Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T05:54:39.127Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - Vagueness and Discourse Dynamics

from Part VI - Determining and Questioning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2022

By
Sam Carter
Edited by
Daniel Altshuler
Daniel Altshuler
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Get access

Summary

This chapter offers a synoptic survey of work on the discourse dynamics of vague language. It starts by briefly introduction to the traditional philosophical puzzles of vagueness, to do with indeterminacy and tolerance. From there, it turns to evidence that vague language exhibits nontrivial discourse dynamics. Different approaches to the discourse dynamics of vagueness are taxonomized and critically evaluated. The chapter concludes by considering the prospects of leveraging an account of the dynamics of vague language to provide a solution to the traditional puzzles of vagueness.

Keywords

vaguenessdiscourse dynamicslocal contextindeterminacytolerance
Type
Chapter
Information
Linguistics Meets Philosophy , pp. 337 - 357
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alxatib, S., & Pelletier, F. J. (2011). The psychology of vagueness: Borderline cases and contradictions. Mind & Language, 26(3), 287–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alxatib, S., Pagin, P., & Sauerland, U. (2013). Acceptable contradictions: Pragmatics or semantics? A reply to Cobreros et al. Journal of Philosophical Logic, 42(4), 619–634.Google Scholar
Ballweg, J. (1983). Vagueness or context dependence? In Ballmer, T. T. & Pinkal, M. (Eds.), Approaching Vagueness (pp. 59–78). Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Barker, C. (2002). The dynamics of vagueness. Linguistics and Philosophy, 25(1), 1–36.Google Scholar
Barker, C. (2003). Clarity and the grammar of skepticism. Mind & Language, 24(3), 253–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, C. (2013). Negotiating taste. Inquiry, 56(2–3), 240–257.Google Scholar
Beaver, D. (1992). The kinematics of presupposition. In Proceedings of the Eighth Amsterdam Colloquium.Google Scholar
Beaver, D. (2001). Presupposition and Assertion in Dynamic Semantics. CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Bobzien, S. (2011). In defense of true higher-order vagueness. Synthese, 180(3), 317–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobzien, S. (2012). If it’s clear, then it’s clear that it’s clear, or is it? Higher-order vagueness and the S4 axiom. In Ierodiakonou, B. & Morison, K. (Eds.), Episteme, etc. Essays in Honour of Jonathan Barnes (pp. 189–239). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bobzien, S. (2013). Higher-order vagueness and borderline nestings: A persistent confusion. Analytic Philosophy, 54(1), 1–43.Google Scholar
Bobzien, S. (2015). Columnar higher-order vagueness, or vagueness is higher-order vagueness. Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume, 89(1), 61–87.Google Scholar
Bonini, N., Osherson, D., Viale, R., & Williamson, T. (1999). On the psychology of vague predicates. Mind & Language, 14(4), 377–393.Google Scholar
Bosch, P. (1983). Vagueness is context-dependence. In Ballmer, T. T. & Pinkal, M. (Eds.), Approaching Vagueness (pp. 189–210). Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Cargile, J. (1969). The sorites paradox. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 20(3), 193–202.Google Scholar
Chemla, E., & Schlenker, P. (2012). Incremental vs. symmetric accounts of presupposition projection: An experimental approach. Natural Language Semantics, 20(2), 177–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cobreros, P., Égré, P., Ripley, D., & van Rooij, R. (2012). Tolerant, classical, strict. Journal of Philosophical Logic, 41(2), 347–385.Google Scholar
Deemter, K. Van. (1996). The sorites fallacy and the context-dependence of vague predicates. In Kanazawa, M., Pinon, C., & de Swart, H. (Eds.), Quantifiers, Deduction, and Context. CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Dekker, P. (1999). Scopes in discourse. Journal of Language and Computation, 1(1), 7–34.Google Scholar
Donnellan, K. S. (1966). Reference and definite descriptions. Philosophical Review, 75(3), 281–304.Google Scholar
Dorr, C. (2009). Iterating definiteness. In Moruzzi, S. & Dietz, R. (Eds.), Cuts and Clouds. Vagueness, Its Nature and Its Logic (pp. 550–586). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dorr, C. (2015). How vagueness could cut out at any order. Review of Symbolic Logic, 8(1), 1–10.Google Scholar
Edgington, D. (1992). Validity, uncertainty and vagueness. Analysis, 52(4), 193–204.Google Scholar
Edgington, D. (1997). Vagueness by degrees. In. Keefe, R. & Smith, P. (Eds.), Vagueness: A Reader (pp. 294–316). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Égré, P., de Gardelle, V., & Ripley, D. (2013). Vagueness and order effects in color categorization. Journal of Logic, Language and Information, 22(4), 391–420.Google Scholar
Égré, P., & Klinedinst, N. (2010). Introduction. In Égré, P. & Klinedinst, N. (Eds.), Vagueness and Language Use (pp. 1–22). London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Eikmeyer, H.-J., & Rieser, H. (1983). A formal theory of context dependence and context change. In Ballmer, T. T. & Pinkal, M. (Eds.), Approaching Vagueness (pp. 131–188). Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Fara, D. G. (2000). Shifting sands: An interest relative theory of vagueness. Philosophical Topics, 28(1), 45–81.Google Scholar
Fine, K. (1975). Vagueness, truth and logic. Synthese, 30(3–4), 265–300.Google Scholar
Gaifman, H. (2010). Vagueness, tolerance and contextual logic. Synthese, 174(1), 5–46.Google Scholar
Gazdar, G. (1979). Pragmatics: Implicature, Presupposition and Logical Form. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Heim, I. (1982). The Semantics of Definite and Indefinite Noun Phrases. PhD thesis, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.Google Scholar
Heim, I. (1983). On the projection problem for presuppositions. In Portner, P. & Partee, B. H. (Eds.), Formal Semantics: The Essential Readings (pp. 249–260). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Heim, I. (1990). Presupposition projection. In van der Sandt, R. (Ed.), Reader for the Nijmegen Workshop on Presupposition, Lexical Meaning, and Discourse Processes. University of Nijmegen.Google Scholar
Heim, I. (1992). Presupposition projection and the semantics of attitude verbs. Journal of Semantics, 9(3), 183–221.Google Scholar
Horgan, T. (1994). Robust vagueness and the forced-march sorites paradox. Philosophical Perspectives, 8, 159–188.Google Scholar
Horwich, P. (1990). Truth. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Kalmus, H. P. (1979). Dependence of colour naming and monochromator setting on the direction of preceding changes in wavelength. The British Journal of Physiological Optics, 33(2), 1–9.Google Scholar
Kamp, H. (1975). Two Theories about Adjectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kamp, H. (1981a). The paradox of the heap. In Mönnich, U. (Ed.), Aspects of Philosophical Logic (pp. 225–277). Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamp, H. (1981b). A theory of truth and semantic representation. In Groenendijk, J. A. G., Janssen, T. M. V., & Stokhof, M. B. J. (Eds.), Formal Methods in the Study of Language (pp. 277–322). Amsterdam: Mathematisch Centrum.Google Scholar
Kaplan, D. (1989). Demonstratives. In Almog, J., Perry, J., & Wettstein, H. (Eds.), Themes from Kaplan (pp. 481–563). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Karttunen, L. (1973). Presuppositions of compound sentences. Linguistic Inquiry, 4(2), 169–193.Google Scholar
Karttunen, L. (1974). Presupposition and linguistic context. Theoretical Linguistics, 1, 181–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karttunen, L. (1976). Discourse referents. In McCawley, J. D. (Ed.), Syntax and Semantics Vol. 7 (pp. 363–386). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Keefe, R. (2000a). Supervaluationism and validity. Philosophical Topics, 28(1), 93–105.Google Scholar
Keefe, R. (2000b). Theories of Vagueness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kennedy, C. (2001). Polar opposition and the ontology of ‘degrees’. Linguistics and Philosophy, 24(1), 33–70.Google Scholar
Kennedy, C. (2007). Vagueness and grammar: The semantics of relative and absolute gradable adjectives. Linguistics and Philosophy, 30(1), 1–45.Google Scholar
Kennedy, C. (2010). Vagueness and comparison. In Égré, P. & Klinedinst, N. (Eds.), Vagueness and Language Use (pp. 73–97). London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Kennedy, C., & McNally, L. (2004). Scale structure, degree modification, and the semantics of gradable predicates. Language, 2005, 345–381.Google Scholar
Klein, E. (1980). A semantics for positive and comparative adjectives. Linguistics and Philosophy, 4(1), 1–45.Google Scholar
Kriz, M., & Chemla, E. (2015). Two methods to find truth-value gaps and their application to the projection problem of homogeneity. Natural Language Semantics, 23(3), 205–248.Google Scholar
