模糊语言口语研究vagueness in speech

xianx

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I'm interested in vague language, and begin to write a MA paper based on oral corpus. I'm trying to make a comparison between use of native speaker and that of chinese english learner.

I know that there has been lot of studies on vague language, but mine only focused on words like things like that, or sth else, and so on. could any experts, learners and friends give me some suggestions about that.

expecting your suggestions.

[本贴已被 xujiajin 于 2005年10月03日 11时11分07秒 编辑过]
 
Corpora-based studies only work well when you have some or a repertoire of lexical items to be searched.

In other words, can you locate vaguely meaning language on to lexical items, words, and phrases or lexical bundles and so forth? Do you think the vagueness of language can be reduced to lexical semantics?
 
In your view, is linguistic vagueness a matter of specificity or identifiability?
 
好像有很多这样的词, 但是我想就具体到, things like that, or something else, and so on, and etc这类。应该是lexical items吧
 
many thanks to xujiajin.
do you think i need to think from the semantic point of view.
 
回复:模糊语言口语研究

以下是引用 xianx2005-8-8 16:21:17 的发言:
好像有很多这样的词, 但是我想就具体到, things like that, or something else, and so on, and etc这类。应该是lexical items吧

These look to me like hedges or hedging strategies. They cannot be representative of linguistic vagueness.

I do suggest you study hedges with linguistic corpora.
 
i agree with u, but i don't want to conduct it from this angle.
i want to write it from discourse anlysis point of view. is that feasible?
to achieve the fluency of chinese english learners oral english, i think learn how to use the vague language is useful.

other words like sort of, thing are frequently used by native speakers.
 
以下是引用 xianx 在 2005-8-8 16:21:17 的发言:
好像有很多这样的词, 但是我想就具体到, things like that, or something else, and so on, and etc这类。应该是lexical items吧




These look to me like hedges or hedging strategies. They cannot be representative of linguistic vagueness.

I do suggest you study hedges with linguistic corpora.



that's what i am exactly worried. but from the definition of vague language, i really cannot find many differences between them.
 
So first and foremost, you have to work out an operational definition for linguistic vagueness, otherwise you will shadowbox at nobody.
 
回复:模糊语言口语研究

i want to write it from discourse anlysis point of view. is that feasible?
^^^^^^^^^^^^
How will u approach the question from DA perspective? Could u give an example?
 
Vague language is an interesting topic. I believe it is more common in speech than in writing, which means that it is more advisable to use spoken corpora for research of this kind.

Spoken language, and face-to-face conversation in particular, takes place on the basis of a shared context, avoids elaboration or specification of reference, and reflects the needs for real-time processing (Leech 2000). It is, therefore, hardly surprising that conversation is more vague than most written genres. Vagueness is pervasive in conversation where it plays an important role. The most obvious reason for using vague expressions is uncertainty at the time of speaking. In this case, vagueness allows speakers to maintain fluency even though they lack information about a given quantity, quality or identity, or, when such information is potentially available, they cannot access or process it in time. However, speakers may still choose to be vague even when they could in principle be more precise. This is because vague language can serve a number of pragmatic functions. Jucker, Smith and Lüdge (2003), for example, analyze the vague additives (i.e. approximators, downtoners, vague category identifiers and shields) and instances of lexical vagueness (i.e. vague quantifying expressions, vague adverbs of frequency, vague adverbs of likelihood, and placeholder words) in a corpus of semi-controlled spoken interactions between students in California. They find that vagueness is an interactional strategy which plays an important role in managing conversational implicature. First, vague expressions may serve as focusing devices, directing the hearer’s attention to the most relevant information. Second, vague expressions of quantities provide information about the significance of the quantity and may provide a reference point in terms of a scale. Third, vague expressions may also convey several aspects of propositional attitude (e.g. conveying different levels of certainty regarding the propositional content, conveying the newsworthiness or expectedness of a statement, and conveying evaluative meaning). Finally, vague expressions may serve various social functions (serving as politeness strategies, softening implicit complaints and criticisms, and providing a way of establishing a social bond). As such, vague language helps to ‘guide the hearer towards the best interpretation of the speaker’s intention’ (Jucker, Smith and Lüdge 2003: 1766).

For Neil Drave's paper, see
http://www.corpus4u.org/showthread.php?t=344

Jucker, Smith and Lüdge's paper is here:
http://www.corpus4u.org/upload/forum/2005080818035159.pdf
 
While hedge and VL (vague language) are similar in some aspects, they are not the same. For a glossary of the two terms see

http://www.teachit.co.uk/pdf/spoklng2.pdf

Hedging is frequently used in academic writing (SEEM, APPEAR, perhaps, probably), but we cannot say academic writing is vague. Hedging functions to soften, or make a statement milder, but VL has different functions, as can be seen in posting above.
 
I really appreciate your help.

accoding to the glossary of the two terms, sort of can be called hedge, the definition of vague language is, staments that sound imprecise and unaccertative. but i think sort of also has this function to make stament sound imprecise. then does sort of belong to vague language?
 
to xujiajin: How will u approach the question from DA perspective? Could u give an example?

i am still thinking about that. Jeorge Yule calls those words prfabricated fillers.
 
回复:模糊语言口语研究

以下是引用 xianx2005-8-8 18:58:23 的发言:
to xujiajin: How will u approach the question from DA perspective? Could u give an example?

i am still thinking about that. Jeorge Yule calls those words prfabricated fillers.

It is not the question as to how we called it, rather we need to find out how the VL functions in discourse.
 
回复:模糊语言口语研究

以下是引用 xianx2005-8-8 18:50:59 的发言:
I really appreciate your help.
accoding to the glossary of the two terms, sort of can be called hedge, the definition of vague language is, staments that sound imprecise and unaccertative. but i think sort of also has this function to make stament sound imprecise. then does sort of belong to vague language?

You are correct in saying that "sort of" is a hedge and meanwhile contributes to the vagueness of expression.
Hedging and VL are two different and they should not be seen at the same level.
 
Broadly, VL should cover hedging, because the latter also makes a statement tentative, but there are many types of VL. See Juck et al's paper section 3.2 for a classificaion.
 
how the VL functions in discourse, i think as the name (fillers) shows, it finishes or helps to finish the discourse.

I know i just got the superficial part , i am still at a loss how to accomplish the 30,000 words paper. what i know is far from enough for that paper.
 
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