interpreting intentionally vague language (vl)

Copyright Daniel Greene 2011

Vague Language: why people use it and how to interpret itDaniel Greene, BA, Graduate Candidate, CI & CT, NIC Master

1Monday, November 12, 12


Introductions: me

• Diploma from School of Creative & Performing Arts

• AA in ASL Interpreting

• BA in English• Singing,

photography• In Master of Arts in

Interpreting Studies program at WOU.



• Your studies?• Your work?• Your hobbies?• What do you think

Vague Language is?• What do you hope to

learn, and how do you plan to incorporate it into your work?

Introductions: you

?3Monday, November 12, 12


Workshop Description

Participants will study and explore the use of vague language (VL) in both English and ASL, the communicative purposes of VL, the importance of retaining ambiguity when conveying vague messages from one language to another, the benefits of leaving language vague instead of interrupting to request clarification, and specific strategies for conveying VL in both ASL and English. Participants will gain an elevated respect for when, why, and how we should say just what our consumers said.



Educational Objectives

By end of workshop, participants should be able to: Define VL and name at least 5 communicative purposes

that VL serves. Distinguish between language that needs to be clarified

and language that is better conveyed at uttered. Have strategies for conveying VL in English and ASL

without interrupting for clarification. Give a dozen examples of words, phrases, signs,

classifiers, and mouth morphemes used in VL in English & ASL.

Know where to look for more resources.



Agenda

7 hours with 1-hour lunch and two 15-minute breaks

.6 CEUs in Professional Studies (PS)

Lecture, discussions, Q & A, etc.

Take care of yourself, ask questions, respect others, share knowledge and share time.

Message me privately with a note or email [email protected] if you don’t want to comment/question publicly.


Mad Libs GamePair up: responder and scribe. Fill in the blanks as vaguely as possible; e.g., if it asks for a noun, fill in a vague noun.




VAGUE

vague |veɪg|adjective of uncertain, indefinite, or unclear character or

meaning: many patients suffer vague symptoms.

thinking or communicating in an unfocused or imprecise way: he had been very vague about his activities.

DERIVATIVESvague•ness noun,vagu•ish adjective

ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: from French, or from Latin vagus ‘wandering, uncertain’ (New Oxford American Dictionary).



VL is not…

VL is not “vague language” in the sense of unfocussed, uninformative, sloppily constructed, poorly articulated, badly written, or incomprehensible to those who know the speaker well.

Ambiguous language like “porcelain egg container” or “The chicken is ready to eat” whose “vagueness” usually serves no social function.



VL is…

Intentional

Approximate

Nonspecific

Polysemous

Pragmatic (speakers’ goals)

Social (speakers’ relationship to each other)



People use VL intentionally to:

Purposes of VL reduce social distance,

imply group membership, develop rapport

be concise, relevant, informative, non-pedantic

be flexible, allow for alternatives, collaborate

be polite, manage tension, save face, avoid losing face

Promote group identity, protect individual identity

avoid taking responsibility



VL is Universal

Found in every language studied so far.

Used in both English and ASL.

Used more in speaking than in writing.

Predominant in casual discourse but exists in formal discourse and “frozen” texts.

A characteristic of native fluency.



Paul Grice’sConversational Maxims

Maxim of Quantity: Be succinct. Say as much as necessary, but not too much.

Maxim of Quality: Be honest. Only say what you have evidence for and believe to be true.

Maxim of Relation: Be relevant. Make your contribution relevant to the interaction.

Maxim of Manner: Don’t be ambiguous (or vague)



Violating theMaxim of Manner

“Indirect Strategies” (Brown & Levinson, 1987 in Hoza, 2007) Be ambiguous, be vague Overgeneralize Displace hearer Be incomplete, use ellipsis



‘And you know what that means!’ —Flouting Maxims

Humorous Conversational Implicature (Cutting, 2007, p. 225) “Well you know what he’s like.” “I can imagine why you wouldn’t want to.” “I really like the teacher very much.”

