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On the optimality of vagueness: "around", "between" and the Gricean maxims.

Why is ordinary language vague? We argue that in contexts in which a cooperative speaker is not perfectly informed about the world, the use of vague expressions can offer an optimal tradeoff between truthfulness (Gricean Quality) and informativeness (Gricean Quantity). Focusing on expressions of app...

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Published in:Linguistics & Philosophy Vol. 46; no. 5; pp. 1075 - 1131
Main Authors: Égré, Paul, Spector, Benjamin, Mortier, Adèle, Verheyen, Steven
Format: Article
Published: Springer Nature Oct2023
Subjects:
Vagueness (Philosophy)
Approximation error
Semantics
Ambiguity
Philosophers
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost