Bilingual education programmes have been increasing in popularity in the Netherlands. These programmes use language integrated learning: a pedagogical principle through which the material is taught...Show moreBilingual education programmes have been increasing in popularity in the Netherlands. These programmes use language integrated learning: a pedagogical principle through which the material is taught in a second language, often English. This thesis focusses on the effects of these programmes on pupils’ motivation to learn and to seek out native input, as well as on the influence these programmes have on students’ L2 phonology. More specifically, it analyses whether pupils are able to pronounce English word-final obstruents properly, both their voiced and voiceless variants. This is something that is particularly challenging, as prior research on the Marked Differential Hypothesis and Optimality Theory showed that voiced obstruents are a marked language feature of English, as well as one that is not present in Dutch. Through a digital questionnaire and a reading task, pupils from bilingual and monolingual streams of the same high school participated in this study. The research found no significant difference in the level of motivation or desire to seek out input between the two groups, but TTO students did use English captions more often when watching English films and series. Error analyses of the reading tasks of three pupils found that the TTO pupil did only devoice word-final fricatives, whereas the VWO pupils devoiced both the stops and the fricatives. Furthermore, other errors, such as applying the Dutch phonological rule of Regressive Voice Assimilation and altering the place of articulation, were only made by VWO pupils. Sending the recordings made by the pupils to native speakers confirmed that the TTO pupil did sound more native than the VWO pupils. However, due to the limited number of analyses, it can only be speculated what general effects bilingual education has on the L2 phonology of a wider variety of pupils.Show less
De afgelopen jaren is het rekenonderwijs op de basisschool taliger geworden, waardoor leerlingen met het Nederlands als tweede taal voor een extra opgave zijn komen te staan. In dit onderzoek zijn...Show moreDe afgelopen jaren is het rekenonderwijs op de basisschool taliger geworden, waardoor leerlingen met het Nederlands als tweede taal voor een extra opgave zijn komen te staan. In dit onderzoek zijn de rekenscores van ééntalige Nederlandse en tweetalige leerlingen (turks en overige moedertalen) in groep 6 op de basisschool met elkaar vergeleken op kale en contextsommen door middel van een rekentaak. Hierbij is de invloed van cultuurspecifieke namen van het Nederlands en van het Turks op de rekenscores van deze leerlingen onderzocht.Show less
This study aimed to provide a clearer understanding of the phonetic influence a native speaker of Arabic can experience during the acquisition of English as a second language (ESL), specifically...Show moreThis study aimed to provide a clearer understanding of the phonetic influence a native speaker of Arabic can experience during the acquisition of English as a second language (ESL), specifically for the consonants /p/ and /v/ in spelling and pronunciation. In a small-scale experiment, Arabic speakers of English were asked to translate an Arabic story to English by hand to create an authentic product of their spelling abilities. Afterwards, the same participants read a short story in English, which was recorded with audio equipment to later evaluate their pronunciation through the program PRAAT. Contrary to existing literature, the small-scale experiment conducted for this study found no significant effect for the influence of Arabic on English spelling despite this being hypothesised and proven in previous research. Along with this, no effect was found for the experiment based on the pronunciation of /p/ and /v/. Whereas the results did show that Arabic speakers of English had a Voice Onset Time (VOT) of /p/ that was considerably lower, they did not realise a [b] instead of the target [ph] as hypothesised. Speakers did not significantly devoice their /v/ to an [f], which does not directly coincide with the literature that has hypothesised the influence of native language phonology on the pronunciation of English as a second language. When evaluating the results as a whole, two things are implied: (1) there is a possible focus in ESL learning on spelling and therefore no issues were found, and (2) pronunciation is a difficult aspect of ESL learning due to the unfamiliar articulatory processes involved and Arabic learners experience difficulties when faced with the unfamiliar /p/ and to a lesser degree also /v/. However, they are able to make the distinction between the phoneme pairs. These implications may help ESL learners in the future to focus on problem areas, further improve their skills, while simultaneously providing the research niche of phonology with new material to investigate.Show less
