American versus British English: Dutch attitudes towards Standard American English and Received Pronunciation.

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2017-06-15

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en

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The English language has an increasingly important role in the Netherlands, for example in governmental communication. The two varieties of English that are most prominent in Dutch society are British English and American English. Even though these language varieties are very visible in the Netherlands, it is unclear what attitudes Dutch citizens attribute to speakers of these English language variations when it comes to their status and social attractiveness. Knowing more about this is interesting and relevant for the Dutch government and companies, as insight in these attitudes can advise them in determining what English variety to use. Therefore, this study aimed to answer the following research question: What attitudes do Dutch citizens attribute to speakers of Standard American English and Received Pronunciation? Furthermore, the relation between the gender of the speaker and the attributed attitudes was studied. This is relevant because little research into gender in combination with language attitudes was done.

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Faculteit der Letteren