Vagueness and Language Use

by P. Égré (Editor), N. Klinedinst (Editor)

Overview

This volume brings together twelve papers by linguists and philosophers contributing novel empirical and formal considerations to theorizing about vagueness. Three main issues are addressed: gradable expressions and comparison, the semantics of degree adverbs and intensifiers (such as 'clearly'), and ways of evading the sorites paradox.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230238619
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	04/19/2011
Series:	Palgrave Studies in Pragmatics, Language and Cognition
Edition description:	2011
Pages:	319
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

CHRIS BARKER is Professor, Department of Linguistics, New York University, USA PABLO COBREROS teaches Logic and Philosophy of Science at The University of Navarra, Spain ARIEL COHEN is Senior Lecturer of Linguistics, Ben Gurion University, Israel DELIA GRAFF FARA is Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Princeton University, USA SCOTT FULTS University of Maryland, USA CHRISTOPHER KENNEDY is Professor and Chair, Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago, USA RICK NOUWEN is Senior Research Fellow, Utrecht Institute for Linguistics, The Netherlands PETER PAGIN Department of Philosophy, Skholm University, Sweden GALIT W. SASSOON Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC), University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands ULI SAUERLAND is Research Team Leader at the Centre for General Linguistics (ZAS) Berlin, Germany PENKA STATEVA is Associate Professor of Linguistics University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia PAULA SWEENEY is Research and Operations Officer, Department of Philosophy, University of Aberdeen, UK ROBERT VAN ROOIJ Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC), University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands LAVI WOLF Department of Foreign Literature, Ben Gurion University, Israel ELIA ZARDINI is Postdoctoral Research Fellow, the Northern Institute of Philosophy, University of Aberdeen, UK

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Introduction: P.Égré & N.Klinedinst PART I: MEASUREMENT AND COMPARISON Vagueness and Scales; S.Fults Implicit and Explicit Comparatives; R.van Rooij Vagueness and Comparison; C.Kennedy The Inhabitants of Vagueness Models; G.Sassoon PART II: APPROXIMATORS AND INTENSIFIERS Two Types of Vagueness; U.Sauerland & P.Stateva Degree Modifiers and Monotonicity; R.Nouwen Clarity as Objectivized Belief; A.Cohen & L.Wolf Reasoning about Public Evidence; C.Barker PART III: THE SORITES PARADOX Supervaluationism and Fara's Argument concerning Higher-Order Vagueness; P.Cobreros Truth in a Region; D.Fara Vagueness and Practical Interest; P.Sweeney & E.Zardini Vagueness and Domain Restriction; P.Pagin Index