On the optimality of vagueness: “around”, “between” and the Gricean maxims
Abstract 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). Focusi...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer Netherlands
2023
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152305 |
| _version_ | 1811071515226013696 |
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| author | Égré, Paul Spector, Benjamin Mortier, Adèle Verheyen, Steven |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy Égré, Paul Spector, Benjamin Mortier, Adèle Verheyen, Steven |
| author_sort | Égré, Paul |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Abstract
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 approximation such as “around”, which are semantically vague, we show that they allow the speaker to convey indirect probabilistic information, in a way that can give the listener a more accurate representation of the information available to the speaker than any more precise expression would (intervals of the form “between”). That is, vague sentences can be more informative than their precise counterparts. We give a probabilistic treatment of the interpretation of “around”, and offer a model for the interpretation and use of “around”-statements within the Rational Speech Act (RSA) framework. In our account the shape of the speaker’s distribution matters in ways not predicted by the Lexical Uncertainty model standardly used in the RSA framework for vague predicates. We use our approach to draw further lessons concerning the semantic flexibility of vague expressions and their irreducibility to more precise meanings. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:52:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/152305 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:52:24Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Springer Netherlands |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1523052024-02-02T21:20:48Z On the optimality of vagueness: “around”, “between” and the Gricean maxims Égré, Paul Spector, Benjamin Mortier, Adèle Verheyen, Steven Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy Abstract 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 approximation such as “around”, which are semantically vague, we show that they allow the speaker to convey indirect probabilistic information, in a way that can give the listener a more accurate representation of the information available to the speaker than any more precise expression would (intervals of the form “between”). That is, vague sentences can be more informative than their precise counterparts. We give a probabilistic treatment of the interpretation of “around”, and offer a model for the interpretation and use of “around”-statements within the Rational Speech Act (RSA) framework. In our account the shape of the speaker’s distribution matters in ways not predicted by the Lexical Uncertainty model standardly used in the RSA framework for vague predicates. We use our approach to draw further lessons concerning the semantic flexibility of vague expressions and their irreducibility to more precise meanings. 2023-09-28T21:08:14Z 2023-09-28T21:08:14Z 2023-05-15 2023-08-25T03:19:49Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152305 Égré, Paul, Spector, Benjamin, Mortier, Adèle and Verheyen, Steven. 2023. "On the optimality of vagueness: “around”, “between” and the Gricean maxims." en https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-022-09379-6 Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. application/pdf Springer Netherlands Springer Netherlands |
| spellingShingle | Égré, Paul Spector, Benjamin Mortier, Adèle Verheyen, Steven On the optimality of vagueness: “around”, “between” and the Gricean maxims |
| title | On the optimality of vagueness: “around”, “between” and the Gricean maxims |
| title_full | On the optimality of vagueness: “around”, “between” and the Gricean maxims |
| title_fullStr | On the optimality of vagueness: “around”, “between” and the Gricean maxims |
| title_full_unstemmed | On the optimality of vagueness: “around”, “between” and the Gricean maxims |
| title_short | On the optimality of vagueness: “around”, “between” and the Gricean maxims |
| title_sort | on the optimality of vagueness around between and the gricean maxims |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152305 |
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