2004
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Taal en Tongval
  4. Volume 76, Issue 2
  5. Article
Volume 76, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 0039-8691
  • E-ISSN: 2215-1214
file format pdf download PDF

Abstract

Abstract

On the premise that caregivers’ micro-level language choices when addressing their children reflect their relation to the macro-level linguascape, this mixed-methods study targets the linguistic practices of 16 Belgian-Dutch speaking caregivers. First, a quantitative variationist analysis identifies caregivers’ style-shifts between adult-directed (ADS) and child-directed speech (CDS) during dinner table conversations for pronouns of address, adnominal flexion and t-deletion. Additionally, qualitative template analysis serves as a guide into the caregivers’ explicit language attitudes as expressed in metalinguistic interviews. Different practices are uncovered for the linguistic parameters under study, most notably for t-deletion, yet overall, results reveal a shift towards standard language in CDS compared to ADS for all caregivers. Nevertheless, the extent of style-shifting varies considerably between caregivers, with a strong correlation to their educational background. By contrast, explicit attitudinal orientations seemed to have little or no effect at all. Some inconsistencies seem to exist between the variation patterns and explicitly reported attitudes, the latter of which show traces of long-established macro norms as well as a double standard scenario.

© Freja Verachtert, Eline Zenner & Dorien Van De Mieroop. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.5117/TET2024.2.002.VERA
2024-12-01
2025-01-16
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/00398691/76/2/TET2024.2.002.VERA.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.5117/TET2024.2.002.VERA&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Blum-Kulka, Shoshana. 1997. Dinner Talk: Cultural Patterns of Sociability and Socialization in Family Discourse. London: Erlbaum.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Braun, Virginia, and VictoriaClarke. 2006. “Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology.”Qualitative Research in Psychology3 (2): 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Brooks, Joanna, SerenaMcCluskey, EmmaTurley, and NigelKing. 2015. “The Utility of Template Analysis in Qualitative Psychology Research.”Qualitative Research in Psychology12 (2): 202–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2014.955224.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. De Caluwe, Johan. 2002. “Tien stellingen over functie en status van tussentaal in Vlaanderen.” In Taalvariatie en taalbeleid: bijdragen aan het taalbeleid in Nederland en Vlaanderen, edited by JohanDe Caluwe, DirkGeeraerts, SjaakKroon, VirginieMamadouh, RonaldSoetaert, LucTop, and TonVallen, 57–67. Antwerpen: Garant.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. De Houwer, Annick. 2003. “Language Variation and Local Elements in Family Discourse.”Language Variation and Change15 (3): 329–49. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394503153033.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Deprez, Kas. 1998. “The Language of the Flemings.” In Nationalism in Belgium, edited by KasDeprez and LouisVos, 96–109. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. De Schutter, Georges. 1998. “Talen, taalgemeenschappen en taalnormen in Vlaams-België.”Verslagen en mededelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Nederlandse taal- en letterkunde108 (2–3): 227–51.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Devos, Magda, and ReinhildVandekerckhove. 2005. Taal in stad en land. West-Vlaams. Tielt: Lannoo.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Foulkes, Paul, GerardDocherty, and DominicWatt. 2005. “Phonological Variation in Child-Directed Speech.”Language81 (1): 177–206. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2005.0018.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Geeraerts, Dirk. 1999. “Noch standaard, noch dialect. ‘Tussentaal’ in Vlaanderen en Nederland.”Onze taal9: 232–35.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Geeraerts, Dirk. 2001. “Een zondagspak? Het Nederlands in Vlaanderen: gedrag, beleid, attitudes.”Ons erfdeel44 (3): 337–43.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Geeraerts, Dirk, and HansVan De Velde. 2013. “Supra-Regional Characteristics of Colloquial Dutch.” In Language and Space. Volume 3 Dutch, 532–56. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Ghyselen, Anne-Sophie. 