This study investigates language use and code switching (CS) in parliamentary sessions of the People’s Council of Representatives in Aceh, Indonesia. Three recordings of plenary sessions of the...Show moreThis study investigates language use and code switching (CS) in parliamentary sessions of the People’s Council of Representatives in Aceh, Indonesia. Three recordings of plenary sessions of the Council were transcribed and used as data sources for the research. The study used transcriptions to obtain frequency and syntactic constructions and interviews with speakers of Acehnese to obtain social functions and perceived attitudes toward CS. It was found that the use of Acehnese relative to Indonesian and other languages in the parliamentary was 26.5% in terms of word count and 3.3% in terms of continuous speech duration and furthermore could be classified as CS wherein Acehnese served either as Matrix and Embedded Language based on Matrix Language Framework (MLF – Myers-Scotton and Jake, 2009). The CS were mostly intersentential in both direction and extrasentential CS were found only from Indonesian to Acehnese. In addition, the CS mainly functioned as a manner of quotation and interlocutor addressing. This study contributed to a better understanding of language and code switching in politically-motivated settings in Aceh or other multilingual regions in Indonesia. Future research in this area could focus on the intellectual and political factors underlying deliberate code switching.Show less
This thesis will attempt to provide a short analysis of a test conducted among Dutch and RP speakers of English, a test that mainly considered the ways in which the word “yes” could be interpreted...Show moreThis thesis will attempt to provide a short analysis of a test conducted among Dutch and RP speakers of English, a test that mainly considered the ways in which the word “yes” could be interpreted by both groups of speakers. This study aimed to analyse the ways in which intonation is understood, and how this differs between English native speakers and Dutch speakers of English. Based on work and research by Hoorn, Mitrofanova, Hewings, So and Best, and Grabe, Rosner, Garcia-Albea and Zhou—from which one may gather that non-native speakers will find it both more problematic to distinguish between different intonation patterns as well as understand them see the following chapter for an elucidation on these theories—it was hypothesised that native speakers would have less difficulty with understanding intonation in general, and that Dutch speakers would have a more ambiguous understanding of certain types of intonation patterns.Show less
This research discusses whether male authors sexually objectify their female characters in comparison to female authors. This was done by analysing two classic and two contemporary fiction novels...Show moreThis research discusses whether male authors sexually objectify their female characters in comparison to female authors. This was done by analysing two classic and two contemporary fiction novels each by male and female American authors. These novels were chosen because of their similarities and because they feature a male protagonist who narrates the story. The novels were analysed for phrases used to describe the female characters appearance and these descriptions were compared to the novels of the opposite gender to check for any sexual objectification. The results revealed that male authors were more likely to sexually objectify their female characters in comparison to female authors. However, due to the size of this research, more research must be done to understand the scale and nuances of this.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
The current paper set out to investigate new dialect formation in progress in the Dutch new town of Dronten. Designated in the early 1960s, this city provided to be an excellent place to study new...Show moreThe current paper set out to investigate new dialect formation in progress in the Dutch new town of Dronten. Designated in the early 1960s, this city provided to be an excellent place to study new dialect formation in progress. This study looked into the phonetic characteristics of this variety of Dutch and it was examined how this variety could be defined. Further, the time scale of koineization was addressed. Lastly, the perceived degree of standardness was studied, based on a claim made by Scholtmeijer (1992). Interviews and an online survey provided data that shed more light on these issues. The current study has identified a number of remarkable phonetic features, such as lowering of the first element of (ei) and devoicing of (v) and (z). However, these features seem to be part of a more general tendency found in Standard Dutch and are therefore not exclusive to the Dronten variety of Dutch. In addition, Dronten Dutch was associated with a high degree of perceived standardness, as expert analysis as well as the online survey confirmed. Note, however, that this applies particularly to second-generation speakers, revealing evidence of focusing towards a more homogeneous linguistic variety in this generation.Show less