…and you know what that means / … and I don’t have to tell you what that means.

How can we handle such implications?



Examples of VL Hedge words, adverbial modifiers, ambiguous responses, etc.



Polite Pucker (pp) & Polite Grimace (pg)

Figures from the book It’s Not What You Sign, It’s How You Sign It: Politeness in American

Sign Language. Hoza, J. (2007). Washington, D.C. Gallaudet

University Press. Photographer: Jack Hoza.

Model: Carol Zurek, native deaf signer. Used with

permission from Jack Hoza and Gallaudet University

Press.



Body/head teeter (bt)Figures from the book It’s Not What You Sign, It’s How You Sign It: Politeness in American Sign Language. Hoza, J. (2007). Washington, D.C. Gallaudet University Press. Photographer: Jack Hoza. Model: Carol Zurek, native deaf signer. Used with permission from Jack Hoza and

Gallaudet University Press.



“WELL”/qFigures from the book It’s Not What You Sign, It’s How You Sign It: Politeness in American





Press.



‘WELL’/pg, btFigures from the book It’s Not What You Sign, It’s How You Sign It: Politeness in American Sign Language. Hoza, J. (2007). Washington, D.C. Gallaudet University Press. Photographer: Jack Hoza. Model: Carol Zurek, native deaf signer. Used with permission from Jack Hoza and

Gallaudet University Press.



DON’T MIND/pp , tight lipsFigures from the book It’s Not What You Sign, It’s How You Sign It: Politeness in American





Press.



DON’T MIND /pg, pg–frown

Figures from the book It’s Not What You Sign, It’s How You Sign It: Politeness in American





Press.



Vague intonation / inflection

Rising tone / inflection (eyebrows, head forward)

List with pauses rather than the “alternative ‘or’”

“Would you like coffee, tea, soda...?” vs. “coffee, tea, or soda?” (rising vs. falling = vague vs. specified)

“Would you like chicken or beef on that salad?” Note the difference between rising tone / inflection and falling tone / inflection.



Hedges

TRUE (really), actually

MAYBE, maybe, may, might, perhaps, perchance

THINK, think, imagine, suppose

SIMILAR, like

WELL, WELL (hands circling), #WELL, well…

Polite grimace (pg) tighter based on risk to face, rank of request difficulty, power differential. Same as tone.



Other Vague NMMs

Shoulder shrug, head tilt (don’t know, not sure…)

Eye gaze / pursed lips (thinking about it…)

Pursed lips Mm: “acceptable” “noncommittal” “unimpressed”

Can you think of other vague NMMs?



Vague ASL Responses

THAT–THAT, “Hm…”, pursed lips (pl)

Head tilt, polite grimace

Body/head teeter (bt)

Shrug

Can you think of other vague ASL responses?



Vague Vocal Responses

Eh?

Hm

Mm

Uh

Oh

Can you think of any vague vocal responses?


Vague Response Game in ASL & EnglishPair up into Partner A and B.Partner A make statement to Partner B.Partner B respond noncommittally. Switch, repeat until time is up.



VL to obfuscate/bewilder in “Party Political Speech”

“My friends, in the light of present day developments, let me say right away that I do not regard existing conditions lightly. On the contrary, I have always regarded them as subjects of the gravest responsibility, and shall ever continue to do so. … For I have no doubt whatsoever that whatever I may have said in the past or what I am saying now is the exact, literal and absolute truth as to the state of the case” (Peter Sellers, 1958 in Joan Cutting, 2007, p. 234).



VL in Corporate–speak

“Less desirable outcomes may have to be explored.”

“It is not possible at this time to comment upon the present matter with any substantial level of certainty.”

“It is not our intention to discriminate; however, rules must be set to ensure educational standards.”

What other examples of corporate–speak do you interpret in the schools?



