Pragmatic functions of ‘sort of’ in Persian
A vague language perspective
It goes without saying that as a pragmatic phenomenon, vagueness
has over the past few years been a topic of extensive research. However, a huge
gap still exists when it comes to the investigation of how vagueness is
expressed across different languages and cultures. In the present study, we have
put under scrutiny the pragmatic functions of ‘sort of’, a vague expression, in
Persian conversation with a view to making cross-linguistic comparisons between
different languages possible. Besides confirming the fact that the vague item
‘sort of’ enables interactants to fulfil a wide variety of functions in
interactional settings, particularly in face-to-face interactions, the current
study reveals that the expression in question can also serve to signal ‘a moment
of awkwardness’ as well as the presence of ‘inferable information’. With the
former function, ‘sort of’ signals that the speaker is experiencing a feeling of
inconvenience and embarrassment. When used as an inferable information signal,
however, ‘sort of’ indicates that the utterance has been inferred from the
previous or current exchange.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Vague language
- 3.The current study
- 3.1
Sort of in Persian
- 3.2Data and method
- 4.Analysis
- 5.Conclusion
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Transcription conventions
-
References
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