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1、第15页VagueExpressionsofQuantityinEnglishPeoplehavemanybeliefsaboutlanguage;animportantoneisthat‘good’usageinvolves(amongotherthings)clarityandprecision.Hence,itisbelievedthatinlanguages,ambiguities,imprecisionaretobeavoided.Thisisrathertoosimpleaview,a
2、ndlikelytobepositivelymisleadingasaninstructiontothoselearningabouthowtousethem,especiallysecondlanguageusersofEnglish.MostspeakersofEnglishareparticularlyawareofthefrequencyofvaguelanguageuse(untilitispointedouttothem)andthisfactisinitselfofinterest.
3、Intheintroduction,itwillsetouttointroducethegeneralknowledgeofvaguelanguage,andspecificallytoworktowardsvagueexpressionsofquantityinthenext.I.Introductions1.1VagueLanguageSomelanguageisvague,andweunderstanditasvagueandassignvaguemeaningstoit.Butwhatki
4、ndofexpressionsandwordsarecountedasvaguelanguageinEnglish?1.1.1DefinitionofVagueLanguageThispaperwillworkwiththefollowingdefinitionofvaguelanguageanditsuse.Anexpressionorwordisvagueif:(1)Itcanbecontrastedwithanotherwordorexpression,whichappearstorende
5、rthesameproposition;(2)Itispurposelyandunabashedlyvague;(3)ItsmeaningarisesfromtheintrinsicuncertaintyreferredtobyPeirce.Peirce(1902)isoftenconsideredastheoriginatorofthenotionofvaguenessinlanguage.Andhewasperhapsthefirsttotrytoformulatethenotioninari
6、gorousway,asfollows:“Apropositionisvaguewheretherearepossiblestatesofthingsconcerningwhichitisintrinsicallyuncertainwhether,hadtheybeencontemplatedbythespeaker,hewouldhaveregardedthemasexcludedorallowedbytheproposition.Byintrinsicallyuncertainwemeanno
7、tuncertaininconsequenceofanyignoranceoftheinterpreter,butbecausethespeaker’shabitsoflanguagewereindeterminate;sothatonedayhe———————————————————————————————————————————————第15页wouldregardthepropositionasexcluding,anotherasadmitting,thosestatesofthings.
8、Yetthismustbeunderstoodtohavereferencetowhatmightbededucesfromaperfectknowledgeofhisstateofmind;foritispreciselybecausethesequestionsneverdid,ordidnotfrequently,presentthemthathishabitremainedindeterminate.(1902:748)”1.1.2BirthofVagueLanguageS
