Center for Uncertainty Studies Blog

© CRC 1646 / Universität Bielefeld.

On January 27, 2025, the fourth CeUS Uncertainty Research Afternoon brought together scholars from the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1646 "Linguistic Creativity in Communication" (LINCC) and the Center for Uncertainty Studies (CeUS) to explore the intersections of creativity and uncertainty. The event fostered an engaging exchange, highlighting both conceptual commonalities and distinct disciplinary perspectives. While CRC 1646 primarily examines linguistic creativity as a structured yet inherently uncertain process, CeUS contributions emphasize uncertainty as a central component of decision-making, social interaction, and knowledge production. 

Linguistic Creativity and Uncertainty: Insights from CRC 1646

The contributions from CRC 1646 examined linguistic creativity as a dynamic process shaped by social, cognitive, and communicative constraints. Ralf Vogel introduced the overarching framework, defining creativity as an activity carried out "by people for people", operating across multiple levels—from individual cognition to interactive negotiation and linguistic communities. It is of great importance, he noted, to distinguish creativity from linguistic errors. He and his colleagues are especially interested in cases, where unconventional language use leads to communicative success.

Focusing on individual cognitive differences, Joana Cholin further explored how speakers navigate uncertainty in creative language use and how the concept of the creative speaker could be modeled. She discussed variations in lexical retrieval and the role of individual constraints, illustrating her argument with novel word formations such as Wiesenrasierer instead of Rasenmäher. She argued that linguistic creativity inherently increases uncertainty, prompting speakers to anticipate and adjust their expressions dynamically.

Anna Kutscher and Patricia Linnemann examined unconventional verb formations (quietered, loudered), and other creative expressions, and their communicative effectiveness. They contrasted language as a structured system with its flexible use in communication, particularly in contexts where uncertainty plays a pivotal role — such as doctor-patient interactions with young patients, where symptoms are difficult to articulate.

"The Dark Side of Language" (which is also the title of a newly released book) was addressed by Christian Nimtz, who examined slur terms and their semantic and pragmatic functions. As a philosopher recently collaborating with CRC 1646, he investigates how slurs retain their impact even when not directly targeted at individuals, emphasizing the creative codification involved in their formation. He posed the question: How do slur terms function, and what linguistic resources do speakers draw upon when they create them spontaneously? Sina Zarrieß extended this discussion to the challenges of hate speech detection, highlighting how linguistic creativity—through euphemisms and dog whistles—introduces significant uncertainty into computational models.

Finally, Tanja Ackermann explored collective linguistic creativity, focusing on language variation and change. She illustrated how linguistic uncertainty fuels metalinguistic discourse — evident in online discussions about grammatical structures such as wegen dem vs. wegen des. Her research aims to model language as a complex adaptive system, where negotiation within groups contributes to broader linguistic shifts. Additionally, she offered optimistic insights into linguistic change (the bright side of language), suggesting that the everyday language of young Germans may not necessarily be becoming more abrasive; instead, expressions such as vielleicht could increasingly function as polite markers akin to bitte. 

Navigating Uncertainty: Insights from CeUS

The contributions from CeUS explored how uncertainty shapes social behavior, decision-making, and knowledge production. Dirk Kohlweyer examined how negative word-of-mouth influences consumer choices, building on agent-based modeling approaches. His and his colleagues' study investigated how contradictory information affects uncertainty in product evaluations, revealing that the CoSiTA approach (see upcoming CeUS Working Paper), developed by Christian Stummer and others, offers a high degree of consistency with real-world behavior and thus provides a more precise representation of uncertainty.

Elif Sandal-Önal focused on the conceptualization of uncertainty in social and political contexts. She distinguished between individual, collective, and contextual uncertainties, presenting empirical findings from studies on the Ukraine war and public support for military interventions. Additionally, she introduced a new diary study examining uncertainty in the U.S. elections, analyzing how uncertainty correlates with emotional responses over time. The data analysis is currently ongoing, with findings to be presented later this year.

Shifting the focus to knowledge production, Silke Schwandt explored visualization as a tool for productive uncertainty. She argued that data visualizations are not neutral representations but rather instruments that challenge established interpretations and provoke new insights. Drawing on examples from legal history, she demonstrated how interactive visualizations allow researchers to detect patterns that might otherwise remain unnoticed, thereby transforming uncertainty into a catalyst for discovery. 

Common Ground: Creativity as a Response to Uncertainty

The concluding discussion centered on the shared conceptual space between creativity and uncertainty. Participants debated whether creativity should be understood as a mode of navigating uncertainty and how its effects on uncertainty could be modeled and measured. Joana Cholin aptly summarized this dynamic: "Uncertainty calls for creativity."

While CRC 1646 examines creativity as an explicitly linguistic phenomenon, CeUS contributions broadened the perspective, considering creativity as an adaptive strategy for managing uncertainty. As Ralf Vogel noted, navigating uncertainty inherently requires both conventionality and innovation. This cross-disciplinary dialogue underscored the potential for future collaborative efforts, reinforcing the importance of exploring creativity and uncertainty as interdependent concepts. A key takeaway from the discussion was the role of general communicative competence and how it is leveraged by agents to navigate uncertainty. This remains a compelling focal point for future interdisciplinary research.

The event concluded with an outlook on upcoming Uncertainty Research Afternoons, reaffirming the commitment to fostering interdisciplinary exchange and further exploring the intersections of creativity and uncertainty. Stay tuned for more here on the CeUS Blog.