模糊语言

acknowledgements.

the author and series editors

foreword

text data, its sources, and presentation

chapter 1 what is vague language?

1.1 introduction

1.2 defining vague language

1.3 vagueness and communication

1.4 the treatment of vague language in this book

1.5 a working definition of vague language

1.6 the place of vagueness in the study of language

1.7 organization of the book

chapter 2 theory and methodology of the study of vague language

2.1 idealization

2.2 meaning and what it means to study meaning

2.3 levels of analysis of language

2.4 making judgements about language

2.5 distinguishing between semantics and pragmatics

2.6 semantics

2.7 representations of meaning

.2.8 pragmatics

2.9 'context' and 'pragmatics'

2.10 vagueness versus ambiguity

2.11 methodology

2.12 examples and other data

2.13 transcription of recorded data

chapter 3 approximating quantities with numbers and approximators

3.1 introduction

3.2 the general meaning of approximator + n structures

3.3 about, around, and round

distribution and structure

meaning

3.4 approximately

distribution

meaning

3.5 norm

intonation

distribution

meaning

3.6 n or so

distribution

meaning

3.7 partial specifiers

3.8 combinations of approximators

3.9 numbers in approximations

approximators with and without round numbers

3.10 implicatures and entailments of approximator + n structures

3.11 cross-linguistic comparison

3.12 summary

chapter 4 approximating quantities with round numbers

4.1 using a precise number with a vague meaning

4.2 'round' numbers = reference point numbers

4.3 'faded' numbers as approximations

4.4 how do we know when an apparently exact

number is an approximation?

4.5 exaggeration

4.6 using a plural number name to approximate a quantity

meaning

4.7 cross-linguistic comparison

4.8 summary

chapter 5 approximating quantities with non-numerical

vague quantifiers

5.1 introduction

5.2 approach

5.3 plural quantifier + of + noun

bags (o19

loads (o19

lots (o19

masses (o19

oodles (o19

5.4 a + singular quantifier (+ of + noun)

a bit of

a load of

a lot (o19

a mass of

a scrap (o19

a toucb of

5.5 other uses of pseudopartitives..

5.6 vague quantifier + countable noun

(a) few

some

several

many

umpteen

5.7 adverbs of frequency

5.8 summary

chapter 6 referring vaguely to categories

6.1 introduction

6.2 an outline analysis

6.3 testing for the meaning of vague category

identifiers

method

results and discussion

responses to items in rosch's categories

responses to real examples

general conclusions from the results

6.4 the structure of the tags

6.5 structure of exemplar + tag

noun phrase + tag

verb phrase + tag

embedded sentence + tag

prepositional phrase + tag

adjectives, adverbs + tags

intonation and vague tagging

6.6 co-occurrence restrictions

6.7 summary

chapter 7 tbingy and wbatsisname: placeholder words

7.1 introduction

7.2 examples

tbingy

tbingummy, thingummyjig, thingummabob

whatsisname

whatnot

whosit

whatsit

7.3 semantics and pragmatics

7.4 summary

chapter 8 the uses of vague language

8.1 introduction

8.2 analytical approach

8.3 three scenarios showing vagueness

eighty or so pence

elaborated code and things like that

humorous effects

8.4 giving the right amount of information

8.5 deliberately withholding information

8.6 using language persuasively

8.7 lexical gaps

8.8 lacking specific information

8.9 displacement

8.10 self-protection

8.11 power and politeness

8.12 informality and atmosphere

8.13 women's language

8.14 summary

chapter 9 going beyond the information given

9.1 summary

9.2 implications for language understanding

vagueness and categorization

9.3 language and the world

9.4 consequences for linguistics

9.5 applications of the study of vague language in english

english language teaching

communication skills teaching

vagueness and politeness

lexicography

9.6 an exercise on the analysis of vague language

9.7 looking forward

bibliography

glossary

index...