Mortensen, Janus

English

A comparative study of the pragmatic functions of epistemic stance marking in problem-solving sequences at student project group meetings, with special emphasis on meetings where English is used as a lingua franc

Roskilde Universitet

RoskildeUniversityEpistemic stance marking in the use of English as a lingua francaA comparative study of the pragmatic functions of epistemic stanceMortensen, JanusPublication date:2010Document VersionPeer reviewed versionCitation for published version (APA):Mortensen, J. (2010). Epistemic stance marking in the use of English as a lingua franca: A comparative study ofthe pragmatic functions of epistemic stance. 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Mar. 2021  Epistemic stance marking in the  use of English as a lingua franca  A comparative study of the pragmatic functions of epistemic stance  marking in problem‐solving sequences at student project group meetings,  with special emphasis on meetings where English is used as a lingua franca  Janus Mortensen PhD thesis · August 2010 Department of Culture and Identity Roskilde University  Abstract This  PhD  thesis  explores  the  pragmatic  functions  of  epistemic  expressions  in  problem‐solving sequences  at  student  project  group  meetings,  and  investigates  the  extent  to  which  practices  of epistemic stance marking in project groups where English is used as a  lingua franca (ELF) can be said to differ from practices in groups in which the speakers use a shared first language (L1).    The  data  under  study  consists  of  video  recordings  of  six  student  project  groups:  Two groups from  the  International Basic Studies in the Humanities  (HIB),  two  groups  from  the Basic Studies in the Humanities  (HAB),  all  Roskilde  University,  and  two  groups  from  a  module  in  language  and communication  at  a  British  University  (GB).  The  HIB  groups  employ  English  as  a  lingua  franca, while the HAB and GB groups employ Danish and English, respectively, as a shared first language.   The thesis argues that by using epistemic expressions in interaction, specifically in the form of modal  verbs and  sentence adverbials,  speakers  specify  various  types  and degrees of  justificatory support for the propositions they put forward, and thereby either open or close the dialogic space around the issue under discussion. In doing so, they position themselves vis­à­vis their propositions as  well  as  their  interlocutors  and  display  various  types  of  alignment.  The  analysis  shows  that epistemic  expressions  invariably  have  social  meaning,  but  that  their  social  meaning  is  variable: Epistemic  expressions  acquire  their  full  pragmatic  and  social  meaning  in  a  complex  interplay between the meaning potential of the linguistic sign, its placement in a particular social activity, as part  of  a  particular  social  act,  under  influence  of  the  social  role  of  the  speaker  who  uses  the expression. The study finds that there are no marked differences between the practices of epistemic stance marking  in the HIB groups and the epistemic stance marking practices  in the HAB and GB groups.  There  are  tentative  indications  that Danish L1  speakers  in  the HIB  groups  tend  to  use  a minimally smaller selection of epistemic expressions than the English L1 speakers in the GB groups, but to all intents and purposes, the Danish L1 speakers use epistemic expressions in much the same way and for much the same purposes as the speakers in the HAB and GB groups.   The thesis draws on a number of disciplines, including functional linguistics, polyphony theory, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and social psychology, and it delivers empirical, theoretical and methodological  contributions  to  a  number  of  areas:  1)  As  a  study  of  the  situated,  pragmatic meaning  of  epistemic  expressions,  the  thesis  supplements  works  that  approach  the  study  of epistemic meaning from a semantic point of view, and proposes that the two approaches should be seen  as  complementary  rather  than  competing.  2)  By  developing  an  analytical  model  of  ‘the problem‐solving  sequence’  the  project  contributes  to  the  understanding  of  the  communicative practices of student project groups and offers a method for the analysis of functional group roles in project groups. 3) Finally, the thesis argues that it is a pressing issue for the emerging discipline of ELF studies to recognise the sociolinguistic diversity which hides behind the apparent uniformity suggested  by  the  reifying  use  of  the  acronym  ‘ELF’.  The  use  of  English  as  a  lingua  franca presupposes the existence of a particular type of language scenario, but other than that, ELF speech events can exhibit almost infinite variation, and this variation must be taken seriously in studies of ELF interaction. The thesis illustrates one way in which this can be done by developing a controlled comparative method  for  the  study  of  the  use  of  English  as  a  lingua  franca  in  a  particular  socio‐cultural setting.  

Epistemic stance marking in the use of English as a lingua franca:A comparative study of the pragmatic functions of epistemic stance

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Epistemic stance marking in the use of English as a lingua franca:A comparative study of the pragmatic functions of epistemic stance

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