2016. Verticale structuur en dynamiek van het gesproken Nederlands in Vlaanderen: een empirische studie in Ieper, Gent en Antwerpen. Doctoral dissertation, Ghent: University of Ghent.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Ghyselen, Anne-Sophie, and GuntherDe Vogelaer. 2018. “Seeking Systematicity in Variation: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations on the ‘Variety’ Concept.”Frontiers in Psychology9 (March): 385–385. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00385.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Goossens, Jan. 2000. “De toekomst van het Nederlands in Vlaanderen.”Ons erfdeel43: 2–13.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Grondelaers, Stefan, Roelandvan Hout, and Paulvan Gent. 2016. “Destandardization Is Not Destandardization.”Taal & Tongval68 (2).
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Grondelaers, Stefan, and ChloéLybaert. 2017. “Bepaalt wat we denken en voelen over taal ook wat we doen in taal? Percepties, attitudes, evaluaties, en hun omkaderende ideologieën in het (Belgische) Nederlands.” In De vele gezichten van het Nederlands in Vlaanderen. Een inleiding tot de variatietaalkunde, 163–81. Gent: Acco.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Grondelaers, Stefan, and DirkSpeelman. 2013. “Can Speaker Evaluation Return Private Attitudes towards Stigmatised Varieties? Evidence from Emergent Standardisation in Belgian Dutch.” In Language (De)Standardisation in Late Modern Europe: Experimental Studies, 171–92.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Grondelaers, Stefan, DirkSpeelman, ChloéLybaert, and Paulvan Gent. 2020. “Getting a (Big) Data-Based Grip on Ideological Change. Evidence from Belgian Dutch.”Journal of Linguistic Geography8 (1): 49–65. https://doi.org/10.1017/jlg.2020.2.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Impe, Leen, and DirkSpeelman. 2007. “Vlamingen en hun (tussen)taal: een attitudineel mixed guise-onderzoek.”Handelingen61.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. King, Nigel. 2012. “Doing Template Analysis.” In Qualitative Organizational Research: Core Methods and Current Challenges, 426–50. SAGE Publications, Inc.https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526435620.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Kristiansen, Tore. 2009. “The Macro-Level Social Meanings of Late-Modern Danish Accents.”Acta Linguistica Hafniensia41 (1): 167–92. https://doi.org/10.1080/03740460903364219.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Lybaert, Chloé. 2014. “Perceptie van tussentaal in het gesproken Nederlands in Vlaanderen: Een experimentele benadering van saillantie.”Nederlandse taalkunde19 (2): 185–219.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Lybaert, Chloé. 2015. “De ideologische positie van Algemeen Nederlands in Vlaanderen: de standaardiseringsideologie onder druk?”Taal & Tongval67 (1): 97–134.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. MacWhinney, Brian. 2000. The CHILDES Project: Tools for Analyzing Talk. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Moernaut, Renée. 2010. “‘Papa, hoe was’t vandaag bij u op’t werk’ Taalvariatie en dialect binnen het gezin. Een onderzoek bij vier Groot-Aalsterse gezinnen.”Handelingen64:101–15.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Naborn, Lars, ElineZenner, and DorienVan De Mieroop. 2022. “Emotion in Multivarietal Family Language Policy in Flanders.”International Journal of Bilingualism. http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/IJBhttp://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/IJB.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Nardy, Aurélie, Jean PierreChevrot, and StéphanieBarbu. 2013. “The Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Variation: Looking Back and Thinking Ahead.”Linguistics51 (2): 255–84. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2013-0011.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Preston, Dennis R.2013. “The Influence of Regard on Language Variation and Change.”Journal of Pragmatics52 (June): 93–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2012.12.015.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Roberts, Julie. 2002. “Child Language Variation.” In The Handbook of Language Variation and Change, edited by Jack KChambers, PeterTrudgill, and NatalieSchilling-Estes, 333–48. Oxford: Blackwell.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Rombouts, Ellen, MyrtheFieremans, and ElineZenner. 