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The Influence of Dialects on the Sociolinguistic Perception of Dutch

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The Influence of Dialects on the Sociolinguistic Perception of Dutch Running head: THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERCEPTION OF DUTCH ACCENTS The influence of dialects on the sociolinguistic perception of Dutch accents Esther Veerbeek Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen English Language and Culture Second Semester, 2018-2019 BA Thesis Linguistics Supervisor: dr. Jarret Geenen Second reader: prof. dr. Ans van Kemenade 15 August, 2019 THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERCEPTION OF DUTCH ACCENTS Veerbeek –2 ENGELSE TAAL EN CULTUUR Teacher who will receive this document: J. Geenen, A. van Kemenade. Title of document: The influence of dialects on the sociolinguistic perception of Dutch accents Name of course: BA Thesis Linguistics Resit Date of submission: 14 August 2019 The work submitted here is the sole responsibility of the undersigned, who has neither committed plagiarism nor colluded in its production. Signed Name of student: Esther Veerbeek Student number: THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERCEPTION OF DUTCH ACCENTS Veerbeek –3 Abstract This thesis investigates the influence of dialect on accent perception in the Netherlands, by trying to answer the following research question: ‘what are the differences in the sociolinguistic judgement of Northern and Southern accents in the Netherlands between speakers of Tweants and Limburgish, and what causes these differences?’ Previous research has mainly focussed on the perception of accents within the Netherlands, but has not considered the role of dialects in this sociolinguistic topic. To elaborate on the previous findings, this thesis is set out to look into the influence of dialect usage frequency on the perception of accents by looking at the Dutch dialects Tweants and Limburgish, in combination with the accents spoken in the North and the South of the Netherlands. The hypotheses are tested through a speaker evaluation test. The data that emerged from this test are analysed through a means comparison. Results show that the frequency of dialect usage does play a role in accent perception. People who do not speak a dialect are more likely to reject non-standard varieties of Dutch, whilst people who often speak a dialect are more positive towards these varieties. Further research should be conducted with a larger sample, more background information of participants, and with more variables, such as different accents and dialects. Keywords: sociolinguistics, accents, dialects, speech evaluation test, Dutch, Tweants, Limburgish THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERCEPTION OF DUTCH ACCENTS Veerbeek –4 Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………….3 Table of Contents …………………………………………………………………………….4 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………..6 Literature Review……………………………………………………………………………..9 Sociolinguistics………………………………………………………………………..9 Language variation……………………………………………………………10 Accents, Dialects and Standard Language……………………………………………10 Standard……………………………………………………………………….10 Variation on the standard – accent……………………………………………11 Non-standard – dialect………………………………………………………..12 Language Situation in the Netherlands……………………………………………….13 Languages in the Netherlands………………………………………………...13 Dialect versus standard……………………………………………………….14 Tweants……………………………………………………………………….17 Limburgish……………………………………………………………………18 Perceptions of Overijssel and Limburg……………………………………….............19 Previous Research on Accent and Dialect in the Netherlands………………………..20 Evaluation Dimensions……………………………………………………………….23 Superiority…………………………………………………………………….23 Warmth………………………………………………………………………..23 Dynamism……………………………………………………………………..24 Spoken Dutch Corpus…………………………………………………………………24 Influence from the Author…………………………………………………………….25 Study 1………………………………………………………………………………………..26 Methodology.…………………………………………………………………………26 Speech stimuli………………………………………………………………...26 Respondents and task…………………………………………………………26 Results………………………………………………………………………………...27 Discussion…………………………………………………………………………….28 Study 2………………………………………………………………………………………..28 Methodology………………………………………………………………………….28 Speech stimuli………………………………………………………………...28 Measures………………………………………………………………………28 Background information………………………………………………………29 Listener-judges………………………………………………………………..29 Procedure and task……………………………………………………………30 Results………………………………………………………………………………...30 Discussion…………………………………………………………………………….38 The difference in accent identification between speakers of Tweants and Limburgish…………………………………………………………….39 The influence of dialect usage frequency on the sociolinguistic judgements of accents…………………………………………………………………40 PCA…...……..