Vagueness, unspecificity, and approximation. Cognitive and lexical aspects in English, Swedish, and Italian

Allwood, Jens; Ahlsén, Elisabeth; Poggi, Isabella; Vincze, Laura; D’Errico, Francesca

doi:10.1075/slcs.165.15all

Article published in:

Certainty-uncertainty – and the Attitudinal Space in Between
Edited by Sibilla Cantarini, Werner Abraham and Elisabeth Leiss
[Studies in Language Companion Series 165] 2014
► pp. 265–284

Vagueness, unspecificity, and approximation. Cognitive and lexical aspects in English, Swedish, and Italian

Jens Allwood

Elisabeth Ahlsén

Isabella Poggi

Laura Vincze

Francesca D’Errico

This paper investigates the cognitive and semantic nature of vagueness, unspecificity, and approximation (vagueness related phenomena) by examining some of the linguistic expressions connected with these phenomena in English, Swedish and Italian. Certain mental states during discourse production (like hesitation, hastiness, word search) are also investigated.

Published online: 14 November 2014
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.165.15all