This thesis will test the hypothesis that Turkish- Dutch teenagers and Dutch English as a second learner teenagers, code-switch back to their first language, Turkish or Dutch when they are...Show moreThis thesis will test the hypothesis that Turkish- Dutch teenagers and Dutch English as a second learner teenagers, code-switch back to their first language, Turkish or Dutch when they are expressing the emotions ‘anger’ and ‘happiness’ in Dutch (second language for the Turkish-Dutch teenagers) or English (second language for the Turkish- Dutch teenagers, but third language for the Turkish- Dutch teenagers). According to scholars like Dewaele and Pavlenko among others, the first language is more encoded in the bilingual’s memory and that the first language feels more vivid and natural to the bilingual participant or the second language learner, therefore they codeswitch back to their first language when they are expressing strong emotions such as ‘anger’(Dewaele 119). However, there are also participants from Pavlenko’s study who claim to express their emotions in their second language, because it is the language of self-control. In order to test the hypothesis, 16 Turkish- Dutch participants and 16 Dutch participants, who varied between the ages twelve till twenty-one, had to fill in a survey, which contains questions about language exposure and language use. The survey also contains indirect questions about social- economic status. After the survey the participants were asked to do a role-play in either Dutch or English. They were randomly given a cartoon, which contains animals who were either best friends or complete strangers to each other, the cartoon had either a good end or unhappy end. The participants were audio-recorded and these audio recordings were transcribed word for word. Later on, they received a qualitrics link to fill in a final survey for a follow up study. The results of the survey, transcribed conversations and the follow up study were analysed on the base of sex, age, and ethnicity. Due to the experimental setting, the hypothesis could not be confirmed.Show less
Rhythm is an organizational device in language and in music. In both domains, rhythm helps to structure the sound stream (speech or music), by grouping auditory events, that is, sounds and pauses,...Show moreRhythm is an organizational device in language and in music. In both domains, rhythm helps to structure the sound stream (speech or music), by grouping auditory events, that is, sounds and pauses, into meaningful units together in a hierarchical manner. In language, speech rhythm is of importance because it helps speech segmentation and intelligibility and it belongs to the linguistic inventory of a language. Mastering the rhythmic properties of a language is just as important as mastering any relevant linguistic information. When learning a second language (L2), together with its vocabulary and grammar, second language learners must also master a set of rhythmic properties that are either in partial or in complete overlap with their first language or that are completely different. This is the case because languages of the world diverge in terms of their use of rhyhtmic properties and metric preferences. Previous research has described the world' s languages as being stress-timed, syllable-timed or mora-timed languages. Stress-timed languages, from which English is the exemplary item, have the metric foot as their unit of speech perception and production. The metric foot is a combination of one stressed syllable dominating zero or more unstressed ones. In syllable-timed languages, is the syllable, regardless of stress that functions as unit of speech production and perception. In mora-timed languages, it is the mora, a sub-unit of the syllable. Being sensitive to different sets of rhythmic properties may present an advantage to L2 learners, as these could help them more promptly identify and select the target language. Previous research has shown that individuals who master languages with different rhythmic properties are more sensitive to music rhythmic variation than individuals who master languages with similar rhythmic preferences or with very low-proficiency in an L2. The current thesis addresses two of these claims, namely, that learning languages with similar rhythmic properties does not present such an advantage to rhythmic perception as mastering languages with distinct use of rhythm; and that learning a second language, regardless of its rhythmic similarities to or differences from one's first language, enhances individuals' rhythmic perception. This thesis does so by conducting two meta-analyses, using data from two different studies by Roncaglia-Denissen and colleagues (2016; 2013). The results support both claims, namely that learning a second language with similar rhythmic properties as one's first language does not present such a great advantage as mastering languages with different rhythmic properties and that proficiency in a second language is positively associated with individuals' music rhythmic perception. The implication of these findings is that speech rhythm seems to be part of a domain-general skill, which is used in and transferred to different cognitive domains, whenever acoustic similarities between domains are encountered.Show less
