Projects
Binominal quantifiers in Dutch, English, French and Spanish: a comparative study of form-function correlations and metaphorization. KU Leuven
The project proposes a comparative study of binominal quantifiers (BQ) in Dutch, English, French and Spanish. BQs are highly frequent quantification devices that hyperbolically indicate the extension of a set of entities. E.g. heaps of people boosts the number of people profiled, whereas many people does not. BQs present the following formal pattern:
(DETERMINER) NOUN (PREPOSITION) ...
The development of clause linking and complex sentences in the second language acquisition of Dutch and French. Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Copular verbs out of motion verbs: a comparative analysis of French and Dutch copular systems and processes of copularization Ghent University
This project aims to study change-of-state semi-copulas, originating from verbs that express physical motion, in a Romance (French) and a Germanic (Dutch) language. The architecture of semi-copulas in both languages (cf. Construction Grammar) and the historical process(es) involved in the creation of semi-copulas (cf. Grammaticalization) are to be compared in the light of the general evolutionary path “motion > change-of-state”.
Sociolinguistic gatekeeping with indexical variation: a quantitative-qualitative investigation of the endexical value of Standard and Colloquial Belgian Dutch variation in 'elderspeak' in Flemish nursing homes KU Leuven
In many Western societies, elders (>65 years) are gradually becoming a larger demographic (OECD Data, 2016), yet at the same time, a complaint frequently heard among the older generations is that people no longer respect their elders. This complaint is supported by a linguistic phenomenon studied in Sociolinguistics known as ‘elderspeak’ (Kemper, 1994). Elderspeak refers to a cluster of linguistic features utilized by younger adults to ...
Measuring linguistic attitudes with auditory affective priming: Attitudinal variation towards varieties of Dutch KU Leuven
The objective of this work is twofold. It sets out to contribute to the study of language attitudes on a methodological as well as a descriptive level. The main goal of the study is the methodological one. Notwithstanding some exceptions (e.g. Preston 1982), quantitative language attitude research has known little methodological innovation since the introduction of the matched-guise technique in the 1960s (Lambert et al. 1960). This relative ...
The Status and Functions of the Ancient Greek particle δή in the Dialogues of Plato, with an Analysis of its Translation into Dutch and Polish KU Leuven
This dissertation is divided into two main sections: a theoretical and an analytical one. The corresponding chapters of the theoretical part are focused on (1) the early approach to Greek particles: the definition and the classification of particles in Ancient Greek linguistic thought and (2) the discourse-pragmatic approach to Greek particles. The analytical part consists of corpus research, and analyses (3) the function and uses of the ...
From Valla’s Dialectica to Stevin’s Bewysconst: Humanist Philosophy of Language and the Emergence of Dutch Vernacular Logic KU Leuven
The main goal of this project is to study the earliest developments of Dutch vernacular logic. While there exists a large body of literature pertaining to the development of vernacular logic traditions in Western Europe as well as on the development of Dutch as a scientific language, hardly any research has been conducted on the specific area of Dutch vernacular logic. In order to address this gap, the project will focus on a corpus of about ...
SABeD: The development of a Spoken Academic Belgian Dutch Corpus KU Leuven
Form-function change and the rise of the Dutch auxiliary system. KU Leuven
The class of Dutch auxiliary verbs is subject to constant change, not only in the sense that new verbs keep entering the class, or that new auxiliaries change their grammatical behaviour to conform to other, more venerable auxiliaries, but also in the sense that the grammatical characteristics themselves change. In this project, I want to take a look at these characteristics in Dutch, especially if they diverge from what has happened in ...