Dingsbums und so: Beliefs about German vague language

Abstract

Research has shown that vague language, which includes vague items (general nouns, general verbs, general extenders, vague clauses, clause final ellipsis and conversational implicature) and vague modifiers (vague quantifiers and other epistemic stance markers), is a feature of many languages, signalling a friendly attitude and modifying face threats. In order for language teachers to teach about vague language, they need to understand the preconceptions of their learners. This paper describes the beliefs of 178 German English language teachers and students. This study has shown that all the participants were aware of German equivalents to the English general nouns, verbs and extenders. Describing German vague language, they mentioned vague non-verbal indicators, vague responses to health enquiries, and vague epistemic stance indicators that indexed explicitly a lack of knowledge. They emphasised that these forms are reserved for family and close friends, and expressing closeness. They believed that they were not appropriate in formal settings, being associated them with a low level of education and youth talk. They also pointed to negative connotations of indifference, and impressions of laziness and incompetence that vague language can create. The paper suggests applications of findings for language educators.

German, Spanish and Mandarin speakers' metapragmatic awareness of vague language compared

“…Over half of the German respondents in Cutting (2015) felt that they could translate word-for-word (see Figure 1). They said they had no difficulty finding equivalents for general nouns but their comments about GEs frequently exposed confusion between the adjunctive and the disjunctive, as can be seen in the answer 'and things'/'or something': oder/oder so, ne?…”

“…What is lacking is studies of language learners' and teachers' awareness of and attitudes to VL in their first language (L1), which could inform the teaching of VL in a second language (L2). This paper responds to this need by exploring the metapragmatic awareness of VL of Spanish and Mandarin speakers, and comparing the results with those of Cutting (2015), who studied German speakers, to discover whether there is a common understanding of VL or whether awareness of form and attitude towards social context varies from language to language. To reach this aim, the study described here used a questionnaire to ask English language teachers and learners, with regards to English VL, 1. whether they could find equivalents in their own language 2. how easy it was to translate it to their own language and with regards to their own language, 3. whether they were aware of other forms of VL…”

Vague Language and Its Social Role

“…Cutting (2015) holds that vague language is a key characteristic of global English, and it has been found to vary on the account of the variety of English, as well as the first background of the speaker. As much English is the most popular language in the world, it has been found to have slight variations when compared to the native English speaking societies for example, American English, Canadian English, British English, Australian English, New Zealand English, Western Africa English, South African English, East African English, Spanish English, French English, and Italian English among others.…”

‘We Are Going to Do a Lot of Things for College Tuition’: Vague Language in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Debates

“…While vague language has to date been a topic of extensive research in a variety of settings (see, e.g., Cutting 2007bCutting , 2012Cutting , 2015Drave 2000Drave , 2001Fernández 2015;Gassner 2012;Li 2017;Metsä-Ketelä 2016;Parvaresh 2017a;Parvaresh and Ahmadian 2016;Parvaresh and Tayebi 2014;Ruzait_ e 2007;Sobrino 2015;Sabet and Zhang 2015;Zhang 2011Zhang , 2015, it appears that no research study has yet focused on the use of vague expressions in such high-stake endeavours as presidential campaigns and their corresponding debates. Such an inquiry would, theoretically, be appealing in that vague language can enable interactants to achieve a wide range of interactional functions, especially in face-to-face interactions.…”