Yankees, Mannequins and Santa Claus: the Dutch influence on the English speaking world, with respect to language, literature and culture

Abstract

The world of today is globalized. This globalization has led to the spread of the English language as a lingua franca. This has resulted in the borrowing of English vocabulary by the majority of languages. However, it is not very well known that the Dutch language has loaned vocabulary to the English language. Therefore, the focus of this paper is to answer the questions about how Dutch loanwords entered the English language and how the English and American culture and literature were influenced by the Dutch. The research for this paper was executed through a descriptive-qualitative approach. Studies by De Vries (1916), Llewellyn (1938), and Van der Sijs (2009) comprise the basic references of the paper, due to their degree of relevance and reference to the research of this paper’s subject. It is observed that the Dutch language has influenced the (American) English language, culture and literature due to the political, economic and military supremacy of the Dutch from the Middle Ages to the seventeenth century. It is concluded that a paper such as this might contribute to the insight that every language has its importance in today’s globalized world.