VL in the Courtroom:direct examination

Person on the stand may use VL so as neither to lie nor to say that for which they have no evidence; e.g., “I think…” or “It might have been. I can’t be sure.”

Person on the stand may use VL to shirk responsibility, avoid blame, or minimize admission of guilt.

Judge or lawyers may ask questions to force person on the stand to clarify vague language.

What happens when you clarify consumers’ VL?



VL in the Courtroom: Cross-examination

“Q: He was sputtering and choking, was he not? A: No, sir. I would not say it was life threatening. No. Q: He was not choking? A: I am not saying he was not choking. There was some noise coming from his throat, yes” Cotterill, 2007 ‘Vagueness in the British Courtroom’, in Vague Language Explored, ed. Cutting, p. 110).

How do you think this relates to educational interpreting?



Self-protective avoidance

Negative communication goals = what we want to avoid; e.g., embarrassment at being wrong or inadequate. “I’ll just be giving a brief overview of the topic, far from an exhaustive review...” “still in its infancy...” “your mileage may vary ‘YMMV’...” “IMHO (in my humble opinion)” “Perhaps...”

Presenters at conferences do this (Trappes–Lomax, 2007).

Students giving reports might give such disclaimers to protect themselves as well.



Passive voice

“The package will be picked up” rather than “He/She/They/Someone will pick up the package.”

“The results will be determined by a committee.”

“The check will be sent by overnight express.”

“Someone will be given an item to process.”



Passive voice, a.k.a. agent-defocused constructions

“Just a dog being walked” rather than “Just someone walking their dog” (because the dog is more important than the person).

“I was bumped to the front of the line” (because the person who bumped you is not as important as that you were bumped).



Approximators

about / approximately

around / AROUND…

sort of / SO-SO

...or so, give or take, more or less, EQUAL±

-ish (ASL shake vs. swipe; e.g., bluish, greenish, twoish, threeish vs. BLUE!, GREEN!, TWO!, THREE!)

Pretty good, pretty ugly, etc. (GOOD++ vs. GOOD!)



Quantifiers

Some, few, several, a lot, many, enough, plenty

SOME, FEW, A-LOT, MANY, ENOUGH, PLENTY

one or two, ONE-TWO, a couple-three, TWO-THREE



Modified quantifiers / NMM

Very few (FEW oo)

Quite a few (FEW puffedBlow)

Quite a bit (MUCH mm)

Quite a lot (MUCH puffedBlow)

Baker–Shenk and Cokely (1980), Struxness (1996), Bickford, J. & Fraychinaud, K. (2006). Phrases mine.

A tiny bit (“pinky-flick” boo)



Vague Category Markers (VCMs)

VCMs, general extenders, general list completers, tags, terminal tags, vague category identifiers. These show that previous list items are just examples.

…or anything/something (like that)

…and/or stuff/things like that

…and/or that sort of thing

VARIOUS-THINGS, COUNT-ON-FINGERS, CL:5 COUNT-ON-FINGERS, LONG-LIST, part:indef



METONYMY

me•ton•y•my |məˈtänəmēnoun (pl. metonymies)

the substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant, for example suit for business executive, or the track for horse racing.

DERIVATIVESmetonymic |ˌmetəˈnimik| adjectivemetonymical |ˌmetəˈnimikəl| adjectivemetonymically |ˌmetəˈnimik(ə)lē| adverbORIGIN mid 16th cent.: via Latin from Greek metōnumia, literally ‘change of name’ (New Oxford American Dictionary).



Metonymical Proper Nouns

How’s your Chomsky coming? (homework)

She ran off and married that suit. (executive)

House bid accepted, now to the bank! (financing)

I just pulled a Carol! (something Carol would do)

They went all KKK on my ass! (police brutality)



Clausal ellipsis

“Did you get what I sent you?” “He liked what I gave him.” “So, shall we do it?”

Speakers sharing knowledge claim in-group membership by omitting it when referring to it in casual conversation. In/exclusive.

