In Papiamento-Dutch bilingual speech, the nominal construction is a potential ‘conflict site’ if there is an adjective from one language and a noun from the other. Adjective position is pre-nominal... Show moreIn Papiamento-Dutch bilingual speech, the nominal construction is a potential ‘conflict site’ if there is an adjective from one language and a noun from the other. Adjective position is pre-nominal in Dutch (cf. rode wijn ‘red wine’) but post-nominal in Papiamento (cf. biña kòrá ‘wine red’). We test predictions concerning the mechanisms underpinning word order in noun-adjective switches derived from three accounts: (i) the adjective determines word order ( Cantone & MacSwan, 2009 ), (ii) the matrix language determines word order ( Myers-Scotton, 1993 , 2002 ), and (iii) either order is possible ( Di Sciullo, 2014 ). An analysis of spontaneous Papiamento-Dutch code-switching production ( Parafita Couto & Gullberg, 2017 ) could not distinguish between these predictions. We used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to measure online comprehension of code-switched utterances. We discuss how our results inform the three theoretical accounts and we relate them to syntactic coactivation and the production-comprehension link. Show less
Whenever someone makes a statement, they take stance on what they are talking about. Their utterance presents the propositional content of their message and at the same time shares their position... Show moreWhenever someone makes a statement, they take stance on what they are talking about. Their utterance presents the propositional content of their message and at the same time shares their position regarding the subject of talk. They convey their support or opposition, affiliation or disaffiliation, their like or dislike of the topic of talk. Subsequent, related, contributions similarly do not only react to the content of the earlier message, but to the associated stance taken by the other participant as well. Every interaction thus requires careful management of both the content discussed and the interpersonal relations between those involved. This dissertation investigates how people manage their informal interactions by means of phatic communicative structures. It explores to what extent the choices made by speakers are cross-linguistically stable or language specific, as differences in conversational style could affect intercultural communication and understanding. Three types of linguistic behavior are addressed: offering support and agreement, reproducing meaning (and form), and collaboratively constructing a single message. The preferences across and within these three types are contrasted for Dutch and Indonesian speakers. Show less
This dissertation provides new insights into language variation and change in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Dutch. More specifically, it investigates whether and to what extent... Show moreThis dissertation provides new insights into language variation and change in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Dutch. More specifically, it investigates whether and to what extent official language policy measures exerted influence on actual language practice.During the nation-building period around 1800, the Northern Netherlands witnessed the introduction of a national language policy, which aimed at the spread of a homogeneous written standard variety of Dutch, symbolising 'the' nation. In concrete terms, these top-down endeavours resulted in the first official codification of the Dutch orthography (Siegenbeek 1804) and grammar (Weiland 1805). Despite marking a decisive turning point in the standardisation history of Dutch, the effectiveness of the so-called schrijftaalregeling 'written language regulation' has never been investigated empirically.Taking a historical-sociolinguistic approach, this dissertation aims to fill this research gap by examining the impact of language policy on patterns of variation and change. How successful was the schrijftaalregeling in disseminating the officialised norms across the population at large, as envisaged by the government? Making use of the newly compiled Going Dutch Corpus, a diachronic multi-genre corpus comprising more than 420,000 words of authentic usage data (private letters, diaries and travelogues, newspapers), a wide range of orthographic and morphosyntactic features is analysed. Show less
The phoneme /h/ is absent in French and its acquisition has been described as being difficult for second language learners of Dutch, a language with /h/ in its phoneme inventory. In this study,... Show moreThe phoneme /h/ is absent in French and its acquisition has been described as being difficult for second language learners of Dutch, a language with /h/ in its phoneme inventory. In this study, several factors were examined that may affect the production of /h/ by Belgian-French learners of Dutch. Specifically, the factors included in this exploratory study were (1) L1-to-L2 transfer, (2) semantic contrastiveness, (3) the monitoring of one’s speech, and (4) educational grade. L1-to-L2 transfer was operationalized as the effect of liaison/elision contexts on /h/-production. The expectation was liaison contexts might transfer and would therefore hinder /h/-production. Semantic contrasts in minimal pairs including an h-initial word would elicit more /h/-productions if that word was contrasted with an empty onset than an onset (oor-hoor) filled by some other consonant (hand-tand). If a speaker pays more attention to his/her speech in an increased-monitoring task, the speaker is expected to produce /h/ more often, and finally it was expected that increased exposure to Dutch would result in more correct productions.In a cross-sectional study, students from the first, third and sixth grades of secondary education (60 in total, aged between 12 years and 19 years old) took part in two reading-aloud tasks, which were assumed to differ in the degree of speech monitoring they require. The first task was a text, with which L1-to-L2 transfer was assessed, and the second a list of minimal pairs containing h-onsets contrasting with either empty or filled onsets. Monitoring was assessed by comparing results between reading tasks.Results showed that increased monitoring positively influenced the numbers of [h]s produced, but that L1-to-L2 transfer of liaison/elision contexts did not occur. A small difference between conditions was found, but in the opposite direction. There was large between-learner variability and no performance increase with amount of exposure from first to sixth grade. Overall, performance left much room for improvement relative to native Dutch speakers and to the learners’ teacher. Further research is needed to better understand the development of French-speaker learners’ production of Dutch /h/. Show less
