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In:Patterns of Context: Modelling cultural and contextual influence in utterance interpretation
Edited by Elke Diedrichsen and Frank Liedtke
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 356] 2026
► pp. 275–295

Unpopular opinion and kleiner reminder

Viewpoint patterns in German online discourse

 | Berlin Free University | Leiden University
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
The contribution explores the role of complex viewpoint networks in utterance interpretation. In a single utterance multiple viewpoints are invoked. Therefore, several viewpoints and the relation between them have to be considered in the process of interpretation. I apply the framework to analyse two constructions used in German online discourse: (un)popular opinion and XAdj reminder, showing how their use invokes stable viewpoint networks. The analysis demonstrates that viewpoints different than the subjective one are accessed on the basis of contextual cues incorporating social and cultural contexts such as knowledge shared by the members of a discourse community. Correspondingly, multiple viewpoints conveyed allow to draw on knowledge from context and common ground adding to the global interpretation of the utterance. This serves as evidence for treating multiple viewpoints in an utterance as an addition to modelling utterance-context-pairings.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Viewpoint and context-dependent meaning
    • 2.1Viewpoint in cognitive linguistics
    • 2.2Viewpoint in pragmatics
  • 3.Data and methods
  • 4.(Un)popular opinion
    • 4.1Distribution and morphosyntactic characteristics
    • 4.2Viewpoint constellations activated by (un)popular opinion
  • 5.XAdj reminder
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Author queries
  • Notes
  • References
References (53)
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