic research has been undertaken on what is called standard negation (Dahl 1979; Payne 1985; Forest 1993; Honda 1996). However, in these works...Show moreAccording to Miestamo (2005:18), a lot of cross-linguistic research has been undertaken on what is called standard negation (Dahl 1979; Payne 1985; Forest 1993; Honda 1996). However, in these works, little attention is paid to the negation of existential clauses. Recently, a typological study of negative existential clauses was carried out by Vesselinova (2013), who focuses on how this special type of negation relates to standard negation. Since affirmative existential clauses are often related to possessive and locative clauses (Lyons 1967; Clark 1978; Payne 1997), this thesis examines negative existential clauses according to their relation with negative possessive and locative clauses in a geographically and genetically balanced sample of 12 languages. This relation is compared to the way their affirmative counterparts relate to each other. The data used in this study comes from descriptive grammars, linguistic articles on the languages, and personal communication with speakers. It appears that in the majority (66,67%) of the sample languages negative existential, possessive and locative clauses are related to each other in the same configuration as their affirmative counterparts, while a minority of the sample languages is asymmetric in this respect. The pattern that is found in most of the sample languages is that in which all three clause types are related to each other. None of the sample languages follows a pattern in which negative existential clauses are not related to either negative possessive or negative locative clauses.Show less
