Abstract
The perception of modal particles in Dutch was studied, contrasting native and speakers of Dutch as a second language (DSL). According to expectations, non-native subjects turned out to have more significant problems with selecting the best fitting stimulus in the contexts designed to evoke a modal use of the target word. Contrary to expectation, however, the non-native subjects had problems with non-modal contexts as well. Work on spontaneous speech elicited from DSL-speakers with Spanish as L1 revealed an unexpected but clear hierarchy in the acquisition of modal particles. The results are taken as an indication that Dutch particles, as well as their interaction with prosody, merit more attention in didactic materials aimed at DSL-speakers.
Highlights
1 Introduction This study examines the perception of modal particles in Dutch, contrasting native and nonnative speakers
Modal particles may be difficult for second language learners to master, because of strong mismatches between languages as regards their usage of such lexical elements, and because this class of words shows an intricate association between word meaning and prosodic parameters
5 Discussion and Conclusion It became clear that non-native subjects have problems with selecting the best fitting stimulus in the contexts designed to evoke a modal use of the target word, as we expected
Summary
This study examines the perception of modal particles in Dutch, contrasting native and nonnative speakers. Given that languages differ considerably both in the number of particles they have and in the ways they are deployed, it has been hypothesized that they constitute a problem for nonnative speakers (cf Weydt 1981; Foolen 1986). Modal particles may be difficult for second language learners to master, because of strong mismatches between languages as regards their usage of such lexical elements, and because this class of words shows an intricate association between word meaning and prosodic parameters (cf Foolen 1986; Cheon-Kostrzewa 1996; Wenzel 2002; Möllering 2004). Dutch modal particles have an accented counterpart in one or more other word classes We will be somewhat sloppy in our terminology and refer to Linguistik online 44, 4/10
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
