Pragmatics idea: overly generic answer as a substitute for "I don't know"

[Hyolobrika]

For example:

(Walking in woods or something)
A: ~"What did these feathers come from do you think?"
B: ~"Bird" ("I dunno")
A: ~"Yes" ("I don't know either")

This sounds awkward in English but in a conlang it obviously can sound however the creator wants it to.
'~' stands for sentences approximately close to the English.

[Znex]

You mean some phrase or word that can be used in any scenario in place of "I don't know"?

A number of Italian dialects have the very versatile expression "boh", which covers the range of "I don't know", "who knows? who cares?", "I won't say", "wait, what?", etc.

[circeus]

You mean some phrase or word that can be used in any scenario in place of "I don't know"?

A number of Italian dialects have the very versatile expression "boh", which covers the range of "I don't know", "who knows? who cares?", "I won't say", "wait, what?", etc.

no, no, he means a language in which making a likely true answer, but too vague to be useful, is taken to mean "I don't know". In English, such answers are generally seen as cheeky or sarcastic because they violate the maxim of Quantity by being uninformative. In the purported language, violating the constraint in this way would be considered an admission of ignorance instead.

[jal]

a language in which making a likely true answer, but too vague to be useful, is taken to mean "I don't know". In English, such answers are generally seen as cheeky or sarcastic because they violate the maxim of Quantity by being uninformative. In the purported language, violating the constraint in this way would be considered an admission of ignorance instead.

That's pretty cool, actually.


JAL

[gestaltist]

It reminds me of what happens in some cultures anyway where admitting ignorance equals losing face so you'll get a likely answer instead of "I don't know".

[xxx]

For example:

(Walking in woods or something)
A: ~"What did these feathers come from do you think?"
B: ~"Bird" ("I dunno")
A: ~"Yes" ("I don't know either")

This sounds awkward in English but in a conlang it obviously can sound however the creator wants it to.
'~' stands for sentences approximately close to the English.

it can also be an apotropic answer, if you walk in a Jurassic forest, where birds are not the only ones to wear feathers...
it's mean I really do not want to know...

In my conlang that does not include speech acts, "I do not know" is only a silence that does not participate in the current speech...