The present study explored the attitudes of secondary school teachers and non-teachers towards different degrees of Dutch-accented English and whether there was a difference in attitudes between...Show moreThe present study explored the attitudes of secondary school teachers and non-teachers towards different degrees of Dutch-accented English and whether there was a difference in attitudes between these groups. In addition to this, it investigated whether there were certain pronunciation features that would lead to a lower grade. This was tested through an online survey consisting of two parts, namely a listening task and an open-ended question. The listening task asked the participants to grade a total of twelve recordings on a scale from 1 to 10 and to motivate their answer as to why they gave a certain grade. The recordings consisted of two native speakers and ten speakers with different degrees of Dutch accentedness. The degree of accentedness was determined by three people who had listened to the recordings beforehand and these recordings were then categorized into three different groups based on the degree of accentedness. These three groups consisted of (1) native speakers/light Dutch-accented English, (2) medium-Dutch accented English, and (3) heavy Dutch-accented English. The survey ended with an open-ended question which asked the participants wat they thought was the most important aspect to be taught when teaching a foreign language. The results showed that teachers graded most of the recordings (77.8%) higher than the non-teachers, though there was only a small difference. Furthermore, the results showed that both the teachers’ and non-teachers’ grades were lower for the medium- and heavy-accented Dutch Englishes than they were for the native speakers/lightly-accented Dutch Englishes. When asked why a certain grade was given, however, pronunciation only came up 25.8% of the time in the teachers’ answers and only 16.4% of the time in the non-teachers’ answers. A similar pattern was found in the open-ended question, where pronunciation as an important aspect of language learning came up 21.4% of the time in the teachers’ answers and 26.8% in the non-teachers’ answers.Show less
While the choice of accent in British popular music has been subject of debate for many years, there is still little known about the choice of accent in Dutch popular music. This thesis sets out to...Show moreWhile the choice of accent in British popular music has been subject of debate for many years, there is still little known about the choice of accent in Dutch popular music. This thesis sets out to describe the trend in the choice of accents among Dutch artists when singing in English and it sets out to examine how this choice correlates with the choice of topic and the stylistic choices. An analysis of one hundred songs by seventy-three Dutch artists revealed that the vast majority of the Dutch artists adopt a primarily American accent. The analysis also disclosed that there is not an obvious correlation between the choice of accent, the choice of topic and the stylistic choices in these songs. Previous research also did not really include the listener’s preference for an accent. Therefore, the second aim of this thesis is to examine whether listeners have a preference for one accent over the other and what their motivations are for this preference. A survey was conducted involving fifty-eight participants. The results of the survey showed that a large majority of the listeners preferred the British recording over the American recording. The motivations for the preference for the British recording are mostly based on the accent of the singer, the comprehensibility and the overall sound of the recording. In conclusion, this study offers support for the use of a British accent in Dutch popular music songs.Show less
Dutch speakers have differing ways of pronouncing the English loanword . This thesis attempts to research these different pronunciations, through auditory analysis using phonetics, and through...Show moreDutch speakers have differing ways of pronouncing the English loanword . This thesis attempts to research these different pronunciations, through auditory analysis using phonetics, and through formant measurements. Additionally, Dutch speakers’ evaluations of the different phonetic realisations of were researched. 15 Dutch speakers were interviewed, and their ways of pronouncing noted. The results show, among other things, which form of pronunciation of was most used by the participants; the degree of consistency in pronunciation per participant (using a newly-developed technique called the IVS-technique); the formant measurements of the vowels participants used for in ; and the participants’ attitudes towards specific pronunciations of .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
