Grammar and pronunciation of Dutch

Teacher(s)

Bosmans Hilde; Degrave Pauline (compensates Hiligsmann Philippe); Hiligsmann Philippe;

Language

Dutch

Main themes

This course takes a descriptive and prescriptive approach to Dutch grammar and pronunciation. Topics include:  

1. The principles governing Dutch pronunciation, in particular sentence stress, word stress, assimilation processes and typical Dutch sounds. 
2. A detailed description of the rules governing the Dutch word order and form. 
3. The grammatical analysis of the sentence and its constituents. 
4. The interface between word order and sentence stress.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	Apply the basic rules of Dutch in exercises.
2	Recognising and exploiting the specific features of written and spoken Dutch.
3	Define basic concepts and illustrate them using examples.
4	Use the tools needed to understand, describe and produce correct written and spoken Dutch productions.
5	Understand and be able to explain a simple scientific article on a linguistic aspect of Dutch.
This learning unit contributes to the development and command of the following skills and learning outcomes of the ELAL programmes: 1.4, 1.6, 2.6, 5.6, 6.6.

Content

The course aims to support the acquisition of Dutch grammar and phonetics. It consists of three distinct but interconnected parts. 

• An introduction to Dutch pronunciation, in particular sentence stress, word stress, assimilation and typical Dutch sounds, using a contrastive approach in order to make students aware of the communicative challenges linked to a good command of pronunciation. 
• An introduction to the principles governing the order and form of words in Dutch, as well as the principles of grammatical analysis of the sentence and its constituent parts. 
• The third part concerns the links between word order and sentence stress. 

Systematic exercises are also included to help students master grammar and pronunciation. 

Teaching methods

A mixed approach of lectures, exercises and reading of scientific articles adapted to the level of the students. 

Evaluation methods

In January: oral examination for the theoretical part (100%).
In June and August: oral examination for the theoretical part (70%) and written examination for the practical part (30%). Students who obtain an insufficient mark for one of the two parts will automatically obtain a failing grade for the whole course and will have to repeat that part during the August exam period.

Faculty or entity

> ELAL