Hostname: page-component-54dcc4c588-smtgx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-09-30T08:30:19.314Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Language variation and local elements in family discourse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2004

Annick De Houwer
Annick De Houwer
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study focuses on language variation in three families with small children in Antwerp, an officially Dutch-speaking large city in Belgium. Language variation is mainly considered here in terms of whether utterances contain local dialect features or not. Phonetic transcriptions of recorded natural family interaction were coded for language variation on an utterance-by-utterance basis. The following distinctions in usage emerge: “local” utterances containing dialect elements tend to be used when older children and adults in the family address each other. “Neutral” forms, which are common all over Flanders, may also be used, whereas “distal” features, which are imports from a Dutch variety outside Flanders, are to be avoided. However, when older children and adults address the younger members of the family, they increase their use of neutral forms, substantially reduce their use of local forms, and occasionally use distal forms. The younger children use mainly utterances categorized as neutral, dependent on who they are addressing. Implications of this variation across family members for language change are discussed.Financial support for the project reported on in this article comes from the Belgian National Science Foundation (KAN-grant to the author) and the Research Council of the University of Antwerp/UIA. Many thanks to the families, schools, and students who helped at the data collection stage. I also thank Wolfgang Wölck and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , October 2003 , pp. 329 - 349
Copyright
© 2003 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Brown, Roger. (1973). A first language: The early stages. London: George Allen and Unwin.
De Houwer, Annick, & Gillis, Steven. (1998). Dutch child language: An overview. In S. Gillis & A. De Houwer (eds.), The acquisition of Dutch. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 1–100.
De Houwer, Annick, & Gillis, Steven. (1982). Open en verborgen attitudes: Hoe komen we er aan? In P. Van de Craen & R. Willemyns (eds.), Sociolinguïstiek en ideologie. Brussels: Vrije Universiteit Brussel. 135–172.
Deprez, Kas. (1984). Why do Antwerpians consider Netherlandic language varieties as ‘cultured’, ‘pleasant’, ‘beautiful’, ‘rich”? In K. Deprez (ed.), Sociolinguistics in the low countries. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins. 237–285.
Deprez, Kas, & De Schutter, Georges. (1981). Het Antwerps in Antwerpen. Een attitude-onderzoek. In M. Dominicy & C. Peeters (eds.), Linguistics in Belgium 4. Papers from the fourth December meeting of the Belgian Linguistics Circle. Brussels: Didier Hatier. 17–39.
Gallaway, Clare, & Richards, Brian (eds.). (1994). Input and interaction in language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hagen, Antoon. (1986). Dialekt und Standardsprache. Zur heutigen Situation im niederländischen Grenzgebiet. Rheinisches Vierteljahresblätter 50:287–297.Google Scholar
Hazen, Kirk. (2002). The Family. In J. K. Chambers, P. Trudgill, & N. Schilling-Estes (eds.), The handbook of language variation and change. Oxford: Blackwell. 500–525.
Kuppens, An. (2003). Liever Standaardnederlands dan Antwerps? Verklaringen voor taalkeuze in gesprekken met kinderen. PSW-papers. Antwerp: Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen.
Kuppens, An, & De Houwer, Annick. (2003). “Dialect is niet voor kinderen”: Attitudes tegenover Standaardnederlands en dialect in kindgerichte spraak. In T. Koole, J. Nortier, & B. Tahitu (eds.), Artikelen van de vierde sociolinguïstische conferentie. Delft: Eburon. 268–276.
Lebbe, Dominique. (1997). Schoon Vlaams. Een onderzoek naar syntactische en morfosyntactische aspecten van tussentaal door Ieperlingen gesproken. Taal en Tongval 49(2):158–175.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, Brian. (1995). Computational analysis of interactions. In P. Fletcher & B. MacWhinney (eds.), Handbook of child language. London: Blackwell. 152–178.
MacWhinney, Brian, & Snow, Catherine. (1985). The child language data exchange system. Journal of Child Language 12:271–295.Google Scholar
Nuyts, Jan. (1989). Het Antwerps vokaalsysteem: Een synchronische en diachronische schets. Taal en Tongval 41(1–2):22–48.Google Scholar
Nuyts, Jan. (1995). Subjectspronomina en dubbele pronominale constructies in het Antwerps. Taal en Tongval 47(1):43–58.Google Scholar
Van de Craen, Piet. (1985). De mislukking van een taalpolitiek: A.B.N. in de klas. In P. Van de Craen & R. Willemyns (eds.), Standaardnederlands en dialect op school, thuis en elders. Brussels: Vrije Universiteit Brussel. 45–64.
Van de Velde, Hans, & Houtermans, Muriel. (1999). Vlamingen en Nederlanders over de uitspraak van nieuwslezers. In E. Huls & B. Weltens (eds.), Artikelen van de derde sociolinguïstische conferentie, Delft: Eburon. 451–462.
Verbruggen, M., Stroobants, F., & Rijmenans, Rita. (1985). Dialect in de klas. Aanzet tot onderzoek in drie basisscholen uit het Antwerpse. In P. Van de Craen & R. Willemyns (eds.), Standaardnederlands en dialect op school, thuis en elders. Brussels: Vrije Universiteit Brussel. 107–128.
Willemyns, Roland. (1981). Attitude en gedrag. De soms verhullende rol van cijfers. Taal en Tongval 33:138–144.Google Scholar
Willemyns, Roland. (1997). Dialektverlust im Niederländischen Sprachraum. Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik 64(2):129–154.Google Scholar
Willemyns, Roland. (2003). Dutch. In A. Deumert & W. Vandenbussche (eds.), Germanic standardizations. Past to present. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins.