There are a number of Cushitic languages that have a gender system that includes a gender known as ‘plural gender’. The existence of ‘plural’ gender is a peculiar feature in these languages and for...Show moreThere are a number of Cushitic languages that have a gender system that includes a gender known as ‘plural gender’. The existence of ‘plural’ gender is a peculiar feature in these languages and for that reason this thesis aims to find out how this gender developed. This thesis analyzes three languages in each of two branches of East-Cushitic languages. For each of the two branches this thesis examines at least one language with plural gender and one without.Show less
In the US, it seems that the Right is associated with bad or incorrect language use. The Left, on the other hand, seems to be associated with prescribing language. According to Chapman (2012), in...Show moreIn the US, it seems that the Right is associated with bad or incorrect language use. The Left, on the other hand, seems to be associated with prescribing language. According to Chapman (2012), in the UK, Conservatives are often associated with prescriptivism because they are “bound up with issues of tradition and control” (p. 128). After creating a corpus of American and British English Facebook comments, I analysed the comments written by people who are anti-Trump, pro-Trump, anti-Brexit and pro-Brexit and found that overall the pro-Brexit and Trump group are more inclined to make linguistic mistakes and use non-standard English, whereas the anti-Trump and Brexit group is more likely to write prescriptive comments.Show less
This Perceptual Dialectology study of three dialects spoken in the South of Noord-Brabant in the Netherlands (Roosendaals, Oudenbosch, and Ruchpens) explored to what degree people from these towns...Show moreThis Perceptual Dialectology study of three dialects spoken in the South of Noord-Brabant in the Netherlands (Roosendaals, Oudenbosch, and Ruchpens) explored to what degree people from these towns are aware of the dialect features that make up their dialect, what these dialect features are and if these people are aware of the differences and similarities between their own dialect and that of the other two towns. The participants were thirty dialect speakers who are born, raised and still residential in one of the three studied towns. Interviews were held with these participants in which they were asked about their views on and knowledge about their own dialect and that of the two other towns. From these interviews it has become clear that, although Roosendaals, Oudenbosch and Rucphens have similarities, they do differ from each other on a lexical and a phonetic level. Most importantly, the results suggest that one’s level of sociophonetic awareness of their dialect relates to what degree they are capable of speaking Standard Dutch.Show less
The principal idea of this thesis is to study a particular aspect of language practice, namely involvement. Charlotte Brontё’s private language use in her letters by focusing on linguistic...Show moreThe principal idea of this thesis is to study a particular aspect of language practice, namely involvement. Charlotte Brontё’s private language use in her letters by focusing on linguistic involvement is analysed in the present work. In order to examine the degree of Charlotte Brontё’s involvement exhibited in her personal letters, the following topics have been addressed: the language of correspondence of Charlotte Brontё with regard to the actual usage of the English language of the Late Modern English period based on the information of the language during that time provided in the Cambridge History of the English Language, Volume IV: 1776–1997 (ed. Romaine 1999), the nature of the relationships of Charlotte Brontё with her private interlocutors and the notion of involvement with respect to letter-writing activity. The main hypothesis of this thesis is strongly based on Sairio (2005: 24–25) and suggests that the level of linguistic involvement, as examined by her, differs between different addressees and can be revealed by analyzing the use of evidential adverbs, degree adverbs and first- and second-person singular pronouns.Show less
