veralgemenert

Veralgemenert is a term used in theoretical discussions to denote the process or outcome by which specific information, observations, or statements are made more general within discourse, often leading to broad generalizations that exceed the original scope. The term is not widely standardized and appears primarily in Dutch-language scholarship on language, cognition, and communication.

In linguistics, veralgemenert describes how pragmatic context, communicative efficiency, and shared knowledge push speakers to replace detailed distinctions with broader generalizations. In cognitive science, it denotes a tendency to generalize from limited data, or the mechanism by which categorization becomes coarser as information is abstracted.

Applications and examples are discussed in studies of everyday conversation, media discourse, and educational materials, where specific terms or caveats are collapsed into simpler, more universal claims.

Critics argue that the concept risks vagueness and overlaps with established ideas of generalization and overgeneralization, potentially conflating descriptive analysis with normative judgments.

See also generalization, overgeneralization, abstraction, framing.