Kyburg, A., & Morreau, M. (2000). Fitting words: Vague language in context. Linguistics and Philosophy, 23(6), 577–597.Google Scholar
Langendoen, D., & Savin, H. (1971). The projection problem for presuppositions. In Fillmore, C. J. & Langendoen, D. (Eds.), Studies in Linguistic Semantics (pp. 373–388). New York: Irvington.Google Scholar
Lasersohn, P. (1999). Pragmatic halos. Language, 75(3), 522–551.Google Scholar
Lewis, D. (1979). Scorekeeping in a language game. Journal of Philosophical Logic, 8(1), 339–359.Google Scholar
Lewis, D. (1980). Index, context, and content. In Kanger, S. & Öhman, S. (Eds.), Philosophy and Grammar (pp. 79–100). Dordrecht: Reidel.Google Scholar
Lewis, K. S. (2014). Do we deed dynamic semantics? In Burgess, A. & Sherman, B. (Eds.), Metasemantics: New Essays on the Foundations of Meaning (pp. 231–258). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ludlow, P. (2001). Metaphysical austerity and the problems of temporal and modal anaphora. In Tomberlin, J. (Ed.), Metaphysics (pp. 211–228). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
MacFarlane, J. (2009). Nonindexical contextualism. Synthese, 166(2), 231–250.Google Scholar
Mandelkern, M., Zehr, J., Romoli, J., & Schwarz, F. (2020). We’ve discovered that projection across conjunction is asymmetric. Linguistics and Philosophy, 43(5), 473–514.Google Scholar
Mandelkern, M., Zehr, J., Romoli, J., & Schwarz, F. (2017). Asymmetry in presupposition projection: The case of conjunction. In Burgdorf, D., Collard, J., Maspong, S., & Stefánsdóttir, B. (Eds.), Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT), Vol. 27 (pp. 505–524).Google Scholar
McGee, V. (1991). Truth, Vagueness and Paradox. Indianapolis: Hackett.Google Scholar
Pagin, P. (2010a). Vagueness and central gaps. In Dietz, R. & Moruzzi, S. (Eds.), Cuts and Clouds: Vagueness, Its Nature and Its Logic (pp. 254–272). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pagin, P. (2010b). Vagueness and domain restriction. In Égré, P. & Klinedinst, N. (Eds.), Vagueness and Language Use (pp. 283–307). London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Pinkal, M. (1983). Towards a semantics of precization. In Ballmer, T. T. & Pinkal, M. (Eds.), Approaching Vagueness (pp. 13–57). Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Plunkett, D. (2015). Which concepts should we use? Metalinguistic negotiations and the methodology of philosophy. Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy, 58(7–8), 828–874.Google Scholar
Plunkett, D., & Sundell, T. (2014). Antipositivist arguments from legal thought and talk: The metalinguistic response. In Hubbs, G. & Lind, D. (Eds.), Pragmatism, Law, and Language (pp. 56–75). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Plunkett, D., & Sundell, T. (2013). Disagreement and the semantics of normative and evaluative terms. Philosophers’ Imprint, 13, 1–37.Google Scholar
Putnam, H. (1975). The meaning of ‘meaning’. Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 7, 131–193.Google Scholar
Raffman, D. (1994). Vagueness without paradox. Philosophical Review, 103(1), 41–74.Google Scholar
Raffman, D. (1996). Vagueness and context-relativity. Philosophical Studies, 81(2–3), 175–192.Google Scholar
Raffman, D. (2005a). Borderline cases and bivalence. Philosophical Review, 114(1), 1–31.Google Scholar
Raffman, D. (2005b). How to understand contextualism about vagueness: Reply to Stanley. Analysis, 65(3), 244–248.Google Scholar
Ripley, D. (2011). Contradictions at the borders. In Nouwen, R., van Rooij, R., Sauerland, U., & Schmitz, H.-C. (Eds.), Vagueness in Communication (pp. 169–188). Cham: Springer.Google Scholar
Ripley, D. (2013). Sorting out the sorites. In Berto, F., Mares, E., & Tanaka, K. (Eds.), Paraconsistency: Logic and Applications (pp. 329–348). Cham: Springer.Google Scholar
Rothschild, D. (2011). Explaining presupposition projection with dynamic semantics. Semantics and Pragmatics, 4(3), 1–43.Google Scholar
Sainsbury, M. (1991). Is there higher-order vagueness? Philosophical Quarterly, 41(163), 167–182.Google Scholar
Sainsbury, R. M. (1988). Tolerating vagueness. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 89, 33–48.Google Scholar
Sainsbury, R. M. (1996). Concepts without boundaries. In. Keefe, R. & Smith, P. (Eds.), Vagueness: A Reader (pp. 186–205). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Sassoon, G. W. (2013). Vagueness, Gradability and Typicality: The Interpretation of Adjectives and Nouns. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Schlenker, P. (2008). Be articulate: A pragmatic theory of presupposition projection. Theoretical Linguistics, 34(3), 157–212.Google Scholar
