Author: alleskunner

LingUU 3.1 is out now! The fourth issue of LingUU Journal features articles on various linguistic topics, written by students from different BA and MA programmes. Download the entire issue, browse through the contents, or order a paper copy (while supplies last).

Thanks to our authors, reviewers and advisory board, and special thanks to our founding mothers: Sophie Slaats and Fieneke Jochemsen!

Anouk Scheffer (RMA Linguistics) proposes a study on the effect of stress cues on mapping meaning to newly segmented words. This study focuses on monolingual and bilingual infants of 17 months old, learning both an iambic and trochaic language. Anouk suggests a way in which both word segmentation and the ability to map meaning to words can be examined.

Héloïse Pierret (RMA Linguistics) discusses the role of prosocial deception (‘white lies’) in maintaining a good communicative project. She argues that prosocial deception plays a role in manipulating and protecting the emotions of others. To visualize the role of deception in communication, Héloïse adapted the Affective Language Comprehension (ALC) model by Van Berkum (2018). She argues that a circular categorization should be used to classify deception types.

Iris van der Wulp (RMA Linguistics) explains the split-ergativity in Thulung Rai and compares it to the split-ergativity in auxiliary selection in Italian. When the expression of split-ergativity in Thulung Rai and Italian is compared, one finds almost only differences. They both have a form of split-ergativity, however, Italian expresses ergativity by auxiliary selection, whereas Thulung Rai expresses it by morphologically marked Case.

Japanese has emotions embedded at the core of its structure, in the shape of morphological elements. Damien Fleur’s (RMA Linguistics) paper reviews the literature on two such elements, namely the sentence-final particles ne and no. Through the prism of the Japanese society and with examples from Van Berkum’s ALC model (2018), this review investigates how these interactional particles ultimately perform in emotional communication.

Marjolein Talsma (RMA Linguistics) reports enthusiastically on her internship on the valency of weather verbs at her home-base, Utrecht University.

A little further away from home, Anique Schüller (RMA Linguistics) went on exchange to the Chinese University of Hong Kong to study cross-language activation in deaf bimodal bilinguals.

Myrthe van der Veen (BA Linguistics) reviews Paulien Cornelisse’s Taal voor de leuk. This book does not diverge from Cornelisse’s previous books with collections of columns on linguistic and often amusing situations. Cornelisse’s lively and ironic tone is praised, as well as her sharp observations.

Roos Kerrebijn (BA Nederlandse Taal en Cultuur) writes about Het vermogen te verlangen by Liesbeth Koenen, which is a collection of interviews with renowned linguists about their work. Roos finds the book accessible and interesting for both linguists and a wider audience.

LingUU 2.2 is out now! The third issue of LingUU Journal features articles on various linguistic topics, written by students from different BA and MA programmes. Download the entire issue, browse through the contents, or order a paper copy (while supplies last).

Merel Hardeman, Héloïse Pierret & Anouk Scheffer (RMA Linguistics) compare two models of spoken word recognition: the Cohort model and the TRACE model. Their results indicate that priming with a matching rhyme results in faster response times to the target word than priming with a matching onset and nucleus. This is in line with the TRACE model.

Through a linguistic lens, Lisa Verbeek (RMA Linguistics) examines the emotional perception of self-names. She argues that self-names become Emotionally Competent Stimuli, such that affective memory traces have become part of word meaning, making self-names highly arousing words that are processed automatically and unconsciously.

Marlijne Boumeester (MSc Neuroscience and Cognition) proposes a study that questions bilingualism as a potential factor to delay age-related cognitive decline. She expects that the performance on the Simon task and the trail-making task will decline to the same extent in two age groups of monolinguals and bilinguals.

In a corpus study of Early Modern Dutch, Levi Remijnse (RMA Linguistics) analyses non-finite clauses headed by a present participle. Some constituents – prohibited from extraposition or raising – are located after this present participle. To account for this, Remijnse proposes that the present participle itself projects an extra projection containing a left-branching node (XP).

Bjorn Lichtenberg (BA Linguistics) reviews three models of force dynamicity. He compares their definition of force, their empirical coverage and their validity with respect to compositionality. According to Lichtenberg, Wolff’s model has the most expressional power, while the model by Copley and Harley is preferred in the light of compositionality.

Camilla Giannini (RMA Linguistics) investigates the the status of Occitan, a minority language in Italy, focusing on the development of this language, and on language planning and contemporary media as a way of maintenance. Giannini concludes that the desire of the speakers to promote their culture and traditions is still strong.

In this replication study, Tamara Muller, Lucia Koster & Ellen Hendriks (MA Communication and organisation) find more evidence for the conceptual metaphor theory. Participants rely on metaphors when they judge newspapers, expecting that heavier newspapers contain more important news. However, no evidence for grounded cognition was found.

Dylan Bonga and Jonathan Kamp (RMA Linguistics) examine the interaction between phonological and graphemical priming. They hypothesize that phonological and graphemic priming combined is stronger than only one type of priming. Using using a Lexical Decision Task, they could partly confirm this prediction.

Jaap Kruijt (MSc Artificial Intelligence) reports on his time in Edinburgh. A course on language evolution countered ideas he had encountered before. Using a method that he learned about in Edinburgh, he wrote his thesis on this topic.

Walther Glödstaf (RMA Linguistics) finds that Steven Pinker’s The Stuff of Thought makes a convincing case for the use of semantics in understanding the human mind. He regrets the occasional oversimplificiations and straw mans, but appreciates Pinker’s witty display of knowledge.

Myrthe Buckens (BA Linguistics) concludes that Taal om mee te spelen by Sjoerd van der Niet is best considered as a light-hearted introduction to language philosophy, intended for the general public.