You, the interpreter, don’t usually claim in-group membership. How do you let them have their rapport?



Where else do you see VL?

Intimate or casual conversations (street talk, slang)

Teachers talking shop (professional jargon)

Illicit or secretive exchanges (mischief, scheming)

Frozen texts such as literature, film, music, theater

What other kinds of VL do you interpret?



Ethics & ModelsWhy and how to interpret VL vaguely



VL and the CPCInterpreters:

“render the message faithfully by conveying the content and spirit of what is being communicated, using language most readily understood by consumers” (2.3).

“conduct and present themselves in an unobtrusive manner” (3.5).

“demonstrate respect for consumers” (4.0).

“facilitate consumer access and equality, and support the full interaction and independence of consumers” (4.4).



Confusion is part of

communication“…if communication

depends on the construction of meaning

from cues, and if communicators do not have direct access to others’ meanings or

intentions, then what we should expect is partial

communication. Successful communication requires our attention and

explanation” (Wilcox & Shaffer, 2005, p. 45).



“It is not that English is indirect and ASL is direct”

“The problem is not interpreting. It is not that English is indirect and that ASL is direct as Humphrey and Alcorn (2001) and others would have us view it. It is not that translation equivalents are hard to find (indeed, they are, but that pales in comparison to the real problem). It is not that ASL is direct and elaborative and relies on expansion techniques while English is indirect and non-elaborative (Lawrence 1995; Humphrey & Alcorn 2001). The problem is that our models of interpreting simply do not do justice to the act of communicating. In trivializing the cognitive work that is done whenever we communicate with another we fail to prepare interpreters for the awesome and mysterious task that they perform: speaking for another.” (Wilcox & Shaffer, 2005, p. 44)



The Toolmakers Paradigm“Imagine…a huge compound, shaped like a wagon wheel. Each pie-

shaped sector of the wheel is an environment…at the hub of the wheel there is some machinery which can deliver small sheets of paper from

one environment to another…people in these environments have learned how to use this machinery to exchange crude sets of instructions with

one another— instructions for making things helpful to surviving…” (Reddy, 1993, pp. 171-172).

17%

17%

17% 17%

17%

17%



Everyone is an Interpreter:Discuss!

1. “Speaking for another” does not minimize the “cognitive work that is done whenever [people] communicate with [each other].” They “work” at “interpreting” each other.

2. What kind of “work” do you do when you’re communicating with another in your first language? In your second language? Through an interpreter?

3. How much work should the consumers do, and how much work should the interpreter do? Why?

4. How do I know how much work they would do if they were speaking the same language in the same culture?



I used to suggest people ask themselves, “What if I weren’t there?” Now I suggest asking “Would these people understand each other if they were members of the same culture speaking the same language? Would there still be confusion? Would things still be vague? Do I need to level the playing field as a mediator?”

What if I weren’t there? vs.What if they were speaking the same language?

“‘What if I weren’t there?’ is an abdication of responsibility” (Pollard, 2010) “ Robyn Dean said, “‘What happens there without interpreters?’” is a question for observation–supervision” (Dean, 2010). —Workshop presented by Dean & Pollard at the Conference of Interpreter Trainers, Oct 2010.



Talk as Text andTalk as Activity

Talk as Text: “Utterances are viewed as units of meaning that consist of smaller units of meaning such as words and morphemes; each of them is equally meaningful.”

Talk as Activity: “Utterances are viewed as activities that are part of situated interactions, and make sense to those involved, depending on the type of situation at hand, on the number of people present, and their mutual alliances and mutual involvement” (Wadensjö, 1992, pp. 22–23).



Consumer Collaboration Dynamic: a working title (Greene, 2011)

Some consumers are each other’s family, friends, classmates, coworkers, etc. They know each other better than the interpreter knows them.

Some consumers communicate fairly well without an interpreter— they use facial expressions, gesture, writing, home/name signs, speech & lipreading, etc. (Some even sign when they’re not on the phone!)

