Interpreting Vague Language: Intermediate

Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
A Study in Vague Language -
Intermediate
Daniel Greene, MA, NIC Master

Who am I?
Recently got my Master of Arts in
Interpreting Studies, with an
emphasis in Teaching Interpreting,
from Western Oregon University,
where I wrote my thesis “Keeping
it vague: A study of vague
language in an American Sign
Language corpus and implications
for interpreting between English
and American Sign language.”

Who are you?
How many K–12 interpreters?
How many postsecondary?
How many community?
How many legal/judicial?
How many VRS/VRI?
Have you ever encountered
vague language in your work?

1 ﬁfteen–
minute break
Agenda
3 CEUs3 hours
=

Questions?
Stop me, or
Wait-n-see, or
Pass me a note, or
Email me@danielgreene.com
?

Workshop Description
Participants will explore the forms of vague language (VL) in English
and ASL; participants will categorize vague forms into parts of speech
and learn how each part of speech fulﬁlls its functions in language;
participants will develop a vocabulary of VL in ASL and English.

Learning Objectives
1.List the parts of speech (POS)
vague terms take.
2.Provide various vague signs for
given parts of speech (e.g., various
vague nouns).
3.Provide various vague words for
given parts of speech (e.g., various
vague nouns).
4.Demonstrate the use of several
vague gestures and vocalizations.

Essential Questions
How do people express vagueness in English and ASL?
How can I incorporate vague language into my speaking and signing?

Categories of Vague Language
Approximators
Vague Category
Markers VCMs)
Exaggeration
Vague
Quantiﬁers
Vague
Determiners
Clausal
Ellipsis
Hedges
Metonymy
Vague
Inﬂection /
intonation
Detail
dismissives /
de-emphasis

Approximators
Approximators moderate the accuracy or certainty of words

Vague adverbs
Vague adverbs broaden the deﬁnition of the action or description

Vague adjectives
Vague adjectives describe things vaguely

Vague Category Markers (VCMs)
VCMs mark the preceding words as exemplars of a vague
category.
AKA: general extenders, general list completers, tags, terminal
tags, vague category identiﬁers

Vague determiners
Precede a noun, refer to indeﬁnite element of its class

Detail dismissives
Vocal intonations speakers use or NMMs signers use to de-
emphasize or dismiss details as unimportant, unknown, or so well
known that they are taken for granted.

Ellipsis
Speakers sharing knowledge claim in-group membership by omitting it
when referring to it in casual conversation. In/exclusive.
Examples: “Did you get what I sent you?” “So, shall we do it?”
You, the interpreter, don’t usually claim in-group membership.

Exaggeration
Boosting the count for emphasis or humor

Vague intonation / inﬂection
Changes in tone of voice, body language, facial expression, sign
production

Vague quantiﬁers
Vague quantiﬁers offer vague ideas of quantities

Vague numbers
Vague clusters or versions of the numbers they are based on

Hedges
Words that indicate a lack of commitment as to the truth of a
matter. Hedges are often used for the sake of self-protection and
face-saving.

Metonymy
The substitution of the name for the thing meant, for example suit
for business executive, or the track for horse racing.

Vague English words in various
Parts of Speech (POS)

Approximators
About, around, approximately, like, more-or-less, give or take, or so, or
thereabout, ball park, estimate, guesstimate

Vague category markers
or anything/something (like that)
and/or stuff/things like that
and/or that sort of thing
and such
and so on
and the list goes on

Vague determiners
This restaurant (as in “we saw this restaurant on the side of the road”)
Some guy (as in “there’s some guy at the door for you”)
Do you sense a difference between “just a girl” and “just some girl”?
Discuss.

Detail dismissives
“Eh, I wouldn’t put too much stock in reviews…” (high pitch, cadence, rising
tone)
“So I’m doing my morning routine— brushing my teeth... taking a shower...
doing my hair... when all of a sudden the lights go out!”

Exaggeration
A ﬁsh as big as a whale
If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand time
A million trillion dollars

Hedges
Really, actually
Maybe, may, might, perhaps, perchance
Think, imagine, suppose
Like
Well…
Rising tone, high pitch, ending with a question

Vague intonation
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.