2023. “‘Talking Very Properly Creates Such a Distance’: Exploring Style-Shifting in Speech-Language Therapists.”International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12896.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Saxton, Matthew. 2009. “The Inevitability of Child-Directed Speech.”Language Acquisition, 62–86.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Smith, Jennifer, MercedesDurham, and LianeFortune. 2007. “‘Mam, My Trousers Is Fa’in Doon!’: Community, Caregiver, and Child in the Acquisition of Variation in a Scottish Dialect.”Language Variation and Change19 (1): 63–99. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394507070044.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Smith, Jennifer, MercedesDurham, and HazelRichards. 2013. “The Social and Linguistic in the Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Norms: Caregivers, Children, and Variation.”Linguistics51 (2): 285–324.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Swann, Joan, AnaDeumert, Theresa MLillis, and RajendMesthrie. 2004. A Dictionary of Sociolinguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh university press.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Taeldeman, Johan. 2008. “Zich stabiliserende grammaticale kenmerken in Vlaamse tussentaal.”Taal & Tongval60:26–50.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Tagliamonte, Sali A., and R.Harald Baayen. 2012. “Models, Forests, and Trees of York English: Was/Were Variation as a Case Study for Statistical Practice.”Language Variation and Change24 (2): 135–78. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394512000129.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Vandekerckhove, Reinhild. 2004. “Waar zijn je, jij en jou(w) gebleven? Pronominale aanspreekvormen in het gesproken Nederlands van Vlamingen.” In Taeldeman, man van de taal, schatbewaarder van de taal, 981–93. Gent: Academia Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Vandekerckhove, Reinhild, and PolCuvelier. 2007. “The Perception of Exclusion and Proximity through the Use of Standard Dutch,’tussentaal’and Dialect in Flanders.” In Multilingualism and Exclusion: Policy, Practice and Prospects, edited by PolCuvelier, 241–56.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Van De Mieroop, Dorien, ElineZenner, and StefaniaMarzo. 2016. “Standard and Colloquial Belgian Dutch Pronouns of Address: A Variationist-Interactional Study of Child-Directed Speech in Dinner Table Interactions.”Folia Linguistica50 (1): 31–64. https://doi.org/10.1515/flin-2016-0002.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Van Hoof, Sarah, and JürgenJaspers. 2012. “Hyperstandaardisering.”Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse taal- en letterkunde128 (1): 97–125.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Van Istendael, Geert. 1989. Het Belgisch labyrint: de schoonheid der wanstaltigheid. Amsterdam: Arbeiderspers.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Van Lancker, Inge. 2016. “Standardizing and Destandardizing Practices at a Flemish Secondary School: A Sociolinguistic Ethnographic Perspective on Flemish Pupils’ Speech Practices.”Taal & Tongval68 (2): 173–200.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Vosters, Rik. 2008. “Integrationisten en particularisten? Taalstrijd in Vlaanderen tijdens het Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden (1815-1830).”Handelingen van de Koninklijke Zuid-Nederlandse Maatschappij voor Taal- en Letterkunde en Geschiedenis62: 41–58.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Zenner, Eline, StefanGrondelaers, LauraRosseel, DirkSpeelman, MarieEsselinckx, and EllenRombouts. 2021. “The Competence of the Professional Standard Language Speaker in Flux? Support from the Speech Therapy Context.”Language & Communication81 (November): 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2021.08.002.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.5117/TET2024.2.002.VERA
Loading
The Belgian-Dutch language situation from a different angle: child-directed speech as a road into micro language choices and macro norms
Taal en Tongval 76, 140 (2024); https://doi.org/10.5117/TET2024.2.002.VERA
/content/journals/10.5117/TET2024.2.002.VERA
/content/journals/10.5117/TET2024.2.002.VERA
Loading

Data & Media loading...

Keyword(s): Belgian Dutch; child-directed speech; double standard scenario; language regards; mixed-methods research; standard language ideology; style-shifting; variationist sociolinguistics

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error