Samantha Pérez Rodríguez’ paper entitled “Spanish as Immigrant Minority Language in Brussels: A Pilot Study on Maintenance and Vitality” was recently published in Languages. Co-authored with her supervisors, An Vande Casteele and Rik Vosters, the paper presents an exploratory study on the language practices of the Hispanic communities in Brussels, examining patterns of language transmission, home language use and integration.
The publication can be accessed here!
One of our team’s researchers, Samantha Pérez Rodríguez, was granted the chance to participate in the Languages in the City Symposium, hosted by Utrecht University from 7 to 8 April 2025.
In her talk “Andalusian Spanish in Brussels: Dialectal Variation of Coda /s/ in a Heritage Context” she shared insights from both her master’s thesis and ongoing research, focusing on the diversity of Spanish heritage varieties in Brussels.
Congratulations, Samantha!
This past April 4 2025, our team had the opportunity to present their work at the eleventh edition of the Sociolinguistic Circle at Leiden University.
Julie Van Ongeval and Rik Vosters provided an overview of recent research in historical sociolinguistics on the history of Dutch in their plenary talk, “Unraveling myths in Dutch language history. A case study on language variation and change in Early Modern Antwerp (1564-1653)”, reassessing and unraveling entrenched myths in Dutch language history.
Additionally, Emma Lambrecht presented her master’s thesis “From Spoken Word to Written Text: Tracing Speech Patterns in 19th-Century West Flemish Pauper Letters and Witness Depositions”, deepening the understanding of historical spoken vernaculars perceived through the written medium and reflecting on the suitability of lower-order letters versus witness depositions as sources to approach past speech.
Congratulations to all of them!
On Wednesday April 2, Eline Lismont successfully defended her PhD – cum laude! Her dissertation is entitled:
Setting the Standard: Norms and Usage in Early and Late Modern Dutch (1550-1850)
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Rik Vosters (VUB) & Prof. Dr. G.J. Rutten (Universiteit Leiden)
Congratulations, Dr. Lismont!
On January 17 at 1pm, Magda Serwadczak will defend her joint PhD (VUB-Antwerp) entitled: Actual Words Were Not Included: Orality, Literacy, and Entextualization in Historical Criminal Records (1700-1900).
Supervisors: Prof. dr. Rik Vosters (VUB), Prof. dr. Mieke Vandenbroucke (UAntwerpen)
The defense will take place in auditorium I0.01 at the VUB-campus in Etterbeek.
You are kindly invited!
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We would like to thank Prof. Laura Wright from the University of Cambridge for her inspiring guest lecture last Friday, Nov. 22 on lexical sociolinguistics, communities of spatial practice and enregisterment!
Yasmin Crombez recently published her paper entitled “From ‘dankgevingsdag’ to ’turkey party’: Historical Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Loan Strategies in Flemish-American Heritage Newspapers” in Bergen Language and Linguistics Studies, where she explores borrowing patterns in Flemish-American newspapers from the 19th and 20th centuries.
You can find the full paper here!
Julie Van Ongeval (VUB & FWO) was honored with the 2024 Best Paper Presentation Award by the Linguistic Society of Belgium for her paper entitled “Dialect contact in Early Modern Antwerp: Exploring the impact of the socially disruptive Fall of Antwerp (1585)”.
Congratulations, Julie!
Dr. Morana Lukač will be giving a guest lecture on non-binary pronouns in Dutch and the influence of prescriptivism on language change. The lecture will take place on Friday 7 March 2025 at 16h in room C.5.03 on the VUB campus. Registration is not required; everyone is welcome!
As part of the master’s course on historical sociolinguistics, Eline Lismont will give a guest lecture on the relationship between codified norms and usage in Early and Late Modern Dutch. The lecture will take place on Friday 29 November 2024 from 11 a.m. to 13 p.m. in room D.3.13 on the VUB campus. Registration is not required.
Everyone is welcome!
