Is 'leuk' sufficiently cool? The social meaning of English loanwords: an acquisitional perspective.

Strong statements are repeatedly made on the threat of Englishization to the vitality of local languages. This project aims to empirically assess the validity of these claims by consulting a so far underrepresented group, namely the speech community of tomorrow: how do children and young adolescents use English alongside source language alternatives ('BFF' vs. 'hartsvriendin'), what (contextual) social meanings do they attach to English loans and what evolution can we see in the dimensions shaping these as children grow older? Three case studies are proposed, applying various methods from different (sub)disciplines such as variational linguistics, psycholinguistics and social psychology. The project as such not only serves the empirical purpose of shedding light on the vitality of Dutch, it also theoretically and methodologically contributes to (i) the socio-pragmatic turn in Anglicism research, and (ii) research on social meaning and variation in language acquisition.

Keywords:Loanwords

Disciplines:Language studies, Literary studies