This study tends to form a possible image of second generation Cape Verdeans in the Netherlands, based on the use of the heritage language, the importance given to language transmission to the...Show moreThis study tends to form a possible image of second generation Cape Verdeans in the Netherlands, based on the use of the heritage language, the importance given to language transmission to the children, and the influence of the Creole language for the cape verdean identity. The instrument used for this research is a sociolinguistic questionnaire, which had the participation of 194 second generation Cape Verdeans, of whom 168 with both Cape Verdean parents, 15 with only the father Cape Verdean, and 11 with only a Cape Verdean mother. The study intends to answer the questions: i) what is the role of Creole in the every-day life of the second generation Cape Verdean, ii) what is the attitude towards the transmission of Creole to the children, ie the third generation and iii) how does language relate to the identity of this second generation? The results of the study suggest that while the attitude towards heritage language and culture and its transmission is positive, the practice of the Creole language in everyday life and specifically with the children does not support this attitude and possibly does not contribute to the transmission and maintenance of the Creole language in the Cape Verdean community in the Netherlands.Show less
Prosody and structure are important cues for infants when they are learning a language. In this thesis, I investigated which of these two cues infants of seven months old find more salient. A Head...Show moreProsody and structure are important cues for infants when they are learning a language. In this thesis, I investigated which of these two cues infants of seven months old find more salient. A Head-Turn Preference procedure was used in both Experiment 1a and Experiment 1b to see whether infants found an inconsistent prosody pattern or inconsistent structure pattern compared to a familiarized pattern more interesting. Results revealed that infants had a longer looking time for the inconsistent prosody pattern than for the inconsistent structure, which indicates a stronger interest for the inconsistent prosody. If infants have a novelty preference, which is commonly assumed, this would mean that infants rely more on prosodic cues than structural cues. Whether or not this is the case will be examined further in Experiment 2. Also the points of improvement for Experiment 1 and the design of how Experiment 2 is conducted are discussed.Show less
