Communicating through Vague Language

Transcription

1 Communicating through Vague Language

2 Also by Peyman Sabet 15 M.A. PARALLEL TESTS IN TEFL FOR EXAMINATIONS A Book for M.A. Candidates in TEFL ( co- authored) EFFECTIVE READING FOR COMPREHENSION ( co- authored) Also by Grace Zhang ELASTIC LANGUAGE How and Why We Stretch Our Words CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON LANGUAGE EDUCATION: AUSTRALIA AND THE ASIA PACIFIC ( co- edited) NEGOTIATING WITH VAGUE LANGUAGE A Chinese Perspective ( co- authored) USING CHINESE SYNONYMS REQUEST STRATEGIES A Comparative Study in Mandarin Chinese and Korean ( co- authored) FUZZY SEMANTICS (2nd edition)

3 Communicating through Vague Language A Comparative Study of L1 and L2 Speakers Peyman G.P. Sabet and Grace Q. Zhang Curtin University, Australia

4 Peyman G.P. Sabet and Grace Q. Zhang 2015 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number , of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sabet, Peyman G.P., 1976 Communicating through vague language : a comparative study of L1 and L2 speakers / Peyman G.P. Sabet, Curtin University, Australia; Grace Q. Zhang, Curtin University, Australia. pages cm Summary: Vague language refers to expressions with unspecified meaning (for instance, I kind of want that job ), and is an important but often overlooked part of linguistic communication. This book is a comparative study of vague language based on naturally occurring data of a rare combination: L1 (American) and L2 (Chinese and Persian) speakers in academic settings. The findings indicate that L2 learners have diverse and culturally specific needs for vague language, and generally use vague words in a more concentrated fashion compared with L1s. The book explores the interconnection and continuum between the linguistic realizations of a vague term and the functions it serves, and how elasticity underpins the frequency and functions of vague language. The implication is that vague language may be integrated into the curriculum of English language teaching as part of L2 speakers communicative competence. This book will be of great interest to researchers in the fields of intercultural education and applied linguistics Provided by publisher. 1. Semantics. 2. Vagueness (Philosophy) 3. Ambiguity. 4. Language and languages Philosophy. I. Zhang, Grace Qiao, author. II. Title. P325.S '.43 dc Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India.

5 Contents List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgments Transcription Conventions List of Abbreviations viii x xi xii 1 Introduction Purpose of the study Organization 3 2 Theoretical Foundations Vague language: what is it and why do we need it? Vague language in different settings Vague language and education Vague language in the classroom Vague language in language learning and teaching Vague language and learner language Theoretical frameworks Vague language and the cooperative principle Vague language and Relevance Theory The elasticity of vague language Concluding remarks 31 3 Methodology Three approaches Quantitative approach Qualitative approach Mixed methods approach Naturally occurring data Data Data analysis Concluding remarks 46 4 Lexical Analysis of Vague Language Subjectivizers I think I guess 53 v

6 vi Contents I don t know I believe Possibility indicators Maybe May Might Probably and possible Vague quantifiers Some Much Many A lot of Most (A) few A little Lots of A lot Majority Vague intensifiers Really Very Actually So Too Quite Placeholders Something Things Thing Anything Someone Somebody Anybody Concluding remarks Pragmatic Functions of Vague Language Mitigation Self- protection Politeness Downtoning 123

7 Contents vii 5.2 Right amount of information Quantification Emphasizing Possibility Uncertainty Structural function Repair Hesitation Turn management Concluding remarks General Discussion Overall frequency distribution Clustering patterns Density of vague language and concentrated distribution Influence of first language Influence of cultural protocols Impact of lack of language proficiency Impact of cognitive processing focus Different communicative approaches The manifestation of elasticity of vague language Linguistic elasticity Pragmatic elasticity Versatility between realizations and functions Concluding remarks Conclusions and Implications Conclusions Limitations Implications Further research 196 Appendix I: Consent Form for the Director and Teachers 198 Appendix II: Consent Form for Participants 199 References 200 Subject Index 209 Author Index 211

8 List of Figures and Tables Figures 4.1 Frequency distribution of subjectivizers Percentage distribution of subjectivizers Frequency distribution of possibility indicators Percentage distribution of possibility indicators Frequency distribution of vague quantifiers Percentage distribution of vague quantifiers Frequency distribution of vague intensifiers Percentage distribution of vague intensifiers Frequency distribution of placeholders Percentage distribution of placeholders Positions of the three groups in the use of five lexical categories Overall frequency continuum of possibility indicators Elastic continuum of maybe Overall frequency continuum of placeholders Elastic continuum of things 186 Tables 3.1 Differences between quantitative and qualitative methods Vague language lexical categories Vague language pragmatic function categories Distribution of subjectivizers I think positions and clusters Distribution of possibility indicators Maybe positions and clusters May clusters 64 viii

9 List of Figures and Tables ix 4.6 Might clusters Distribution of vague quantifiers Some clusters Much clusters Many clusters Distribution of vague intensifiers Really clusters Very clusters Distribution of placeholders Something clusters Things clusters Thing clusters Anything clusters Frequency of lexical categories of vague language Overall distributions of vague expressions Ratio of vague expressions to total word count 161

10 Acknowledgments We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Chris Conlan, the anonymous reviewers and the final clearance reader; their valuable feedback has been incorporated into this book. We thank Rebecca Brennan and Libby Forrest at Palgrave Macmillan, Geetha Williams, Portia Winters and anyone else involved in this project, for their help with the production of this book. We are truly grateful to Margaret Johnson for her skilful assistance with the editing. Without the willingness of participants in the data collection, this book would not have been possible. We thank wholeheartedly those who participated in the data collection in Iran and China, and the organiser Hongbian Feng. We acknowledge, with gratitude, the research grant (AAPI and humanities) and scholarships awarded by Curtin University, and the use of the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English. Finally, we thank our parents and spouses for all the selfless support and never- ending love they have given us. x

11 Transcription Conventions [ S1:] Overlap < SU- f, SU- m> Unknown speaker with gender identified <P: 04> Pause of 4 seconds Pause of 2 3 seconds <LAUGH> Current speaker laughs <S8 LAUGH> Speaker 8 laughs <SS LAUGH> Two or more speakers laugh (xx) Indecipherable xi

12 List of Abbreviations CANCODE Cambridge and Nottingham Corpus of Discourse in English CSLE CTFV Chinese- speaking learner of English Contrary- to- face- value EFL English as a foreign language ELT English language teaching ERIC Education Resources Information Centre ESL English as a second language LIBELCASE Limerick- Belfast Corpus of Academic Spoken English L1s L1 speakers MICASE Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English PSLE Persian- speaking learner of English SOV Subject- object- verb VOA Voice of America xii