Some consumers know each other intimately and, naturally, use vague language with each other.



Co-labor-ation

MODEL

Hearing Interpreter

Fluency inDeaf/Hearing

Culture/Language

Hearing Consumer

Deaf Consumer

Group Membership Shared Knowledge

Social Space Relationship

COLLABORATION Communication Tools



Interpreters = Interrupters?

“Many teachers find the ‘lust’ to clarify and explain

irresistible” (Rowland, 2007, p. 81). Do interpreters share the

same ‘lust’ as teachers?



Interpreters = Interrupters?Should you interrupting to clarify? Discuss:

1. Are they using VL? How can I tell?

2. How might I defeat the purpose of VL by clarifying?

3. What harm might I do by interrupting?

4. What good might I do by interrupting?



Drawbacks to interrupting

Breaks flow of conversation, throws off train of thought

Shifts focus from consumers to interpreter

Assumes responsibility for communication

Deprives consumers of natural consequences, self-correction, and rapport

Defeats the purpose of VL



Strategies for interpreting VL English–ASL w/o interrupting

Vague body language, facial expression, and mouth morphemes (adverbial and adjectival modifiers)

Vague signs such as ETC., WELL, LIKE, UH…, YA-DA, YA-DA, YA-DA (official gloss for that sign?)

Creative expressions that convey a message that is equivalently vague in ASL as the English message.

Passive voice or non-agent construction: “I was called” or TAP(me)–ON–SHOULDER



Strategies for interpreting VL English–ASL w/o interrupting

Transliteration

Fingerspelling— (if you can’t make sense of what you’re hearing but you got the sounds of it).

Approximation— “Sounds like…” (good with f/s) “Something to the effect of…” “Something about…”

Check w/consumer: Hearing: “…and you know what that means…” You: “KNOW MEANS YOU?”

Make the implicit explicit if you have to.



Strategies for interpreting VL ASL–English w/o interrupting

All the vague words we learned in MadLibs

Vague personal pronouns— one, they, someone, e.g., “When one is hungry, one will do anything to eat.” “They pushed it.” “Someone wanted something.”

Gerunds (verbs ending with –ing); e.g., “The flashing of the lights was distracting,” (who was flashing the lights?) or, “When the packing was done, it was time to go” (who was packing or going?). “There was a lot of fighting going on” (who was fighting?).



Game:Interpret VL w/o interrupting

Pair up with someone you don’t know well.

Attend to the source language prompt.

Interpret the vague source message into an equally vague target message.



VL examples to interpret

1. Open the container 2. Remove the seal 3. Procure the substance

“I think you should see the widgets arrive in a timely fashion.”

“All this Mexican food is going make for an interesting afternoon.”

Well, I think I’d kinda like if we tried to start sometime around two-ish.


Mad Libs, Take 2What are the vaguest words that can be used to fill in the blanks for different parts of speech required in Mad Libs? Let’s go through them one by one.



Vague adjectives

considerable, sizable, nothing to sneeze at

indistinct, murky, uncertain, undecided, undetermined, unclear, unknown, unremarkable, unspecified, vague

certain— actually uncertain (vague), as in “of a certain age,” “a certain someone,” “a certain something,” “a certain time,” etc.



Vague adverbs

sort of, kind of

someway, somehow

apparently, ostensibly, presumably, supposedly, allegedly, seemingly



Vague animals

Animal, organism, life form, microbe

Invertebrate

Mammal

Amphibian

Pet



Vague body parts

organ, system

appendage, limb

upper body, lower body

torso, extremities

thingy, privates

scrabula (UrbanDictionary)



Vague colors

Pastel

Bright

Muted

Light

Dark



Vague exclamations/silly words

Oh/Huh/Eh?

Really?!

You don’t say!

No shit!

Interesting!

Whatever!

Anyway!



