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theses

Vague language (VL) plays an essential role in effective communication since it carries relevant contextual implications. As noted by Sabet and Zhang (2015), VL helps speakers tailor their message so that they can convey the intended meaning of an utterance when, for example, precise information cannot be retrieved. According to Channell (1994), VL is commonly manifested through the use of numeric approximators (e.g., around, about, approximately). Numeric approximators (NumApps) are lexical items that target a semantically loose use of expressions and are frequently employed to discuss inexact quantities or numeric values (e.g., Fuentes Rodríguez, 2008; Mihatsch, 2009, 2010; Said-Mohand, 2006). Even though research on the uses of NumApps among native speakers of English and Spanish (as well as in other languages) does exist, this category of VL remains understudied in the second language (L2) context.
The dissertation extends empirical research on Spanish NumApps from an Interlanguage Pragmatics (ILP) perspective by drawing a connection between empirical evidence on the development of L2 pragmatic knowledge and theories of Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Specifically, it investigates the effect of the pragmatic condition of magnitude (i.e., number of significant figures) of quantities and examines how changes in the magnitude of a quantity affect the production and interpretation of numeric approximations among intermediate and advanced Spanish L2 learners in comparison to native Spanish speakers. The study included the following data collection protocols: an oral interview in Spanish, a prompted production task, a forced-choice task, and an oral interview in English.
The findings revealed that the intermediate and advanced L2 learners are able to express numeric uncertainty using a wide range of lexical and pragmatic devices. Furthermore, the use of NumApps was found to correlate with the level of Spanish proficiency. However, the study also revealed that the intermediate and advanced L2 learners are still in the process of developing pragmatic sensitivity towards the constraint of quantity magnitude with respect to the production and interpretation of numeric approximation. That is, when the two L2 learner groups discussed and interpreted uncertain quantities with large magnitudes, their lexical choices and interpretation patterns did not resemble those of the native speakers.
This study is the first to empirically examine the effect of the pragmatic condition of quantity magnitude from a developmental perspective among L2 learners. Furthermore, the study triangulates the data generated from the aforementioned protocols and provides a comprehensive and detailed account of the process of acquisition of NumApps in L2 Spanish.

ETD_9759

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-f22m-wm92

ETD doctoral

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