Dialect en Nederlands op een kleuterschool in Helmond

Samenvatting

In language research in Helmond in 1971, an attempt was made to determine if the language of the person addressing the pupils influenced their language use. 145 children were arbitrarily divided into 2 groups. One group was addressed in standard Dutch during a slide presentation, and subsequently in the local dialect. For the other group the reverse was the case. Both groups reacted to the language of the person speaking to them, although they were somewhat more inclined to use the local rather than the national dialect if the first contact was in the local dialect. The use of standard Dutch appeared to be dominant over the local dialect, and this dominance increased with age. In general, boys used sounds associated with the local dialect more than did the girls. 1 table. P. Tiersma.