A rhetorical analysis of modern rhetorical devices used in speeches about the climate crisis given by various politicians and scientists. This analysis has been conducted according to the...Show moreA rhetorical analysis of modern rhetorical devices used in speeches about the climate crisis given by various politicians and scientists. This analysis has been conducted according to the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) as is described by Hoeken et. al. This shows how these two different groups incorporate rhetorical devices to persuade. Four rhetorical mechanism have been analysed: fear appeal, metaphor and the use of adjectives and statistics. This study showed that both parties were very conscious about persuading according to either the central or non-central persuasion route as is described in Hoeken's theory. Scientists mainly persuaded according to the central route whereas politicians persuaded according to the non-central persuasion route.Show less
Politicians frequently use rhetoric language to refer to immigrants. Regularly, metaphors are used to dehumanise immigrants. This research analyses any potential dehumanising metaphors found in...Show morePoliticians frequently use rhetoric language to refer to immigrants. Regularly, metaphors are used to dehumanise immigrants. This research analyses any potential dehumanising metaphors found in Donald Trump’s Nomination Acceptance Speech. Using the Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit (MIPVU) to locate any possible metaphor-related words, the metaphors are categorised and evaluated. The discovered metaphors are most frequently categorised as animal or containment. Donald Trump evidently uses dehumanising metaphors to refer to metaphors in his Acceptance Speech.Show less
With the popularization of courtroom dramas, fictional legal subtitling is in high demand. However, correct legal subtitling might be difficult to achieve due to the nature of legal translation and...Show moreWith the popularization of courtroom dramas, fictional legal subtitling is in high demand. However, correct legal subtitling might be difficult to achieve due to the nature of legal translation and the constraints of subtitling. This study is a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the legal terms in the Dutch subtitles of the first season of Suits. Pedersen’s (2005/2011) taxonomy of translation strategies to transfer Extralinguistic Cultural References (ECRs) was used to identify which translation strategies were used for the translation of legal terms in the subtitles and Pedersen’s (2017) FAR model for error assessment in subtitles was used to assess the subtitles that contained legal terms according to functional equivalency, acceptability and readability. The results showed that direct translation was the most used translation strategy in the Dutch subtitles of the first season of Suits. Error assessment showed that the subtitles were at least 80% functionally equivalent, acceptable and readable. Applying Pedersen’s (2005/2011) translation strategies in combination with his (2017) FAR model to other courtroom dramas can help generate more data and formulate which translation strategies work best for legal subtitling as a general recommendation for future legal subtitlers.Show less
Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987) state that although interaction is co-operative, a person’s face can be unintentionally attacked through face-threatening acts (FTAs). Culpeper (1996) disagrees,...Show moreBrown and Levinson (1978, 1987) state that although interaction is co-operative, a person’s face can be unintentionally attacked through face-threatening acts (FTAs). Culpeper (1996) disagrees, stating that people can also intentionally attack someone’s face, and devised “impoliteness superstrategies” (pp. 356-357) that are used for this purpose. However, little research has been done on intentional impoliteness, and even less on gender and intentional impoliteness. Therefore, the research question is: do men and women use different face-threatening acts, and do they respond to these FTAs differently? I aimed to analyse adult men and women’s language, behaviour and paralinguistic features on FTAs and their responses to FTAs, focusing on the differences. This was done through analysis of a total of ten forty-minute episodes from three different reality television series: Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away! (n.a., 2014-2018), Supernanny (Frost, 2004-2008) and Jo Frost: Extreme Parental Guidance (Frost, 2010-2012), using a schedule based on the FTAs and impoliteness superstrategies by Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987), Culpeper (1996) and Bousfield (2008), respectively. The responses to FTAs were also recorded. Men and women seemed to use similar FTAs. However, the context in which the FTAs were spoken seemed to affect who was expressing which FTAs. A total of twelve different response types were recorded. These results can be used in different contexts (i.e. language teaching) to predict what kind of FTAs might be present in which contexts. They may also be used to add to both politeness and impoliteness theory.Show less
