Your Name
________
Rachel Baez
_________________________________________________________________________
LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS WORKSHEET (25 questions)
Directions: Fill in the blank with the correct answer or highlight/underline the correct choice for each item.
1. Language of Investigation ___ Dutch __________________________________________
2. What places of origin (countries, regions, cities) is this language primarily spoken? _ The
Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname, Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten and South Africa (Afrikaans).
__
3. This closest/ most similar language to this language is _ German and English ____________
4. Approximately, how many speakers are there globally of this language?__
23 million _____
Alphabet: Orthography
5. This language has which type of alphabet? a. Latin (every sign has a single sound) b. Syllabic (every sign represents a whole syllable) c. Logographic (each sign represents and entire word)
6. This language reads in which directions: a. LEFT to RIGHT, UP to DOWN b. RIGHT to LEFT, DOWN to UP c. RIGHT to LEFT, UP to DOWN d. LEFT to RIGHT, DOWN to UP
7. The letters/ characters of this alphabet are of which language family? a. Indo-European a. Sino-Tibetan b. Semitic c. Bantu e. Uralic f. Dravidian g. Austonesian h. Altic
8. Does this language depend primarily on tone or pitch? a. Yes b. No
Phonetics and Phonology:
9. What sounds are specific to this language, but are not present in English? The Dutch do not have a hard or soft “g”, it is more of a guttural, “clearing your throat” kind of sound. Similar to some German sounds but even harder. They also do not say “kw” for “q”, but a /ku/ with the “u” being pronounced like /oo/. The “v” sound is normal, but “w” is pronounced with the top teeth biting the bottom lip for a hard /v/ sound . They also “trill” or roll the /r/ sound._
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10. What sounds are found in English, but are not found in this language? The Dutch language does not have the /th/ sound or a hard or soft /g/ sound. They do not have a hard /w/. /W/ or /th/ would be pronounced “s, t, or d”.____________________________________________________________________

11.
What sounds do speakers of this language have difficulty pronouncing in English? The /w/, /v/ and /f/ are extremely difficult, and the /th/ sound. It is hard to distinguish between “fan” and “van”.
Syntax and Grammar:
12. The word order of this language is a. Verb, subject, object (VSO) b. Subject, verb, object (SVO) c. Object, verb, subject (OVS) d. Verb, object, subject (VOS) e. Subject, object, verb (SOV) f. Lacks a dominant word order
13. Are there particular parts of speech that are represented differently (such as articles or prepositions)? Complicated word order similar to German can cause the verb to occur at the end of sentences, but most often it is similar to English in SVO. The Dutch language does not distinguish between adjectives and adverbs, but they use articles in the same way. They write in a time before place order, where English is place before time. Sometimes this can cause a negative transfer or interference in interpretation.___________________________________________________________________________
14. How are tense and aspect indicated? Tenses are similar to English; however some differences in tense can also cause a negative transfer. There is not a progressive form of verb tenses, for example “I am going to the store.” The use of “am” is non existent in the Dutch language._____________________
15. What are the punctuation forms used in this language? List using English comparisons.
Dutch language uses similar punctuation such as the period, question mark and exclamation point. Some differences are in where they place punctuation like semicolons, which can lead to run on sentences and commas which cause a break in a relative clause or reported speech.
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16. How does this language mark gender? “The” and “it’ are gender neutral, as they are in English.
The Dutch also use male/female pronouns such as he/she and his/her. They also use them, us, and they.
“You” however is not used informally, so it is not used as gender specific either way in casual speech.
Morphology: Remember that cognates have the same origin; they are not simply words that sound alike.
17. If there are some shared cognates between English and this language, what are they?
If not, why not?
The Dutch language shares many cognates with English, due to the German and Romance language influences. Some examples are arm – arm, foot – voet, coffee – koffie to name a few. One issue with shared cognates in the Dutch language is they tend to put several words together into one long word. For example, koffiefilterzakje in Dutch means coffee filter bag in English._____________________________
18. If there are some FALSE cognates between English and this language, what are they?
If not, why not?
There are false cognates in Dutch, like “douche” means to take a shower in Dutch, where it is a feminine product in English. Also, “knikkers” in Dutch means marbles or balls, where knickers in English means short pants.______________________________________________________________________________
Semantics:
19. How is formality or respect expressed? The word “you” is never used casually in Dutch. It is a formal way to address someone and it is spelled “u”. This spelling of “u” is also used to address large

groups of people. The phrase “Hep je?” is “Did you do that?”, using /je/ as a casual form of “you” and
/jou/ as a possessive form of “you”.__________________________________________________________
20. What is an informal expression in this language? What is the English translation/meaning?
Hoe gaat het? means How goes it? in English. However, that is about as casual as it gets in the Dutch language. Phrases like “What’s going on?” or “What’s up?” do not exist in Dutch._________________
Pragmatics:
21. What is the common expression for greetings? (In English, we ask “How are you?”)
Hoe gaat het met u? means “How are you?” in a formal way in Dutch. This is probably the most common expression or greeting. The Dutch however, take this question seriously and expect an answer and listen attentively. ____________________________________________________________________
22. Are there certain topics that are considered inappropriate or forbidden?
There are not any topics that the Dutch find inappropriate or forbidden. _________________________
Teaching Implications:
23. Through your research what have you found are the biggest difficulties of speakers of this language learning English? Please provide specific examples.
I feel the biggest difficulties facing ELL students from the Netherlands would be the differences in certain letter sounds. The word “the” for example is pronounced /da/ and also the use of /v/ and /f/. Using verbs in various tenses and with similar but different meanings can be confusing. For example, “learning” is always learning in Dutch, where in English you learn, but are “being taught” and you loan money from the bank, not “borrow” money from someone or some place. The place before time word order, as opposed to time before place can make speaking and writing difficult. Slang words and expressions are also not easy to decipher.___________________________________________________________________
24. If you have an early production ELL who this language is their L1, what would be the most important thing you will teach them in regards to the difference between their language and English?
I think teaching ELLs of Dutch the basic sounds of the English language would be the most important initial step. The basic phonology and phonemic awareness would greatly benefit students to be able to decipher most words. _____________________________________________________________________
25. What would you expect to be ongoing difficulties for intermediate ELLs who this is there L1? What areas would you still need to address even after they had mastered social English?
I feel the pronunciation of certain sounds would still be an issue, even at a mastery level. I think the multiple meaning of verbs and the different tenses would continue to cause confusion and need to be reviewed often. The interpretation of slang and casual speech words and phrases would need to be interpreted. I think students would continue to have difficulty mastering terminology between subjects.
Each topic has a new set of vocabulary and the English language tends to use more literal, complicated words derived from Latin and Greek languages, which can be hard for ELLs to grasp.______________