Serchuk, P., Hargreaves, I., & Zach, R. (2011). Vagueness, logic and use: Four experimental studies on vagueness. Mind & Language, 26(5), 540–573.Google Scholar
Shapiro, S. (2006). Vagueness in Context. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Simons, M. (1996). Disjunction and anaphora. In Galloway, T. & Spence, J. (Eds.), Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT), Vol. 6 (pp. 245–260).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soames, S. (1982). How presuppositions are inherited: A solution to the projection problem. Linguistic Inquiry, 13, 483–545.Google Scholar
Soames, S. (1998). Understanding Truth. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Soames, S. (2002). Replies. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 65(2), 429–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soames, S. (2003). Higher-order vagueness for partially defined predicates. In Beall, J. C. (Ed.), Liars and Heaps: New Essays on Paradox (pp. 128–150). Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Solt, S. (2016). On measurement and quantification: The case of ‘most’ and ‘more than half’. Language, 2016, 65–100.Google Scholar
Sorensen, R. (2001). Vagueness and Contradiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sorensen, R. (1988). Blindspots. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stalnaker, R. (1973). Presuppositions. Journal of Philosophical Logic, 2(4), 447–457.Google Scholar
Stalnaker, R. (1974). Pragmatic presuppositions. In Stalnaker, R. (Ed.), Context and Content (pp. 47–62). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stalnaker, R. (1978). Assertion. Syntax and Semantics, 9, 315–332.Google Scholar
Stalnaker, R. (2002). Common ground. Linguistics and Philosophy, 25(5–6), 701–721.Google Scholar
Stalnaker, R. (1970). Pragmatics. Synthese, 22(1–2), 272–289.Google Scholar
Stanley, J. (2000). Context and logical form. Linguistics and Philosophy, 23(4), 391–434.Google Scholar
Sundell, T. (2011). Disagreements about taste. Philosophical Studies, 155(2), 267–288.Google Scholar
Syrett, K., Kennedy, C., & Lidz, J. (2010). Meaning and context in children’s understanding of gradable adjectives. Journal of Semantics, 27(1), 1–35.Google Scholar
Tappenden, J. (1993). The liar and sorites paradoxes: Toward a unified treatment. Journal of Philosophy, 60(11), 551–577.Google Scholar
Tappenden, J. (1995). Some remarks on vagueness and a dynamic conception of language. Southern Journal of Philosophy, 33(S1), 193–201.Google Scholar
van Deemter, K. (2010). Not Exactly: In Praise of Vagueness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
van der Sandt, R. A. (1989). Presupposition and discourse structure. In Bartsch, R., van Benthem, J. F. A. K., & van Emde Boas, P. (Eds.), Semantics and Contextual Expression (pp. 371–388). Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
van der Sandt, R. A. (1992). Presupposition projection as anaphora resolution. Journal of Semantics, 9(4), 333–377.Google Scholar
van Eijck, J. (1993). The dynamics of description. Journal of Semantics, 10(3), 239–267.Google Scholar
van Eijck, J. (1994). Presupposition failure: A comedy of errors. Formal Aspects of Computing, 6(11), 766–787.Google Scholar
Waismann, F. (1951). Verifiability. In Ryle, G. & Flew, A. (Eds.), Logic and Language (pp. 35–68). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Wheeler, S. C. (1972). Attributives and their modifiers. Noûs, 6(4), 310–334.Google Scholar
Williamson, T. (1994). Vagueness. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Williamson, T. (1999). On the structure of higher-order vagueness. Mind, 108(429), 127–143.Google Scholar
Wright, C. (1975). On the coherence of vague predicates. Synthese, 30(3–4), 325–65.Google Scholar
Wright, C. (1987). Further reflections on the sorites paradox. Philosophical Topics, 15 (1), 227–290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, C. (1992). Is higher order vagueness coherent? Analysis, 52(3), 129–139.Google Scholar
Wright, C. (2009). The illusion of higher-order vagueness. In Moruzzi, S. & Dietz, R. (Eds.), Cuts and Clouds. Vagueness, Its Nature and Its Logic (pp. 523–549). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Zeevat, H. (1992). Presupposition and accommodation in update semantics. Journal of Semantics, 9(4), 379–412.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×