Metonyms
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)

Vague quantiﬁers
A little bit, some, few, several, a lot, many, enough, and plenty
Heaps of, loads of, oodles of, lots of, tons of...
Many, plenty, myriad, innumerable, numberless
Choke! (Hawaiian Pidgin)

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

Time for…
P.O.S.
BOOT CAMP

POS Boot Camp
What are the vaguest words
in each POS? Let’s go
through them one by one…
Verb
Pronoun
Number
Place
Occupation
Famous Person
Part of the Body
Color
Exclamation
Adjective
Adverb
Animal
Noun

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.
-esque, -ish, -like, -oid

Vague adverbs
about, approximately, give or take, or so
sort of, kind of
someway, somehow, somewhat, sometimes, somewhere
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 nouns (singular)
Something, thing, thingie, thingamajig, it, hoodicky, whichamabobber,
whosiwhatsis, watsit, truc (Fr), da kine (Hawaiian Pidgin from “that kind”),
whatchamacallit, item, bit, article, parcel, package, widget, part, tool,
product, garment, ﬁle, document, SKU, device, element, container…

Vague nouns (plural)
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
A hundred, hundreds, a thousand, thousands, a million, millions
One or two, a couple, a couple-three, a few, several, some-odd, umpteen,
scores, hordes, thousands
Douzaine, centaine, millier
The other day, weeks, months, years, eons, ages

Vague Numbers & Rounding
Base 10 rounding: A hundred, hundreds, a thousand, thousands, a million,
millions…
one or two, a couple-three,
Douzaine, centaine, millier
Umpteen, Juneteenth quinze-jours, fortnight
Scores of, by the score
TIME+TIME+SEVEN+FORTY+FIVE, TEN THOUSAND, MILLION

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?

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

Critical Incident Questionnaire
Stephen Brookﬁeld, Teaching Critical Thinking
stephenbrookﬁeld.com

Vague ASL signs in various
Parts of Speech (POS)

National Center for Sign Language
and Gesture Resources (NCSLGR)
Corpus of ASL videos collected and transcribed by Boston
University, Gallaudet University, and University of Texas, Arlington,
along with some videos from Dawn Sign Press

ASLLRP DAI
American Sign Language
Linguistics Research Project
Database Access Interface to
search NCSLGR Corpus

Utterance & sign videos with glosses
From NCSLGR Corpus

Full gloss of ASL utterance
Sample from NCSLGR Corpus

Vague adjectives in ASL
(From NSCLGR Corpus in order of prominence)
OLD
OLD+MOST
YOUNG
SMALL

Vague adverbs in ASL
ALL-NIGHT
RECENT-PAST
EVERYDAY+fs-DAY
SOMETIMES
SOON
AROUND
ALL-MORNING
GENERATIONS-AGO
ALL-AFTERNOON
ANY+WHERE
GOING-ALONG
ONCE-IN-A-WHILE
SOME+WHERE

Approximators in ASL
AROUND
LIKE
MORE-THAN+LESS-THAN

Vague determiners in ASL
(From NSCLGR Corpus — only one found)
SOMETHING/ONE

Detail dismissives
NMMs: head movement: shake, eye aperture: squinted, and nose: tensed.

Exaggeration
TEN THOUSAND COW
THOUSANDS OF PLAYS (football)

Hedges in ASL
5"I don't know"
MAYBE
NOT-KNOW
THINK
5"reluctance"
SO-SO

5"everything in order"
Gestures with “5” handshape
in NCSLGR Corpus

(2h)5"I don't know"
in NCSLGR Corpus

(1h)5"hesitation"
in NCSLGR Corpus

5"hesitation"
in NCSLGR Corpus

Vague nouns in ASL
THING
AREA
ANY+THING
EVERYTHING
EVERY+THING
FINGERSPELL [As K-something]
LCL:5"area of state"

Vague numbers in ASL (p. 1 of 3)
FIFTEEN [rounding]
80[+ degrees Fahrenheit]
70+ [degrees Fahrenheit]
100 110 DEGREE
45 50 fs-MPH
50s [decade]
60s [decade]
75++ DEGREE
80 90 fs-MPH
85 88 90 fs-MPH
AGE-FOUR AGE-FIVE
AGE-THREE HALF AGE-FOUR

EIGHT [as approximation]
FOUR-DAY THREE-DAY FOUR-
DAY
FOUR-THIRTY FIVE [as "4:30-5"]
MILLION [as "millions"]
NINETY [as approximation]
NOONISH [technically an adverb]
ONE #OR TWO
ONE TWO 5"I don't know" FEW
HOUR
ONE-DOLLAR FIFTY TWO-
DOLLARS
ONE-THOUSAND fs-PLAYS
ONE+HUNDRED 150 (ﬂat-O)
DOLLAR

SIX SEVEN MORNING
TEN FIFTEEN DEGREE
TEN THOUSAND [rounding]
THREE-DAY FOUR-DAY
THREE-DOLLARS FOUR-
DOLLARS
TIME THREE FOUR MORNING
TIME+FIVE [as approximation]
TIME+NINE [as approximation]
TIME+NINE+THIRTY [rounding]
TIME+SEVEN+FORTY-FIVE
[rounding]

