Modeling Comparatives in English Based On a Pragmatic Handling of the Sorites Paradox
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2021
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Swarthmore College. Dept. of Linguistics
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en
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Abstract
Vagueness is an essential feature of natural language. Some scholars argue that vague
predicates such as bald,
at, and tall are necessary because humans are faced every day
with situations where their ability to discriminate one thing from another is too limited
to draw sharp boundaries (van Rooij 2011a). Others hold that without vagueness, the
processing costs of natural language are too high; it might be harder to decide which
non-vague term (e.g. exactly six feet tall ) to use rather than to resort to a vague one
(van Rooij 2011a). Game theorists such as Myerson (1991) and de Jaegher (2003)
argue that vague or \noisy" utterances communicate more than non-vague utterances
in instances where the preferences of the speaker and the listener are not completely
aligned or where the speaker is unsure of the listener's preferences. Still others suspect
that vagueness is important because it helps with value judgments. (An example used
by van Rooij (2011a) is that someone who already knows that \Quiza" is four feet
tall might learn something new and relevant upon hearing that \Quiza" is \tall for a
Martian.")