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 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
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
The effectiveness of advertising texts largely depends on the way they are written. Torresi’s information-to-persuasion ratio is a way of defining the stylistic traits of advertising texts in terms...Show moreThe effectiveness of advertising texts largely depends on the way they are written. Torresi’s information-to-persuasion ratio is a way of defining the stylistic traits of advertising texts in terms of their informativeness and persuasiveness. This ratio can be used to determine the way an advertising text should be translated, so that the translated advertising text is effective. The purpose of this thesis was to experiment with Torresi’s theory by examining the effects different information-to-persuasion ratios have on readers, and to determine the potential this ratio holds for sales optimisation, using three translations of one English advertising text that have different information-to-persuasion ratios. One translation had the same ratio as the source text, one translation was more informative, and one was more persuasive. The results, gathered through a survey, did not always concur with Torresi’s theory. The results showed that translating texts in a more informative or persuasive manner may have a few benefits. For instance, it may provide readers with a better understanding of the product being sold. In addition, the general information about the product was considered more credible in the informative TT compared to the neutral TT. However, it appeared that changing the ratio may also have several negative effects that override the benefits. For example, it may lengthen the text to such an extent that the reader finds it more difficult to focus on the text. Moreover, the readers of the neutral TT found the product the most relevant for them. Overall, the neutral translation was the most effective translation. In other words, experimenting with the information-to-persuasion ratio did not improve advertising effectiveness in this case, and may therefore hold little to no potential for sales optimisation.Show less
To produce a sentence, speakers must first prepare a preverbal message and then encode it linguistically. First a speaker has an intention to utter a communicative statement, which than has to...Show moreTo produce a sentence, speakers must first prepare a preverbal message and then encode it linguistically. First a speaker has an intention to utter a communicative statement, which than has to become a decision about what information to express (Levelt,1999). When all the syntactic properties, the lexical selection and phonological and phonetic encoding have been planned, the speaker can utter its intended statement. The aim of the present project is to investigate the preparation of utterances within particular discourse context, i.e. utterances which provide new information to the preceding context, defined here as informational focus and sentences with corrective focus.Show less
This thesis focuses on the factors influencing the language of determiners in nominal constructions in two sets of bilingual data, Spanish-English from Miami and Spanish- Nicaraguan Creole English...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the factors influencing the language of determiners in nominal constructions in two sets of bilingual data, Spanish-English from Miami and Spanish- Nicaraguan Creole English from Nicaragua. Previous studies (Liceras, Fernández Fuertes, Perales, Pérez-Tattam, and Spradlin, 2008; Quintanilla, 2014) have argued that Spanish determiners are preferred in mixed nominal constructions because of their grammaticized nature, since they mark gender. However, those studies did not take the matrix language into account, even though Herring, Deuchar, Parafita Couto, and Quintanilla (2010) found that the language of the determiner generally matched the matrix language. For that reason, the hypothesis of this study is that the matrix language is the main influence on the language of the determiner in both mixed and unmixed nominal constructions. This would mean that bilinguals will have to option to switch language in selecting the noun, meaning that the noun complement could be influenced by extra-linguistic factors. The results are consistent with this hypothesis: once the matrix language is controlled for, the Miami data shows a greater tendency for Spanish determiners to appear in mixed DPs than English determiners. However, the reverse tendency is found in the Nicaragua data, in which we found only mixed DPs with an English creole determiner. The results suggest that bilingual communities can follow different patterns, and that social factors play a role as well. This study concludes that while the language of the determiner is influenced by clause-internal structure, the language of its noun complement and the matrix language itself depend on extralinguistic considerations.Show less
This thesis is about the expression of ingressive aspect: language elements that focus on the beginning of a situation. The aim is to conduct a fine-grained analysis and comparison of the aspectual...Show moreThis thesis is about the expression of ingressive aspect: language elements that focus on the beginning of a situation. The aim is to conduct a fine-grained analysis and comparison of the aspectual semantics of three ‘manifestations of ingressivity’: the ingressive suffix -qilai起來 in Mandarin and the ingressive adverbs chū初 and shǐ始 from pre-Tang Chinese. The comparison reveals both similarities and differences. First, the three ingressive markers share a basic conceptual structure consisting of [+BEGIN] and [+focusBEGIN], but -qilai 起來 additionally consists of the optional component [±STAND UP] due to limited semantic bleaching of the source structure’s lexical semantics, i.e. the verb qǐlai 起來 ‘to stand up’. This explains the fact that Stage Level States selecting -qilai起來 may shift optionally to Activities, as metaphorical extensions of ‘standing up’ (i.e. ‘increase’) license dynamic interpretations. This same optionality may be explained for the pre-Tang Chinese adverbs through the causative potential of the predicate, which likewise optionally entails ‘increasing’. Second, combinatory possibilities can be described for shǐ始 without additional restrictions, while those of -qilai起來 and chū初 can be accounted for with one disjunctive rule each: -qilal起來 requires the predicate to be durative, atelic, or both; chū初 requires it to be dynamic-durative, telic, or both. In terms of ingressive subtypes, this means that chū初 is typically inceptive, -qilai起來 is more inceptive than inchoative, and shǐ始 is actually ingressive in that inceptive and inchoative interpretations are equally available.Show less
