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A range of uses of negative epistemic constructions in German: ICH WEIß NICHT as a resource for dispreferred actions

  • The paper deals with the use of ICH WEIß NICHT (‘I don’t know’) in German talk-in-interaction. Pursuing an Interactional Linguistics approach, we identify different interactional uses of ICH WEIß NICHT and discuss their relationship to variation in argument structure (SV (O), (O)VS, V-only). After ICH WEIß NICHT with full complementation, speakers emphasize their lack of knowledge or display reluctance to answer. In contrast, after variants without an object complement, in contrast, speakers display uncertainty about the truth of the following proposition or about its sufficiency as an answer. Thus, while uses with both subject and object tend to close a sequence or display lack of knowledge, responses without an object, in contrast, function as a prepositioned epistemic hedge or a pragmatic marker framing the following TCU. When ICH WEIß NICHT is used in response to a statement, it indexes disagreement (independently from all complementation patterns).

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  • Helmer-Reineke-Deppermann-_Ich-weiß-nicht_JoP_Article_in_Press_2016.pdf
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Metadaten
Author:Henrike HelmerORCiDGND, Silke ReinekeORCiDGND, Arnulf DeppermannORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:bsz:mh39-52082
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2016.06.002
ISSN:1879-1387
Parent Title (English):Journal of Pragmatics
Publisher:Elsevier
Place of publication:New York, NY [u.a.]
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2016
Date of Publication (online):2016/08/26
Reviewstate:Peer-Review
Tag:Epistemics; German; Interactional linguistics; Mental verb constructions; Preference organization
GND Keyword:Deutsch; Epistemische Logik; Interaktion
Volume:106
Edition:Article in Press
First Page:97
Last Page:114
Note:
Postprint: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:mh39-68856
DDC classes:400 Sprache / 430 Deutsch
Open Access?:nein
BDSL-Classification:Sprache im 20. Jahrhundert. Gegenwartssprache
Leibniz-Classification:Sprache, Linguistik
Linguistics-Classification:Gesprächsforschung / Gesprochene Sprache
Licence (German):License LogoUrheberrechtlich geschützt