Diphthongization of the vowel /e:/ into the diphthong [ei] is a common phenomenon in Dutch and can be transferred to an L2; we found in our bachelor thesis that, although the French vowel /e/...Show moreDiphthongization of the vowel /e:/ into the diphthong [ei] is a common phenomenon in Dutch and can be transferred to an L2; we found in our bachelor thesis that, although the French vowel /e/ should not be diphthongized, Dutch learners of French tend to do this. Interestingly, they do this more when the vowel /e/ occurs in the first syllable of a word. That is why we investigated in the current study if coarticulation with neighboring sounds plays a role in the diphthongization of the French vowel /e/ in Dutch learners of French. Furthermore, we didn't only focus on production, but we also investigated whether Dutch learners of French can perceive the difference between the French monophthong /e/ and the Dutch diphthong [ei] and whether neighboring sounds influence this perception in an AXB task. Finally, we examined whether the perception of the participants was correlated with their production. We found that the neighboring sounds indeed seem to influence both the production and the perception of the diphthongization of the French vowel /e/; when the /e/ was followed by the dental sound /t/, it was significantly more diphthongized than when it was followed by the labial sound /p/. Interestingly, although the /t/ gives rise to more diphthongization in production, the participants perceived the least diphthongs in a /t/ context in the perception task, which could be explained as a compensation effect for coarticulation. It was less clear whether the participants were able to distinguish between the monophthong /e/ and the diphthong [ei] in the perception task. Finally, we didn't find a correlation between the production and perception of the diphthongization of the French vowel /e/ in Dutch learners of French.Show less
This thesis argues that conceptual blending of mental spaces (as described by Fauconnier and Turner (2002), and Brandt and Brandt (2005)) enables the understanding of metaphors and imagery. The...Show moreThis thesis argues that conceptual blending of mental spaces (as described by Fauconnier and Turner (2002), and Brandt and Brandt (2005)) enables the understanding of metaphors and imagery. The focus lies on the function of integration networks and their complex nested structures. I propose that the nested integration network designed by Per-Aage Brandt (2005) can be used to showcase the concept of a frame: a long-term mental space network of knowledge and information (Ziem 2014). Through the analysis of ten quotes from the Dutch literary comic series ‘De Avonturen van Tom Poes’ (‘The Adventures of Tom Puss’), this thesis demonstrates the use of a new model specifically designed to showcase nested structures: the Bommodel.Show less
This study explores the nature of lying and its relationship to fiction. The purpose of this study is to challenge Meibauer’s (2015:158-182) claim that fiction cannot lie because authors do not...Show moreThis study explores the nature of lying and its relationship to fiction. The purpose of this study is to challenge Meibauer’s (2015:158-182) claim that fiction cannot lie because authors do not present their fiction as true. In doing so, this study will provide a compare-and-contrast analysis of the opening title cards of Joel and Ethan Coen’s film Fargo (1996) and Spike Lee’s film BlacKkKlansman (2018). Whereas the opening title card of the latter film appears to justly claim that it is based on a true story, the former appears to falsely assert this. This suggests that fiction may possess the capacity of lying. To determine this, the first chapter of this study establishes a pragmatic definition of lying, which, in essence, entails a speaker (S) asserting a proposition (p) which he/she does not believe in. Since this study focuses on fiction, the second chapter endeavors to establish a definition of fictional communication, which, in essence, entails an author (U) performing assertive illocutionary acts through fictive utterances and an audience (H) who ought to make believe the propositions (P) put forward in these utterances. The analysis and results of this study, which applies the theory provided in the first two chapters to the title cards of Fargo (1996) and BlacKkKlansman (2018), indicate that a speaker may well lie by means of a work of fiction.Show less
In this thesis I investigated the hypothesis that the Tocharian agglutinative case system was influenced by Uralic – in particular by the Samoyedic branch of Uralic. The language contact between...Show moreIn this thesis I investigated the hypothesis that the Tocharian agglutinative case system was influenced by Uralic – in particular by the Samoyedic branch of Uralic. The language contact between Tocharian and Samoyedic would have happened in prehistoric times, which means that the attested languages cannot directly be used as the basis for a reliable comparison: reconstructions of both case systems were needed. I discussed (i) the structure of the Proto-Tocharian and Proto-Samoyedic case systems, (ii) the reconstructible functions of the individual cases, as well as (iii) the way in which the two case systems developed, and compared Tocharian and Samoyedic on these three points. Finally, I evaluated whether an explanation based on prehistoric language contact is able to account for the linguistic facts.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