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the quality of translations of legal texts produced by DeepL, a neural machine translation system. By consulting relevant laws and legal dictionaries, this...Show moreThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate the quality of translations of legal texts produced by DeepL, a neural machine translation system. By consulting relevant laws and legal dictionaries, this study finds that DeepL's Dutch to English translation of legal texts contains syntactic and terminological errors.Show less
“Iedere Nederlander wordt geacht de wet te kennen” is hoe Douwe Brongers De wet in gewoon Nederlands begint (Brongers, 2013, achterplat). Maar wat betekent deze uitspraak precies? Behoort iedereen...Show more“Iedere Nederlander wordt geacht de wet te kennen” is hoe Douwe Brongers De wet in gewoon Nederlands begint (Brongers, 2013, achterplat). Maar wat betekent deze uitspraak precies? Behoort iedereen elk willekeurig wetsartikel te kennen? In Nederland kennen we bijna 140.000 wetsartikelen, dus wat dat betreft lijkt de uitspraak al niet realistisch. Daarnaast is de wet in een taal geschreven die voor veel mensen moeilijk te begrijpen is. Als alle wetsartikelen in begrijpelijke taal zouden worden herschreven, zou deze uitspraak dan realistischer zijn? In deze scriptie wordt aan de hand van kwalitatief en kwantitatief onderzoek gekeken of wetsartikelen in toegankelijkere taal beter meer begrip opleveren bij de lezer.Show less
This thesis describes which translation procedures invented by Vinay and Darbelnet have been used while translating the US English legal terminology into the Dutch subtitles of the legal drama...Show moreThis thesis describes which translation procedures invented by Vinay and Darbelnet have been used while translating the US English legal terminology into the Dutch subtitles of the legal drama series Suits.Show less
In order to ensure that healthcare professionals from abroad understand the Dutch health legislation, translations of this legislation are required. This thesis contributes to this purpose by...Show moreIn order to ensure that healthcare professionals from abroad understand the Dutch health legislation, translations of this legislation are required. This thesis contributes to this purpose by translating frequently occurring medical and legal terms in the BIG law. These terms will be collected in a terminology. Healthcare professionals can consult this terminology before applying to the BIG register, to make sure that they understand the contents of the BIG law.Show less
This thesis provides a terminology for mutual legal assistance using a selection of terms from the WOTS (Wet Overdracht Tenuitvoerlegging Strafvonnissen). Each Dutch term is accompanied by an...Show moreThis thesis provides a terminology for mutual legal assistance using a selection of terms from the WOTS (Wet Overdracht Tenuitvoerlegging Strafvonnissen). Each Dutch term is accompanied by an English term, definitions of both the Dutch and the English term, a reliability number and often by additional information. The terms are extracted from treaties, national law and the work of legal scholars. The terminology differentiates between US and UK terms when necessary. The approach of the terminology is founded on the theoretical framework, which discusses legal terminology by means of legal translation, terminology and equivalence.Show less
This MA thesis focuses on the ambiguous nature of core modal verbs in legal English and Dutch. The research in this thesis is based on a corpus analysis of English and Dutch contracts. For the...Show moreThis MA thesis focuses on the ambiguous nature of core modal verbs in legal English and Dutch. The research in this thesis is based on a corpus analysis of English and Dutch contracts. For the modal ambiguity found in the contracts a solution is proposed using deontic nouns. The thesis finally provides a number of propositions on how to avoid modal ambiguity in legal language.Show less
The aim of this research is to gain insight in how futurity is expressed within English and Dutch legal contracts and to define the relation between modality and temporality. It is hypothesized...Show moreThe aim of this research is to gain insight in how futurity is expressed within English and Dutch legal contracts and to define the relation between modality and temporality. It is hypothesized that futurity is not unequivocally expressed in contract language. Also, it is expected that not only within futurity but also within modality a potential degree of ambiguity can be found considering expression of epistemic, dynamic, and deontic modality.Show less