Chinese students studying in UK Universities contribute significantly to the UK economy (Leedham, 2011). There are other non-economic potential benefits to both UK universities and Chinese students...Show moreChinese students studying in UK Universities contribute significantly to the UK economy (Leedham, 2011). There are other non-economic potential benefits to both UK universities and Chinese students which are not currently efficiently utilised. These include academic skills, cultural competency and the knowledge base of domestic students (Arthur, 2015). Students’ success at university depends on their ability to write academic English however, some UK academics report that Chinese students’ writing is not at a sufficient level for academic success. Previous studies have examined Chinese students written errors in their home countries or during their pre-sessional course, but have not examined the main grammatical errors affecting students’ in-course writing. A corpus of Chinese students academic writing in UK universities was accessed and examined to identify the main grammatical writing errors following the procedure for Error Analysis proposed by Corder (1967). The main errors were examined using Lado’s 1957 Contrastive Analysis procedures to determine the difficulty of the grammatical forms for Chinese students. Previous strategies for redressing Chinese students’ grammatical errors are reviewed and the importance of the link between academic success and cross cultural communication competence in the efficient utilization of the non-economic benefits of Chinese students studying in the UK is highlighted.Show less
This study aimed to gain understanding of the directive behavior of 4- and 5- year-old English-speaking children in child-to-child and child-caretaker interactions. The research analyzed 660...Show moreThis study aimed to gain understanding of the directive behavior of 4- and 5- year-old English-speaking children in child-to-child and child-caretaker interactions. The research analyzed 660 directives extracted from 10 hours of video recordings. The findings showed that the compliance with the directive was influenced by the speaker's familiarity with their surroundings and the degree of directness of the directive. Additionally, children who were more familiar with each other used more indirect directives, while 4-year-olds used more indirect directives than 5-year-olds. A pattern was observed where children phrased their directives differently when speaking to a teacher or to a peer, with directives to teachers being less direct and relying more on the teacher's inference skills.Show less
This thesis will examine the question ‘why are natural languages ambiguous?’ by discussing the function of ambiguity in natural language. Formal linguistic approaches such as the Chomskian approach...Show moreThis thesis will examine the question ‘why are natural languages ambiguous?’ by discussing the function of ambiguity in natural language. Formal linguistic approaches such as the Chomskian approach consider ambiguity as a fault in language design. This view is challenged by functional linguistic approaches, which recognize that ambiguity has a communicative function. Ambiguity can create greater communicative efficiency (Piantadosi, Tily & Gibson, 2012); it enables us to say more with fewer words and to keep information vague if we want the listener or reader to decide what we mean (Chen, 1992). I will discuss which of the two approaches is on the right track by analysing several cases of ambiguity, such as the structurally ambiguous Elizabeth saw the man with the binoculars. In chapter 1 I will define the notions ambiguous and ambiguity. I will contrast ambiguity with similar linguistic phenomena and discuss different subtypes of ambiguity. In chapter 2 the two linguistic approaches to ambiguity will be discussed: Chomsky’s formal approach and several functional approaches. In chapter 3 I will put these approaches to the test by analysing three different instances of structural ambiguity.Show less
This dissertation aims to analyse the discourse strategies and functions of humour and swearing used among a group of Dutch-speaking young adults who are playing videogames. It focusses mainly on...Show moreThis dissertation aims to analyse the discourse strategies and functions of humour and swearing used among a group of Dutch-speaking young adults who are playing videogames. It focusses mainly on identifying which strategies and functions humour and swearing serve, and the frequency of these in both winning and losing discourse (discourse during moments of winning and losing in-game). It also looks at the overall relationship between humour and swearing. The dissertation presents data in the form of audio and video recordings of seven male and six female young adults who play five different video games in the same physical space. After establishing several strategies and functions of humour and swearing based on those presented by Hay (2010), a qualitative analysis of the data revealed not only additional functions and strategies that had not yet been proposed, but also patterns regarding the frequency of certain strategies and functions. The results suggest that humour and swearing have a special function during winning and losing discourse. Additionally, swearing and humour are applied for different goals; whereas swearing mainly serves a psychological function and is used as a way of dealing with losing face, humour is mainly applied to create or maintain solidarity among the players of the game. Regarding the relationship between humour and swearing, it was found that swearing was applied to enhance humour in several cases. Hay, J. (2010). Functions of humour in the conversations of men and women. Journal of Pragmatics, 32(6), 709-742. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(99)00069-7Show less
Some French prepositions may be used without an (overt) complement. A first question is answered based on the literature : what does happen in the syntax when a preposition is used without any...Show moreSome French prepositions may be used without an (overt) complement. A first question is answered based on the literature : what does happen in the syntax when a preposition is used without any overt complement ? A second question is still open : why can some prepositions be used without complement and some others cannot. After the analysis of the different hypotheses of the syntactic phenomenon, the focus is set on the prepositions expressing time. Each preposition has been tested to check if it can or cannot be used without complement. From these observations, some generalizations are made concerning the behavior of the prepositions; eventually, the hypothesis from Adler is studied to answer to the second question.Show less
In this thesis, I analyse and discuss palatalisation of the consonant sequence /tj/, particularly within the context of Dutch diminutives. First, an overview is provided of Dutch diminutive...Show moreIn this thesis, I analyse and discuss palatalisation of the consonant sequence /tj/, particularly within the context of Dutch diminutives. First, an overview is provided of Dutch diminutive allomorphy, palatalisation in general, and about frequency and productivity and their possible effects on sound change. Based on a detailed review of the literature within this topic, the expectation was that frequency would be a major influencing agent of this palatalisation process. In respect of the specific sequence of /tj/, data was elicited by means of a small-scale production experiment, in which I used beetje (a very frequent diminutive) and weetje (a low-frequency diminutive) as target words. The findings indicate that the alternation of what was perceived as the unmarked [tɕ] and the frequency-conditioned, palatal [ç] is no longer sensitive to frequency, and that [ç] is more recurrent than it was expected to be.Show less
