ABSTRACT
The value of examining the linguistic devices1 employed in the expression of uncertainty has been suggested mainly by two studies-Bernstein (1962) and Loban (1966). Bernstein reported social class differences in the use of the ego-centric sequence ‘I think’ and the socio-centric sequences ‘you know’, ‘you see’ and ‘isn’t it?’, etc.: the middleclass subjects (sixteen-year-old boys) used the egocentric sequence more and the working class used the socio-centric sequences more. This difference held even for the sub-groups that were matched for verbal ability and non-verbal ability. Bernstein suggested that both types of sequence are indicators of uncertainty-that they are f unctional equivalentsbut that they have different effects on the flow of communication. The socio-centric sequences, by inviting the listener to affirm what the speaker has said, ‘tend to close communication in a particular area rather than facilitate its development and elaboration’. The ego-centric sequence, by contrast, ‘allows the listener far more degrees of freedom and may be regarded as an invitation to develop communication on his own terms’. Expressed in another way, the socio-centric sequences are associated with communalized roles and the ego-centric sequence with individualized roles. Loban compared two groups of subjects, those ranked extremely high in language proficiency and those ranked extremely low (on the basis of teachers’ ratings), and found that ‘those subjects who proved to have the greatest power over language-by every measure that could be applied, not just the combined Teachers’ Rating Scale and Vocabulary Test-were the subjects who most frequently used language to express tentativeness’. Loban commented that ‘the child with less power over language appears to be less flexible in his thinking, is not often capable of seeing more than one alternative, and apparently summons up all his linguistic resources merely to make a flat dogmatic statement’. Loban’s study demonstrated a relationship between verbal ability and the use of tentative statements, but there is a complication, since the high group proved to be drawn from those with a higher socio-economic status than the low group.