This dissertation focusses on the gay identity construction in an online environment. The performativity of identity and the existence of a separate gay culture are discussed. Gay identity can be...Show moreThis dissertation focusses on the gay identity construction in an online environment. The performativity of identity and the existence of a separate gay culture are discussed. Gay identity can be constructed regardless of sexuality. 1.Can gay slang construct gay identity on a social media platform such as twitter and what context or demographics might be relevant to do so? 2.How gay are the terms coded according to the respondents of the NRE compared to the other 4 sources? 3.Can anyone participate in gay culture? This will be examined by looking at how and who use 10 slang terms on Twitter selected from Rupaul's Drag Race. Next to this a Natural Response Elicitation is also conducted, a questionnaire posted on Reddit with three questions per term regarding users, meaning and context. There were several results concerning the meaning of the terms, the users and the context of the usage. All these led to see which terms could, and in which context, construct gay-identity. And in turn, whether outsiders can participate in gay culture. The main conclusion is that the meaning given to the terms, the users of the terms and the context in which they are used are relevant in order to perform gay-identity through gay linguistic expressions.Show less
This thesis has investigated whether it is worthwhile to incorporate explicit strategy instruction in EFL-classes in Dutch secondary education. The case study performed at Christiaan Huygens...Show moreThis thesis has investigated whether it is worthwhile to incorporate explicit strategy instruction in EFL-classes in Dutch secondary education. The case study performed at Christiaan Huygens College shows that Dutch secondary students portray a relatively low frequency of strategy use. Unlike many international studies on strategy research no correlation was found between overall strategy use and achievement. A positive relationship was found between motivation and achievement. This indicates that, for secondary students, it might be more effective to invest time and energy in enhancing students’ motivation than to merely focus on strategy instruction.Show less
Stylistics is a methodology through which one can analyse different aspects of authors styles. It is also suitable for analysing American Presidential Debates.
This thesis intended to find must-have features and the added value of digital language learning applications (DLLAs) based on the opinions and attitudes of both high school teachers and students....Show moreThis thesis intended to find must-have features and the added value of digital language learning applications (DLLAs) based on the opinions and attitudes of both high school teachers and students. This information was obtained through qualitative interviews. These results were then compared to the findings of the literature review. Ultimately, four must-have features and two main elements of added value were found. It is important that (1) DLLAs are free, (2) they need to be adjustable, (3) their interface needs to be user-friendly and (4) there needs to be an element of control for the teachers. Most of these must-have features have been considered by researchers, although they have not always been implemented thoroughly. The added value of DLLAs can be found in (1) time-saving and (2) the personalisation of language learning. It is important that developers take these findings into account when developing new DLLAs, for their products to be practical in use and to have added value besides merely replacing paper notepads.Show less
With the upcoming renewal of comics books from their paper copies to TV series one may wonder whether they sometimes very gendered stereotypes in the stories have changed. The language in the...Show moreWith the upcoming renewal of comics books from their paper copies to TV series one may wonder whether they sometimes very gendered stereotypes in the stories have changed. The language in the Netflix series Daredevil and their comic book counterpart have been analysed to see if there are any improvements visible.Show less
This thesis examined which pronunciation of the three existing variants of the English swearword fucking, which are FAKKING ([fɑkɪŋ]), FUKKING ([fʏkɪŋ]), or FOKKING ([fɔkɪŋ]), is L1 Dutch speakers’...Show moreThis thesis examined which pronunciation of the three existing variants of the English swearword fucking, which are FAKKING ([fɑkɪŋ]), FUKKING ([fʏkɪŋ]), or FOKKING ([fɔkɪŋ]), is L1 Dutch speakers’ preferred use. In addition to this, this thesis studied which variant is considered most offensive to Dutch speakers. An experiment was conducted in which 50 L1 Dutch speakers were interviewed on these issues. In addition, a smaller second experiment was conducted in which an L1 English speaker was interviewed via email on the offensiveness of the word fucking to a native speaker of English and on their opinion on Dutch speakers using it. The results of the main experiment suggested that the ‘nativeness’ or ‘Dutchness’ of the pronunciation is the main influence on offensiveness ranking, not sound iconicity, which was originally hypothesised to be the main influencing factor.Show less
