Abstract This article examines the hyperbolic, non-referential use of the universally quantifying personal pronouns alle (‚all‘) and jeder (‚everyone‘) in social interaction. The results of the analysis suggest that the two expressions are used in argumentative actions (e. g., normalizing one’s own or others‘ behavior, contradicting opposing positions) as well as in evaluative actions (e. g., praise, reproach, criticism). The reference to jeder and alle indicates or claims intersubjective agreement and unquestionable evidence. It is used to intensify the communication of evaluative and emotional stances, which are at the same time contextualized as objectively grounded. References to jeder and alle occur in different positions within turns and sequences. The pronouns are not always interchangeable; differences in the use of jeder and alle are rooted in the distinct semantics of the two pronouns. The non-referential character of these hyperbolic uses becomes apparent when speakers refer to indeterminate reference populations and use them in a speaker-exclusive way. The data are based on telephone and video recordings of naturally occurring interactions in German from the FOLK corpus.
Gubina et al. (Tue,) studied this question.