Dental fricatives are amongst the rarest speech sounds in the natural languages found in the world (Jekiel, 2012) and have disappeared from most Germanic languages (Laker, 2014). However, the...Show moreDental fricatives are amongst the rarest speech sounds in the natural languages found in the world (Jekiel, 2012) and have disappeared from most Germanic languages (Laker, 2014). However, the standard varieties of English still contain both the voiced and voiceless dental fricatives as phonemes. Although these phonemes are still common in e.g. Received Pronunciation (RP) and General American (GA) (Ladefoged & Maddieson, 1996), the dental fricatives are often replaced in other, non-standard varieties through processes such as th-fronting. The phenomenon of these contemporary changes in articulation has been studied, though a large portion of the research has been based mostly on sociolinguistic descriptions and discussing the phenomenon from this field’s paradigm (see e.g. Kerswill, 2003; Stuart-Smith et al., 2013) without thoroughly discussing other potential underlying phenomena that could cause the variation and change of dental fricatives in dialects: phonetic and phonological reasons, as an addition to sociolinguistic explanations, could provide a greater understanding of the factors of speech sound variation. This thesis explores some of the various ways the subfields of linguistics, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and phonetics, can work together to provide insights into the underlying factors influencing sound changes. By analysing the scientific literature concerning dental fricatives, the tentative conclusion was reached that, as dental fricatives do not have much phonemic function and are difficult to acquire and most Germanic languages have lost the dental fricatives, Britain could soon follow, especially if th-fronting loses its social stigma.Show less
This thesis establishes the origin of Stephen Fry's accent by applying research into his use of intrusive and linking consonants. /r/, /j/ and /w/ are researched and analyzed using John Harris'...Show moreThis thesis establishes the origin of Stephen Fry's accent by applying research into his use of intrusive and linking consonants. /r/, /j/ and /w/ are researched and analyzed using John Harris' work as a baselineShow less
This study examines the voice onset time (VOT) in voiced and voiceless plosives of Dutch late-language learners of English. Dutch contrasts prevoicing with short-lag VOT, while English has a short...Show moreThis study examines the voice onset time (VOT) in voiced and voiceless plosives of Dutch late-language learners of English. Dutch contrasts prevoicing with short-lag VOT, while English has a short-lag and long lag VOT contrast, making them an interesting language pair to look at for bilingual research. In order to find naturalistic VOT values, the data used for this study was found by analysing five speakers as case studies on YouTube. The data was collected in Dutch, English and code-switched sentences. Although there were individual differences, some speakers managed to produce native-like English VOT values for both the voiceless and the voiced plosives. In code-switched utterances, the VOT values for the voiceless plosives were slightly higher than the Dutch values, while the voiced plosives were still produced with prevoicing. Some speakers were thus able to maintain separate categories in both languages, although there was more L1 interference in code-switched contexts. The data also showed that the velar and alveolar plosives followed by a sonorant consonant in English and code-switched contexts contained higher VOT means than those followed by a vowel, suggesting that these are easier to acquire for an L2 learner.Show less
This study explores the influence of bilingualism on the process of educational third language acquisition (TLA) among adolescents who have previously acquired proficiency a second language. Within...Show moreThis study explores the influence of bilingualism on the process of educational third language acquisition (TLA) among adolescents who have previously acquired proficiency a second language. Within contemporary research, it is frequently suggested that bilingualism positively influences the process of TLA, since bilinguals are familiar with language processing strategies and have almost certainly developed multicompetence (Cenoz, 2003; De la Fuente & Lacroix, 2015; Ter Kuile, Veldhuis, Van Veen, & Wicherts, 2011). This study takes into consideration the concept of ‘focus on multilingualism’, which emphasizes the multilingual speaker, their whole linguistic repertoire, and the social context when analyzing TLA (Cenoz, 2013). In order to examine whether previous acquired linguistic knowledge by bilinguals benefits the process of TLA within an educational setting, a survey was conducted among 29 bilingual students who are currently acquiring Korean as an additional language at Leiden University. The results obtained from the surveys are divided into three groups, based on in which stage in life the respective students have acquired proficiency in their additional language. The conducted survey consists of 20 questions regarding the students’ perspectives towards the effect of their age-specific bilingualism on their process of acquiring Korean as a L3, in terms of learning grammar, pronunciation and words. The data obtained from this study demonstrates three unexpected findings, which have not been previously indicated within the research field of TLA and bilingualism. Firstly, students who acquired proficiency in a second language before the age of 10 are more positive about the influence of bilingualism on acquiring the appropriate pronunciation in the process of TLA, than about the impact of bilingualism on learning grammatical structures. Secondly, speakers of at least one non-Germanic language were more positive about the influence of bilingualism on learning grammar and pronunciation, as opposed to speakers of only Germanic languages. Thirdly, students who have been exposed to two or more languages between birth and the age of 4 are the most positive about the influence of bilingualism on learning words. This study argues that early bilinguals are more likely to demonstrate cross-linguistic influence between their acquired languages, causing them to be more positive about the experience of learning an additional language. Subsequently, this study suggests that the process of cross-linguistic influence between two typologically different languages is likely to positively influence student’s perspectives on learning an additional typologically different language. Finally, this study proposes that speakers of bilingual FLA are positive about the influence of their bilingualism on learning words, since they perceive their prior linguistic knowledge as the necessary experience to accomplish proficiency in an additional language.Show less
This study aims to gain an insight into the similarities and differences in the acquisition of foreign language morphology in secondary school learners with different native languages. To this aim,...Show moreThis study aims to gain an insight into the similarities and differences in the acquisition of foreign language morphology in secondary school learners with different native languages. To this aim, the linguistic behavior of English and Dutch students was examined in the context of the overgeneralization phenomenon and the dual-mechanism theory. The groups were asked to conjugate both existing and non-existing nouns and verbs in one or two of their foreign languages. The results show that overgeneralization plays a major role in the foreign language acquisition of both groups, particularly in irregular conjugation. However, with more target language experience, these errors dissipated, confirming a prediction based on the dual-mechanism theory. Moreover, the results show that the language learning environment had a major influence on the students’ perception of foreign language learning strategies, which in turn affected their language use and behavior. The responses of the English students, who learned Dutch in a predominantly naturalistic learning environment, demonstrated spontaneous and intuitive language use. This contrasts with the responses of the Dutch students, who learned English in an institutional environment and showed forced, rule-based language use. These results are supported by findings in German, in which the Dutch students showed similar language behavior to English, despite the close genetic relationship between German and Dutch.Show less
Abstract The Reformation gave a boost to missionary work and bible translation and in particular brought about an increasing interest in language in general. In the 17th century for example, John...Show moreAbstract The Reformation gave a boost to missionary work and bible translation and in particular brought about an increasing interest in language in general. In the 17th century for example, John Eliot translated a whole bible in the Massachusett dialect, a language spoken by the Amerindians of North America. Today, we have computer-based approaches in the linguistic disciplines. Before one is able to translate and to document an unwritten language, one needs to be able to distinguish between the individual sounds of the language and one has to work out how they appear in their phonological and morphological context. It was the aim of this BA thesis to investigate how several stages of these phonemic and phonological processes took place at different periods of time and to draw a few conclusions about each of the individual approaches investigated.Show less
This paper investigates the attitudes which may be assigned to an irregular form of phonation that appears in the English language. The unusual manner of vocalization involves the pulmonic...Show moreThis paper investigates the attitudes which may be assigned to an irregular form of phonation that appears in the English language. The unusual manner of vocalization involves the pulmonic airstream mechanism to produce pulmonic ingressive (PI) speech. The reverse phonation (RP) is used as a paralinguistic signal (PS) with discourse markers. Clarke and Melchers (2005) typify the token by providing a discourse analysis of its previous uses in communities in Canada, Iceland, Norway, Scotland and Sweden. This paper examines the token, which now appears in English used in the Netherlands, and its reception amongst people who encounter it.Show less
