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Part of
Sociolinguistic Variation and Language Acquisition across the Lifespan
Edited by Anna Ghimenton, Aurélie Nardy and Jean-Pierre Chevrot
[Studies in Language Variation 26] 2021
► pp. 51–80

Chapter 3
The alternation between standard and vernacular pronouns by Belgian Dutch parents in child-oriented control acts

ORCID logo | KU Leuven
ORCID logo | KU Leuven

This paper studies the social meaning of standard and vernacular pronouns of address in Dutch by zooming in on the position they hold in parents’ control acts to their children. Linking the hyperstandardized linguistic situation in Flanders with the Western-European ideal of democratic parenting, we expect to find that the standard forms are more typically connected to more indirect, softer control acts. This hypothesis is tested through a mixed method approach, where quantitative and qualitative analyses are used to chart the choices of ten Belgian Dutch parents when issuing directives to their children. Studying 452 pronouns we identify a clear link between the choice of variety and parameters such as type of control act, repetition, mitigation and boosting and type of pronoun, with ‘irritation’ as mediating factor.

Keywords: control acts, vernacular, standard language, child-directed speech, hyperstandardization, Dutch, mixed methods
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Control acts
    • 1.2Standard-vernacular variation in control acts
    • 1.3The Dutch language laboratory
  • 2.Data and variables
    • 2.1Self-recordings
    • 2.2Response variable: Pronouns of address in control acts
    • 2.3Predictor variables
  • 3.Analyses and results
    • 3.1Results of the quantitative analyses
    • 3.2Results of the qualitative analyses
  • 4.Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 16 August 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/silv.26.03zen
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