Vague pronouns in ASL
SOMETHING/ONE
ANY+ONE
(indexing is vague, too, if it’s not topicalized)

Vague quantiﬁers in ASL
MANY
SOME
LITTLE-BIT
A-LOT
FEW
ANY
[ENOUGH & PLENTY are vague quantiﬁers, but did not appear in NCSLGR]

Vague Category Markers VCMs in ASL
ETC [like TIME-PASSING]
FALL-INTO-PLACE
VARIOUS
EVERYTHING [like INCLUDE]
COUNT-ON-FINGERS
LONG-LIST
THAT [as "and that"]

Vague verbs in ASL
#DO
DO
STAY-AWAKE-ALL-NIGHT
TIME-PASSING

“Immigrants” NCSLGR Corpus
Steven McCullough

“Accident” NCSLGR Corpus
Michael Schlang

Wrinkled vs. Tensed Nose
From NCSLGR Corpus

Politeness in ASL

It’s Not What You
Sign, It’s How
You Sign It
Politeness in American Sign
Language (Hoza, 2007)

Requests and denials in ASL
Varied risk to face, rank of request difﬁculty, and power differential

Activity
Sign responding to prompts Hoza assigned participants.

Polite Pucker
(pp)
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.

Polite Grimace
(pg)

DON’T MIND/pp
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.

DON’T MIND/tight lips

DON’T MIND/pg

DON’T MIND/pg.-frown

Body/head teeter (bt)

“WELL”/q

“WELL” is not always “well”
“WELL”(one-hand; circular movement), FEEL A-LITTLE/pg-frown
AWKWARD, I/tight lips, “WELL”/pg-frown. REALLY I TIGHT-BUDGET/pg.
DON’T-MIND I BORROW FIFTY DOLLAR, “WELL”(two hands; circular
movement)/pg-frown,q. #IF/cond, CHECK NEXT WEEK/t, I WILL PAY-YOU
NEXT-WEEK, WILL, I/nod.
[translation: Well, um. This feels a little awkward, really. My budget’s really
tight. Would you mind letting me borrow 50 dollars? Is there any way
you could do that? If you can, I’ll pay you back on payday next week, really I
will.] (Hoza, 2007, p. 177 [original emphasis])

“well/what/,” part:indef, 5HPU, WELL
Four different terms for the same vague gesture that can occur with
hedges, vague determiners, or as vague category markers (VCMs).
“/well-what/” (Emmorey, 1999)
Part:indef = “indeﬁnite particle” (Conlin, Hagstrom, & Neidle, 2003)
5HPU = “‘5’ Hand Palm Up” (Roush, 2007)
WELL (Hoza, 2007)

SOMETHING/ONE (2h)part:indef BOAT SINK NEAR CAPECOD (2h)part:indef
‘Some boat or other sank near Cape Cod (I think).’
Conlin, Hagstrom, & Needle,
2003, p. 9, example 25. Deaf
signer: Norma Bowers-
Tourangeau.

Example of 5HPU in Polite ASL
Courtesy of Danny Roush. Deaf actor: Anthony Natale.

WELL (one-hand, movement forward)/
browraise
Roush reports that the ﬁrst type,
5HPU(1), is used to convey, “I’m
done. Go ahead” or “The ﬂoor is
yours,” and the second type,
5HPU(2), conveys that the speaker
should “Keep talking” (Roush, 2007,
as cited in Hoza, 2011).

“…or anything” as a VCM
“NHS Nurse: Er. any intense headache or mental confusion or anything?”
“In the ﬁrst example given above, the patient is directed to understand this
as a category of ‘symptoms of ill health relating to the head or mental
awareness.’” (Adolphs, Atkins, & Harvey, 2007)

Incorporating part:indef into ASL
interpretations of English VCMs
“NHS Nurse: ‘Er. any intense
headache or mental confusion or
anything?’” (Adolphs, Atkins, &
Harvey, 2007)
Interpreter: part:indef HEADACHE,
CONFUSE, part:indef? (Greene,
2013)
Interpreter: part:indef HEADACHE,
CONFUSE, OTHER part:indef?

Activity: Sign translations of questions
quoted in Adolphs, Atkins, & Harvey
NHS Nurse: Er. any intense headache or mental confusion or anything?
NHS Nurse: No shortness of breath or gasping for breath or anything?
NHS Nurse: …so there’s no swelling anywhere near your face or anything?

Contact me @ DanielGreene.com
me@danielgreene.com

Interpreting Vague Language: Intermediate

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