Vagueness facilitates search

Kees van Deemter

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-14287-1_18

Vagueness facilitates search

Kees van Deemter

Computing Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Published conference contribution

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper addresses the question why language is vague. A novel answer to this question is proposed, which complements other
answers suggested in the literature. It claims that vagueness can facilitate search, particularly in quasi-continuous domains (such as physical size, colour, or temperature), given that different speakers are likely to attach subtly different meanings to words (such as “tall”, “blue”, or “hot”) defined over such domains.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Logic, Language and Meaning
Subtitle of host publication	7th Amsterdam Colloquium, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, December 16-18, 2009, Revised Selected Papers
Editors	Maria Aloni, Harald Bastiaanse, Tikitu de Jager, Katrin Schulz
Place of Publication	Berlin
Publisher	Springer Lecture Notes
Pages	173-182
Number of pages	10
ISBN (Print)	978-3-642-14286-4, 3-642-14286-9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14287-1_18
Publication status	Published - 6 Oct 2010

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence
Publisher	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Volume	6042
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743

Keywords

vague predicates
utility
search

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-642-14287-1_18

http://homepages.abdn.ac.uk/k.vdeemter/pages/AC-2009-search.pdf

Cite this

van Deemter, K. (2010). Vagueness facilitates search. In M. Aloni, H. Bastiaanse, T. de Jager, & K. Schulz (Eds.), Logic, Language and Meaning: 7th Amsterdam Colloquium, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, December 16-18, 2009, Revised Selected Papers (pp. 173-182). (Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence; Vol. 6042). Springer Lecture Notes. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14287-1_18

Vagueness facilitates search. / van Deemter, Kees.
Logic, Language and Meaning: 7th Amsterdam Colloquium, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, December 16-18, 2009, Revised Selected Papers. ed. / Maria Aloni; Harald Bastiaanse; Tikitu de Jager; Katrin Schulz. Berlin: Springer Lecture Notes, 2010. p. 173-182 (Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence; Vol. 6042).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Published conference contribution

van Deemter, K 2010, Vagueness facilitates search. in M Aloni, H Bastiaanse, T de Jager & K Schulz (eds), Logic, Language and Meaning: 7th Amsterdam Colloquium, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, December 16-18, 2009, Revised Selected Papers. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, vol. 6042, Springer Lecture Notes, Berlin, pp. 173-182. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14287-1_18

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Vagueness facilitates search

Abstract

Publication series

Keywords

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Cite this