Getting over the hedge
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Noriko Iwasaki
Abstract
This chapter first discusses an expanded construct of language proficiency, to highlight interpersonal/social dimensions of language, in my work on language learning abroad. I then report on an interpersonally significant but often neglected aspect of learners’ language – hedges. It was found that, after study abroad, learners used a wider variety of hedges and did so more frequently. Two participants whose speech segments were highly rated for sociability appeared keen to emulate young L1 Japanese speakers’ overuse of some hedges such as nanka ‘somehow.’ Their hedges allow them to socially package their messages (i.e. provide a buffer zone to monitor and accommodate the interlocutor’s emotions and feelings) (Maynard 1989). One learner also used sentence-final mitaina ‘like,’ also associated with young speakers.
Abstract
This chapter first discusses an expanded construct of language proficiency, to highlight interpersonal/social dimensions of language, in my work on language learning abroad. I then report on an interpersonally significant but often neglected aspect of learners’ language – hedges. It was found that, after study abroad, learners used a wider variety of hedges and did so more frequently. Two participants whose speech segments were highly rated for sociability appeared keen to emulate young L1 Japanese speakers’ overuse of some hedges such as nanka ‘somehow.’ Their hedges allow them to socially package their messages (i.e. provide a buffer zone to monitor and accommodate the interlocutor’s emotions and feelings) (Maynard 1989). One learner also used sentence-final mitaina ‘like,’ also associated with young speakers.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgement ix
-
Part I. Orientation
- Introduction 3
- Researching whole people and whole lives 17
-
Part II. Qualitative and case studies
- Self-regulatory strategies of foreign language learners 47
- “Opening up to the world”? 75
- Politics of identification in the use of lingua francas in student mobility to Finland and France 101
- An American in Paris 127
- Exploring the potential of high school homestays as a context for local engagement and negotiation of difference 155
- The transformation of “a frog in the well” 179
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Part III. Pragmatics and identity
- “I joke you don’t” 207
- Getting over the hedge 239
- Identity and honorifics use in Korean study abroad 269
- A corpus-based study of vague language use by learners of Spanish in a study abroad context 299
- Afterword 333
- Name index 337
- Subject index 343
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgement ix
-
Part I. Orientation
- Introduction 3
- Researching whole people and whole lives 17
-
Part II. Qualitative and case studies
- Self-regulatory strategies of foreign language learners 47
- “Opening up to the world”? 75
- Politics of identification in the use of lingua francas in student mobility to Finland and France 101
- An American in Paris 127
- Exploring the potential of high school homestays as a context for local engagement and negotiation of difference 155
- The transformation of “a frog in the well” 179
-
Part III. Pragmatics and identity
- “I joke you don’t” 207
- Getting over the hedge 239
- Identity and honorifics use in Korean study abroad 269
- A corpus-based study of vague language use by learners of Spanish in a study abroad context 299
- Afterword 333
- Name index 337
- Subject index 343