Automatic identification of a speaker’s native language background may have forensic applications. This paper explores the feasibility of automatic identification of the native language background... Show moreAutomatic identification of a speaker’s native language background may have forensic applications. This paper explores the feasibility of automatic identification of the native language background of a foreign speaker of English, using phonetically interpretable measurements. The production of the ten monophthongs of (American) English by Dutch, Mandarin Chinese and American speakers was used as a test case. Vowel formants F1 (corresponding to articulatory vowel height), F2 (capturing vowel backness and lip rounding) and vowel duration were extracted. Clearly different duration and patterning of the vowels in the vowel space were seen. Automatic classification of the speaker’s native language was 90 percent correct when all acoustic parameters were used as predictors. Language identification was slightly poorer when only formant data were used (85% correct) and substantially poorer – but much better than chance – when only vowel duration was used (60% correct). We conclude that vowel duration provides a weaker cue to foreign-accent identification in English than the spectral properties but that the combination of both information sources yields the best results. Show less
Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: This article examines the role of social-psychological factors in the development of heritage Ambon Malay in the Netherlands. More specifically, it... Show moreAims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: This article examines the role of social-psychological factors in the development of heritage Ambon Malay in the Netherlands. More specifically, it aims to answer this question: Can social-psychological factors account for the different frequency of Dutch-like structures among heritage speakers? Design/Methodology/Approach: Data from 32 Ambon Malay heritage speakers and 27 Ambon Malay homeland speakers were collected by means of video stimuli and a sociolinguistic interview. Data and Analysis: The database provides six linguistic variables and three social-psychological factors. The linguistic variables are as follows: the pre-verbal marker ada; the definite marker =nya; the double object construction; the prepositional phrase and adjectival phrase in resultative constructions; the pre-nominal order for the demonstrative itu and the numeral satu ‘one’. The social-psychological factors are where the speaker lives, onset of Dutch bilingualism and attitude.The effect of the social-psychological factors on the linguistic variables was assessed using a multivariate general linear model. Findings/Conclusions: The results show that place where the speaker lives is the best predictor. Heritage speakers living outside a Moluccan ward have a higher rate of Dutch-like features than speakers living inside a Moluccan ward. In some cases, sequential bilinguals are more innovative than simultaneous bilinguals. Finally, speakers with only a mild positive attitude towards the heritage language have a higher rate of Dutch-like features. Originality: Unlike previous studies, this article does not test the role of social-psychological factors against self-ratings of heritage language proficiency, but it uses real language data. Significance/Implications: The theoretical significance of this study is to bridge the gap between the sphere of language structure and the sphere of language use and language attitude. An additional value lies in its findings that frequent use of the heritage language means not only a higher rate of maintenance but also accelerated change. Show less
Automatic identification of a speaker’s native language background may have forensic applications. This paper explores the feasibility of automatic identification of the native language background... Show moreAutomatic identification of a speaker’s native language background may have forensic applications. This paper explores the feasibility of automatic identification of the native language background of a foreign speaker of English, using phonetically interpretable measurements. The production of the ten monophthongs of (American) English by Dutch, Mandarin Chinese and American speakers was used as a test case. Vowel formants F1 (corresponding to articulatory vowel height), F2 (capturing vowel backness and lip rounding) and vowel duration were extracted. Clearly different duration and patterning of the vowels in the vowel space were seen. Automatic classification of the speaker’s native language was 90 percent correct when all acoustic parameters were used as predictors. Language identification was slightly poorer when only formant data were used (85% correct) and substantially poorer – but much better than chance – when only vowel duration was used (60% correct). We conclude that vowel duration provides a weaker cue to foreign-accent identification in English than the spectral properties but that the combination of both information sources yields the best results. Show less
This paper discusses four Dutch constructions in which adverbs occur in marked syntactic positions: (i) Adverbs that occur in an embedded clause but must be interpreted in the main clause; (ii)... Show moreThis paper discusses four Dutch constructions in which adverbs occur in marked syntactic positions: (i) Adverbs that occur in an embedded clause but must be interpreted in the main clause; (ii) Adverbs that occur in the main clause but can be interpreted in the embedded clause; (iii) Extraposed adverbs; (iv) Predicate adverbs that occur in the position of sentence adverbs. These phenomena provide evidence for an analysis of adverb placement in Dutch along the lines of the Cinque hierarchy (Cinque 1999), supplemented with the traditional split between sentence adverbs and predicate adverbs (Jackendoff 1972). A new analysis is proposed for the bridge verbs denken ‘think’ and willen ‘want’ in which they move from a position in the embedded clause into the matrix clause. Show less
