Universität Wien
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120067 SE Linguistics Seminar (222) = Seminar Linguistik/BA Thesis (2009W)

Hedging and being vague

11.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
Continuous assessment of course work

Diese LVA gilt für das Bachelorstudium nach UG2002, das Diplomstudium (UniStG) und das Lehramt UF Englisch (UniStG).

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 18 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Tuesday 13.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 20.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 27.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 03.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 10.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 17.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 24.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 01.12. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 15.12. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 12.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 19.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 26.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

It is sometimes thought that being vague is bad language use. In this seminar we will see that this is far from true: vagueness is an inherent characteristic of language and being able to express vagueness appropriately is an essential communicative skill. We will investigate the use of explicit hedges such as sort of, like, approximately, I think and placeholders such as thing, stuff but also cases of so-called loose talk, which are not flagged by explicit markers (e.g. See you in 5 minutes). Among the questions we will discuss are the following:
- What are the communicative functions of hedges?
- How are they used in different text types?
- How is vagueness accounted for in different theoretical models?
- To what extent is hedging culture-specific and why is it a difficult topic for language learners?

Assessment and permitted materials

Participants will be assessed on the basis of their oral presentations, written research papers, and in-class participation. All presentations take place during a seminar conference in December (11 December afternoon and 12 December all day).

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Participants will become aware of the pervasiveness of vague language and how it is used to achieve a range of different communicative effects. They will be able to identify vague language use in spoken and written texts and develop a better understanding of how we interpret the meaning of utterances in context.

Examination topics

The initial sessions will be used to introduce participants to the topic and help them develop their research questions. This introductory phase involves the discussion of articles, text analysis in groups, and practical work with computer corpora. The second phase of the course is reserved for individual project work. In the final phase, participants will present their projects and findings in oral presentations and written research papers.

Reading list

Channel, J. 1994. Vague language. Oxford: OUP.
Cutting, J. (ed.) 2007. Vague language explored. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillian.
Jucker, A. H. et al. 2003. "Interactive aspects of vagueness in conversation" . Journal of Pragmatics 35: 1737-1769.
Prince, E.F. et al. 1982. "On hedging in physician-phyisician discourse". In: Di Pietro, R. J. (ed.) Linguistics and the Professions. Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Delaware Symposium on Language Studies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 83-97.

Association in the course directory

Diplom 343, UF 344, BA 612

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:33