And stuff und so: Investigating pragmatic expressions in English and German

This article offers a comparative analysis of a group of pragmatic expressions called 'general extenders' (e.g., and stuff, und so; or something, oder so) in recorded English and German conversation among adult familiars. After comparing the frequency and distribution of these forms in two databases, I illustrate how general extenders are used in both languages to mark assumptions of being similar, informative, accurate and polite. A cross-linguistic comparison of these pragmatic expressions reveals that forms that are different on a formal level seem to have functional similarities within comparable contexts of occurrence. This type of cross-linguistic study may help analysts more accurately define the core functions of pragmatic expressions and develop a suitable metalanguage for describing them.