In this thesis, first, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was reviewed and established as a prime example of the Anglo-Saxon language. Second, the principles of the transitional nature of Old English to ...Show moreIn this thesis, first, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was reviewed and established as a prime example of the Anglo-Saxon language. Second, the principles of the transitional nature of Old English to (Early) Middle English were discussed and examples thereof in The Peterborough Chronicle were highlighted. Third, the origins of the dative declension were examined and various dative semantic contexts were illustrated. Finally, an analysis exploring dative inflection rates was formed based on the study of 247 expected dative phrases. Hereon, this thesis exemplified the hypothesis set out in the beginning of this paper: rather than declining ubiquitously, the practice of inflection remained largely intact in various dative semantic contexts whereas it had disappeared in others. Altogether, the semantic contexts display dissimilar rates of inflection regarding the distribution of the dative inflection in The Interpolations, The First Continuation and The Final Continuation.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
In this thesis, the phenomenon of dangling topic sentences in Mandarin is investigated. These topics can appear without obvious marking in sentence initial position and are not related to a...Show moreIn this thesis, the phenomenon of dangling topic sentences in Mandarin is investigated. These topics can appear without obvious marking in sentence initial position and are not related to a resumptive pronoun or a gap in the comment. The goal is to explain that these sentences are actually not exclusive to Mandarin, but also appear in many other languages. Furthermore, I provide evidence that suggests that these topics receive a topic marker that is part of the numeration and are thus not as "bare" as they appear to be at first glance. This marker can either be realized prosodically or by a particle.Show less
This thesis presents a textual analysis, and an annotated translation based on this analysis, of the novel Bint, by the Dutch author Ferdinand Bordewijk (1934). Bint’s style is considered an...Show moreThis thesis presents a textual analysis, and an annotated translation based on this analysis, of the novel Bint, by the Dutch author Ferdinand Bordewijk (1934). Bint’s style is considered an example of the "Nieuwe Zakelijkheid / New Objectivity” style in art. The novel pictures a year in the career of teacher De Bree, and his struggle with discipline at a school in a large city in the Netherlands. In the pre- and post war era the novel had a notorious reputation, because of its harsh ideas on discipline, and its gloomy atmosphere. However, it is still read and admired for its unusual style. This thesis presents an analysis of the main linguistic, stylistic and thematic characteristics of Bint. Research questions were what the translation strategy of choice for Bint was to be, and given the choice for a certain strategy, what effects it would have on the stylistic characteristics of the novel. Subsequently, a translation of the novel into English was presented.Show less
The main focus of this thesis will lie on answering the question of how illness and health are linguistically expressed in the language of the Wayana, in order to acquire a more culturally...Show moreThe main focus of this thesis will lie on answering the question of how illness and health are linguistically expressed in the language of the Wayana, in order to acquire a more culturally appropriate understanding of the Wayana conceptualization of illness and health, which might result into an improvement of the health care system for the Wayana communities.Show less
