Table Of ContentUNRULY WORDS
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UNRULY WORDS
A Study of Vague Language
Diana Raffman
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Raff man, Diana.
Unruly words : a study of vague language / Diana Raff man.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–991510–1 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Semantics. 2. Vagueness
(Philosophy) 3. Borderline cases. 4. Language and languages—Philosophy. I. Title.
P325.R26 2013
401.43—dc23
2013010506
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
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In Memory of
Rita, Relly, Joe, Memère, Dorothy,
Robert, Mary, Ellie,
and Ruth
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CONTENTS
Preface xi
1. Introduction and Fundamentals 1
1.1. Whirlwind Tour of Competing Th eories of
Vagueness 7
1.2. Initial Observation 1: Blurred Boundaries,
Sharp Boundaries, and Stopping Places 13
1.3. Initial Observation 2: Vagueness and Gradability 16
1.4. Initial Observation 3: Vagueness and Soriticality 18
1.5. Initial Observation 4: Vagueness and
Context-Sensitivity 19
1.6. Vagueness and Rule-Following 20
1.7. Two Policies and a Caution 22
1.8. Selective Review 23
1.9. Looking Ahead 24
2. Th e In’s and Out’s of Borderline Cases 25
2.1. Lay of the Land 25
2.2. Th e Standard Analysis 26
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CONTENTS
2.3. Th e Incompatibilist Analysis 33
2.4. Objections and Replies 44
2.5. Replies to the Four Arguments, and
Some Advantages of the Incompatibilist Analysis 60
2.6. Independently Fishy Features of Higher-Order
Borderlines 64
2.7. Selective Review 70
2.8. Looking Ahead 71
3. Framework for a Semantics of Vagueness 72
3.1. Vagueness and Indexicality 73
3.2. Two Ingredients of Sense for Vague Words 76
3.3. Refi nement: Intended Contexts, Not Contexts
of Utt erance 84
3.4. Selective Review 89
3.5. Looking Ahead 90
4. Th e Multiple Range Th eory of Vagueness 91
4.1. Vagueness and Reference 92
4.2. Why Ranges of Application Are
Not Precisifi cations 1 02
4.3. Progress Report and a Criterion of Vagueness 103
4.4. Evaluation 1 09
4.5. Solving the Sorites 121
4.6. Verdicts on Some Specifi c Predicates 124
4.7. Vagueness, V-index-sensitivity, Soriticality,
Gradability, Borderlines, and Indeterminacy:
Relatives or Just Friends? 130
4.8. Selective Review 133
4.9. Looking Ahead 134
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CONTENTS
5. Th e Competent Use of Vague Words 136
5.1. A Pragmatic Sorites 136
5.2. Testing for Hysteresis 146
5.3. Nonperceptual Hysteresis: Does Our
Hypothesis Generalize? 156
5.4. Meaning and Use: Implementing the Multiple
Range Semantics 164
5.5. An Etymological Speculation 170
5.6. Th e Truth About Tolerance 172
5.7. Looking Back: Rules, Reasons, and the
Governing View 175
Appendix 181
Notes 187
Bibliography 205
Index 213
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