………………………………………………………...40 THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERCEPTION OF DUTCH ACCENTS Veerbeek –5 General sociolinguistic judgements of speakers from Overijssel and Limburg41 The sociolinguistic judgements by people from Twente……………………...42 The sociolinguistic judgements by people from Limburg…………………….44 The influence of dialect usage frequency on the sociolinguistic judgements of speakers from Overijssel and Limburg………………………………..45 Future research………………………………………………………………..46 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………48 References…………………………………………………………………………………….50 Appendices……………………………………………………………………………………54 Appendix 1 – transcripts and translations fragments…………………………………54 Appendix 2 – questionnaire study 1…………………………………………………..63 Appendix 3 – questionnaire study 2…………………………………………………..65 THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERCEPTION OF DUTCH ACCENTS Veerbeek –6 Introduction The Netherlands may only be 42,508 km2, but on that small piece of the Earth many language varieties are spoken. The official language of the Netherlands is Dutch, but by taking a closer look at the language situation in the Netherlands, it becomes clear that that is not the only language that is used. In the province of Friesland the official regional language is Frisian, and there are two recognised regional languages: Low Saxon and Limburgish. Furthermore, the Kingdom of the Netherlands even has recognised English and Papiamento as official languages besides Dutch. Within the country of the Netherlands, many ideas and stereotypes surround the regional languages and varieties. Whilst people from the South are seen as jovial, people from the North are considered to be surly (Kanne & Van Engeland, 2019; Smakman & Van Bezooijen, 1997). There are four main accent regions in the Netherlands: the West – also known as the central zone – the North, the South, and a transitional zone between the North and the South (Driessen, 2006). Prejudice occurs for all of these regions, especially with regards to social clues the speakers of these accents present (Smakman, 2006). Research into accents in the Netherlands has found that people from all across the country do not automatically reject accented traces in the standard language variety. People from the Western region, which is considered to mirror the standard, are however less tolerant of non-standard varieties. Someone with the accent from the South of the Netherlands is perceived as kind, but also as somebody with a lack of sophistication. Since the Netherlands is undergoing a loss of dialect, it is suggested that the standard variety is becoming more lenient towards other forms of the standard speech, since social and regional differences need to be made apparent in a new way. An example of this is that it does not matter whether a speaker has an accent, but that the strength of the accent is what actually matters. A weak Southern accent is often accepted as the norm. Besides this, the gender of the speaker is relevant; male THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERCEPTION OF DUTCH ACCENTS Veerbeek –7 speakers are ‘allowed’ to stray further from the standard variety than female speakers (Grondelaers, Van Hout & Steegs, 2009; Grondelaers & Van Hout, 2010; Grondelaers, Van Hout & Speelman, 2011a; Grondelaers & Van Hout, 2011b; Grondelears & Speelman, 2016; Grondelaers, Van Hout & Van Gent, 2018). Although previous research on the sociolinguistic image of accents of the Netherlands has been extensive, little research has been done on the sociolinguistic relationship between accents and dialects in the Netherlands. This is why this thesis will try to answer the question of what the differences in the sociolinguistic judgement of Northern and Southern accents in the Netherlands between speakers of Tweants and Limburgish are, and what the causes of these differences are. In order to do so, the following research questions will be answered: ‘what are the differences in the identification of accents between speakers of different dialects of Dutch, and what causes these differences?’ and ‘what is the influence of dialect usage frequency on the sociolinguistic judgements of accents in Dutch, and what causes this influence?’ The hypotheses are that ‘people will be more capable of identifying the accent if the speaker is from the same region as they are’ and ‘the more frequently a person uses a dialect, the more tolerant they are towards the accent of their region.’ After a literature review, the hypotheses will be tested through a questionnaire in which participants will be asked to give their evaluation on speech samples from people with a Northern and a Southern accent by means of traits. The traits are divided in three evaluation dimensions: superiority, warmth and dynamism. People will be asked to indicate how well a trait fits a certain speaker using a Likert scale. These participants will also be asked to identify the Dutch province the speaker originates from. After that, background questions will be given in order to determine the origin of a participants, their age range, gender, and how frequently they use either Tweants or Limburgish. THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC
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