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Vague Language that is Vague P in Both L 1 and L 2: A Comment on Gassner (2012)

Vague Language that is Vague P in Both L 1 and L 2: A Comment on Gassner (2012) In one of the most recent studies exclusively devoted to referential vagueness, Gassner (2012) argues that there are occasions in which ‘ L 2 speakers of English’ display instances of what she calls vagueness P . Put more precisely, focusing on the noun “thing” as a case in point, Gassner (2012: 3) reports that while in her L 1 data all instances of “thing” are interpreted normally in context, “some instances of ‘thing’ in the L 2 data do seem to introduce the phenomenon of vagueness P ”. These instances, which according to Gassner (: 26) only occur “in L 2 uses of the item ‘thing’”, make it too difficult for the hearer to understand what “thing” would refer to. Although Gassner’s findings have some serious implications for researchers working in the field, in what follows I shall argue that vagueness P is not necessarily a phenomenon confined to L 2 discourse, but rather is found even in L 1 data. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Review of Pragmatics Brill

Vague Language that is Vague P in Both L 1 and L 2: A Comment on Gassner (2012)

Parvaresh, Vahid
International Review of Pragmatics , Volume 7 (1): 129 – Jan 1, 2015
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
ISSN
1877-3095
eISSN
1877-3109
DOI
10.1163/18773109-00701007
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

In one of the most recent studies exclusively devoted to referential vagueness, Gassner (2012) argues that there are occasions in which ‘ L 2 speakers of English’ display instances of what she calls vagueness P . Put more precisely, focusing on the noun “thing” as a case in point, Gassner (2012: 3) reports that while in her L 1 data all instances of “thing” are interpreted normally in context, “some instances of ‘thing’ in the L 2 data do seem to introduce the phenomenon of vagueness P ”. These instances, which according to Gassner (: 26) only occur “in L 2 uses of the item ‘thing’”, make it too difficult for the hearer to understand what “thing” would refer to. Although Gassner’s findings have some serious implications for researchers working in the field, in what follows I shall argue that vagueness P is not necessarily a phenomenon confined to L 2 discourse, but rather is found even in L 1 data.

Journal

International Review of Pragmatics – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 2015

Keywords: vague language; referential vagueness; saturation; L 1 and L 2 discourse; Persian

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