Vague single nouns

Something, thing, thingie, thingamajig, it, hoodicky, whichamabobber, whosiwhatsis, watsit, truc (Fr), whatchamacallit, item, bit, article, parcel, package, widget, part, tool, product, garment, file, document (CL:F “paper”), SKU, device, element, container (CL?!)...

Da kine (Hawaiian Pidgin from “that kind”)



Vague plural nouns

Individual: Things, this & that (cosas), odds & ends, loose ends, gizmos, doo dads, widgets

Collective: collection, bunch, range, line, class, market, niche, array, assortment, selection, boatload

Mass: Stuff, crap, merchandise, stock, inventory, cargo, material (not always fabric!)



Vague numbers

Heaps of, loads of, oodles of, lots of, tons of...

Many, plenty of, myriad, innumerable, numberless

A couple, a few, several, some-odd, umpteen, scores, hordes, thousands

HORDES, ONE–THOUSAND MINIMUM

The other day, weeks, months, years, eons, ages

Choke! (Hawaiian Pidgin)



Vague occupations

“I work on computers.”

“I work in science.”

“I’m in the import/export business.”

“I work in the entertainment industry.”

Can you think of other vague occupations?



Vague people

Someone, guy, gal, kid, old fart, mec (Fr), type, one, individual, troop, entity, party, body, resource

Agent, operator, actor, stakeholder

Whoever, you–know–who, , what’s–his/her–name

You know, that actor from that movie where they…

An anonymous source (donor, informant…)

Number, suit, skirt, hottie, babe, player, that one



Vague places

Place, location, rendezvous, spot, venue, space, arena, area, coordinates, intersection, latitude

Stepped away, on the other line, in a meeting, in the field, out of the office, indisposed

Somewhere, someplace, wherever, who knows where, you-know-where, overseas

Can you think of other vague places?



Vague pronouns

One, one’s

They, Them, Their

OK to use they/them/their as third person singular when you’re unsure of gender or don’t wish to specify. Shakespeare did this.

This helps when interpreting genderless indexing.



Vague verbs

Go (went, etc.), come (came, etc.), do something/stuff, do a bit of this & that, etc., run errands (DO++), fool around, tool around, futz, fiddle-fart, putter, keep busy, take care of business, take care of some odds & ends, tie up loose ends, get all [my] ducks in a row, engage, take action…

Can you think of more vague verbs?



Q & A and Review



Limitations

Lack of keywords “VL” or “vague language” in literature about ASL; must search for many related terms and synthesize lit review.

Only one ASL corpus (NCSLGR), 19 narratives, 19 elicited utterance videos, 14 participants.

No unrehearsed monologues or dialogues.

Not all my observations from experience are reflected in the corpus.



Implications forteaching and research

Study how deaf people use VL.

Study how interpreters interpret VL.

Publish more about VL in the interpreting field.

Teach VL in ASL / interpreting curricula.

Consider VL in self-assessment, professional discussions, case conferencing, mentoring, etc.



Review:Workshop Description

Participants will study and explore the use of vague language (VL) in both English and ASL, the communicative purposes of VL, the importance of retaining ambiguity when conveying vague messages from one language to another, the benefits of leaving language vague instead of interrupting to request clarification, and specific strategies for conveying VL in both ASL and English. Participants will gain an elevated respect for when, why, and how we should say just what our consumers said.



Review:Educational Objectives

By end of workshop, participants should be able to: Define VL and name at least 5 communicative purposes

that VL serves. Distinguish between language that needs to be clarified

and language that is better conveyed at uttered. Have strategies for conveying VL in English and ASL

without interrupting for clarification. Give a dozen examples of words, phrases, signs,

classifiers, and mouth morphemes used in VL in English & ASL.

Know where to look for more resources.



Contact meGo to my Website:

www.danielgreene.com

From there, you will find links to my Email, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and more.


interpreting intentionally vague language (vl)

Education

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oxford american

native deaf

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interpreting

leaving language