Chapter 18. Intentional vagueness

Voghera, Miriam; Collu, Laura

doi:10.1075/slcs.189.19vog

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Most VEs are polyfunctional. As noted in studies based on Italian, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and German corpora, from a diachronic point of view, there is a path of development, according to which expressions that originally express informational vagueness can evolve towards the expression of relational vagueness and subsequently towards the expression of discursive vagueness (Jucker et al 2003;Mihatsch 2020;Ghezzi 2013;Voghera 2014Voghera , 2022Voghera & Borges 2017;Voghera & Collu 2017). In other words, the expression of relational and discursive vagueness is expressed by refunctionalising constructions originally used to vehiculate information vagueness.…”

Section: From Cxstn[temp] To Intentional Vaguenessmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…un'espressione è vaga quando non possiamo decidere in base a considerazioni formali se, noto il referente e nota l'espressione, essa è applicabile sempre o non è applicabile mai al referente (De Mauro 1982: 99) 3 Intentional vagueness consists of constructions that do not necessarily depend on systemic factors (Voghera 2012, Voghera & Collu 2017, as in the following example:…”

Section: From Cxstn[temp] To Intentional Vaguenessunclassified

“…Intentional vagueness responds to different communicative needs, on the basis of which I proposed to distinguish three kinds of vagueness (Voghera 2017(Voghera , 2022Voghera & Collu 2017): 4 a. informational vagueness, the domain of which is the propositional content, depending on lack of information:…”

Section: From Cxstn[temp] To Intentional Vaguenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The three types of intentional vagueness can combine and overlap in several contexts and a VE can convey different types of vagueness: for instance, diciamo in Italian or sagen wir mal in German ('let's say') can be used to convey all three kinds of vagueness (Caffi 2007;Mihatsch 2010;Voghera & Collu 2017).…”

Section: From Cxstn[temp] To Intentional Vaguenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The role of diminutive suffixes in the Italian Time Nouns constructions: From approximation to focus?

Voghera

2023

ZWJW

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The time nouns (TNs), minuto (‘minute’), momento (‘moment’), attimo (‘instant’) can be part of constructions in which they keep all their categorial and syntactic properties, but also in constructions which seem to undergo a process of grammaticalisation: loss of categorial property of nominal inflection; the sequence DET+TN (un attimo, un momento, un minuto) can no longer be interrupted by modifiers nor have postnominal modifiers; semantic shift from the original temporal meaning to the more general meaning of a ‘(small) indefinite amount’, to continue towards more properly grammatical values of quantifiers to pragmatic values of hedges, alerter and textual marker of focus. Interestingly, while the original temporal constructions do not occur in diminutive forms, the departure from temporal meaning makes the use of diminutive forms possible. The article explores in which cases they are allowed and the semantic and textual factors which contribute to their presence.

show abstract

Section: From Cxstn[temp] To Intentional Vaguenessmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: From Cxstn[temp] To Intentional Vaguenessunclassified

Section: From Cxstn[temp] To Intentional Vaguenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: From Cxstn[temp] To Intentional Vaguenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The role of diminutive suffixes in the Italian Time Nouns constructions: From approximation to focus?

Voghera

2023

ZWJW

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…30 Giorgio Voghera, who settled in Kibbutz Givat Brenner, occasionally came across a young Arab shepherd who led his sheep to graze near the kibbutz lands. 31 These exceptions aside, Italian Jewish newcomers did not interact with Arabs.…”

Section: A New Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

Italy's Jews from Emancipation to Fascism

Klein

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Chapter 2. The role of ambiguity and vagueness in language change

Magni

2024

Pragmatics &Amp; Beyond New Series

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In linguistic research, the concepts of ambiguity and vagueness are often confused and frequently invoked to describe synchronic facts and explain diachronic processes. This article illustrates the differences and similarities between the two phenomena, defines their position within the domain of semantic indeterminacy, and discusses their role in linguistic change. The examples show that while ambiguity is intertwined with various mechanisms of change, acting as both a source and a product of innovation, vagueness plays a marginal role, being mainly a side effect of ongoing change or a tool of communicative strategies of vague language. Moreover, intentional vagueness usually promotes speaker-driven innovations, whereas ambiguity can trigger hearer-driven changes that unfold broader diachronic scenarios.

show abstract

Chapter 18. Intentional vagueness

Cited by 9 publications

References 19 publications

The role of diminutive suffixes in the Italian Time Nouns constructions: From approximation to focus?

The role of diminutive suffixes in the Italian Time Nouns constructions: From approximation to focus?

Italy's Jews from Emancipation to Fascism

Chapter 2. The role of ambiguity and vagueness in language change

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About