Woordenschatomvang blijkt te verbinden met de taalvaardigheidsniveaus zoals beschreven in het Europees Referentiekader (ERK). Onderzoek naar de vereiste omvang per niveau is gewenst voor een...Show moreWoordenschatomvang blijkt te verbinden met de taalvaardigheidsniveaus zoals beschreven in het Europees Referentiekader (ERK). Onderzoek naar de vereiste omvang per niveau is gewenst voor een robuuster ERK. Milton & Alexiou (2009) onderzochten voor verschillende Europese talen welke woordenschatomvang bij verschillende taalniveaus hoort. Snakkers (2017) koppelde receptieve woordenschatomvang aan leesvaardigheid op niveau A2 en B1 van het Nederlands als tweede taal (NT2). Frederiks (2017) deed dat voor productieve woordenschatomvang ten opzichte van schrijfvaardigheid op niveau B1 en B2. Het huidige onderzoek tracht een aanvulling hierop te zijn. De onderzoeksvraag luidt ‘Wat is de relatie tussen woordenschatomvang en schrijfvaardigheid van NT2-leerders met ERK-niveau A2?’. Ten eerste werden een taak voor schrijfvaardigheid op niveau A2 en een toets voor productieve woordenschatomvang bij 18 leerders van het NT2 afgenomen. Deze laatste taak bleek echter te moeilijk te zijn voor (lager opgeleide) leerders op dit niveau. Vervolgens werden scores op de taak voor schrijfvaardigheid en scores op een toets voor receptieve woordenschatomvang verkregen van 19 leerders. Tegen de verwachting in bleek er geen verband tussen deze scores van schrijfvaardigheid en receptieve woordenschatomvang te zijn (Kendall’s correlatie, τ = .243, p = .166).Show less
There is still much to learn about speakers’ similarities and differences in the field of Forensic Phonetics, especially with respect to consonant acoustics. The present master’s thesis presents...Show moreThere is still much to learn about speakers’ similarities and differences in the field of Forensic Phonetics, especially with respect to consonant acoustics. The present master’s thesis presents analyses of acoustic features of three sibilants /s, z, ʃ/ in British English. It focuses on analysing the static and dynamic features of those segments to see if they can cue speaker-specific information. The analyses have been carried out on twenty male speakers from the DyViS corpus. This research focuses on both static features (intensity, centre of gravity, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis) and dynamic features (centre of gravity depending of F2 vowel onset and offset) from speaker-specific perspective. The results obtained demonstrate the high speaker-specificity of centre of gravity, standard deviation and intensity. However, we have to be careful with the last one, because it is dependent on the recording circumstances. As for skewness and kurtosis, they show speaker-specificity for /z/, but results are weaker for /s/ and /ʃ/. This master’s thesis has shown that spectral and acoustic properties of the three sibilants analysed /s, z, ʃ/ in English present promising results regarding speaker-specificity.Show less
Cette étude sociolinguistique historique examine le lien possible entre les mots d’emprunts français et le participe présent aux 18ème et 19ème siècles à Leyde. Il s'avère qu'il y a probablement un...Show moreCette étude sociolinguistique historique examine le lien possible entre les mots d’emprunts français et le participe présent aux 18ème et 19ème siècles à Leyde. Il s'avère qu'il y a probablement un lien entre les deux, puisqu'ils sont utilisés de la même manière.Show less
In this thesis, the long-standing problem in Indo-Iranian linguistics whether or not to reconstruct a phoneme /l/ for Proto-Indo-Iranian is examined in detail. After a brief status quaestionis, the...Show moreIn this thesis, the long-standing problem in Indo-Iranian linguistics whether or not to reconstruct a phoneme /l/ for Proto-Indo-Iranian is examined in detail. After a brief status quaestionis, the etymology of all words with a phoneme /l/ in Ṛgvedic Sanskrit is scrutinized to see which words are likely borrowed from substratum languages and which go back to Proto-Indo-Iranian. Secondly, the problem is studied from a synchronic perspective. On the basis of the distribution of /l/ and /r/ in the different books of the Ṛgveda, it is argued that both diachronic and diatopic factors play a role, i.e. that generally speaking later books and books written in more eastern parts of India have a higher frequency of words with /l/. Finally, the diastratic component is taken into consideration as it is shown on the basis of a semantic analysis and with attention to female speech that /l/ was part of the lower registers of Vedic Sanskrit. This evidence combined, it is argued in the conclusion that /l/ gradually lost its function as a phoneme in Proto-Indo-Iranian, a process that was completed in Old Iranian and Mitanni Indo-Aryan with the complete loss of a phoneme /l/. This, however, was interrupted in Old Indo-Aryan, due to a profound influx of substratum words with the phoneme /l/.Show less