Though the relevance of literature for law has been acknowledged for a long time, this does not apply to literary language: lawyers often view the legal and the literary language as worlds apart....Show moreThough the relevance of literature for law has been acknowledged for a long time, this does not apply to literary language: lawyers often view the legal and the literary language as worlds apart. Yet, I want to argue that legal texts are indeed more “literary” than is often thought. This thesis investigates if English Supreme Court judgments are more “literary” than Dutch ones, and whether this applies more to older judgments than to more recent ones. Legal language, literary language and “literariness” are discussed. I selected ten Dutch and nine English Supreme Court judgments, each dealing with an aspect of tort law and dating from the last fifty years, to make up a corpus for analysis. The analysis focuses on stylistic and rhetorical features and makes use of the criteria for the establishment of a “cline of literariness” as proposed by Carter and Nash, with short excursions to their theory on the language of fiction and to speech act theory. The results are discussed and, if possible, scored in tables. I found that not only are English Supreme Court judgments indeed more “literary” than their Dutch counterparts, there is also a clear difference between the judgments from the twentieth century and the more recent ones, with opposite results. On the one hand, the Dutch judgments tend to become more factual and less literary. On the other hand, the more recent English judgments seem to be gaining in literary qualities.Show less
Brown and Levinson’s (1987) typology of politeness strategies is based on the basic wants of a model person (MP). Their concepts of face and positive and negative politeness have been...Show moreBrown and Levinson’s (1987) typology of politeness strategies is based on the basic wants of a model person (MP). Their concepts of face and positive and negative politeness have been groundbreaking in the fields of pragmatics and intercultural communication. However, their claim of having developed a universal model has been refuted by many scholars (Bargiela-Chiappini 2003; Watts 2003; Hill et al. 1986; Matsumoto 1988; Nwoye 1992; Mao 1994). In this paper, I use a contrastive language guide by Baxter and Baxter (2011) to attempt to analyze [1] how their pragmalinguistic advice relates to Brown and Levinson’s theory of politeness; [2] what influence the sociological variables have had on Baxter and Baxter’s choice of politeness strategies that are incorporated with face-threatening acts (FTAs); and [3] what the key underlying cultural differences are between the Dutch and the British in their choice of politeness strategies. The results of this study indicate that the pragmalinguistic advice relates to Brown and Levinson’s theory by using positive and negative politeness strategies when an FTA is incorporated into an utterance. Furthermore, sociological variables do play a significant role in the selection of politeness strategies, as they adhere to the discernment principles of their respective cultures. The key difference between the Dutch and the British is found in the sociological variable Low context communication.Show less
This thesis studies the current differences in lexical choice in male and female speech in Dutch in order to find out which Dutch language features are indicative of the gender of a speaker and...Show moreThis thesis studies the current differences in lexical choice in male and female speech in Dutch in order to find out which Dutch language features are indicative of the gender of a speaker and which Dutch language features laypersons associate with a certain gender. While the field of language variation due to gender has increased in popularity, there is still little research available about the differences between male and female speech in languages other than English. This thesis was written in order to add to this currently underrepresented subject within the field of language variation due to gender. Furthermore, this thesis also focuses on the subject of lexicality, which is a subject that is often overlooked in favour of other parts of language variation, such as the variation in the use of certain language acts, the variation in voice and the frequency of interruptions. Social indexicality and previous studies about the differences between male and female speech are discussed in this thesis, before the methodology is explained. The data used in this thesis consist of fifty transcribed conversations from Dutch television programmes such as Van de Kaart, and these data were scrutinized for the presence of various gendered language features, such as the use of negation or locatives. Furthermore, twenty-five participants were asked to read three transcriptions and to indicate what they thought the gender of the speaker was. While the data showed that all analysed language features are used by both men and women, there is often a difference in the frequency of use, which means the feature is either feminine or masculine. For example, the use of negation is more frequent in female speech, while men use more quantities. Laypersons, on the other hand, determined the gender of speakers both through contextual clues and the lexical choices made by the speakers.Show less
