Erin Zaroukian, 25/10/2013, 11 am

Date: Friday 25^th October
Time: 11 am

Place: Conference room of the Pavillon Jardin - 29, rue d'Ulm

Speaker: Erin Zaroukian (Post-doc, IJN)

Title: “Variation in Vagueness”

Abstract: In natural language, vagueness abounds. In the sentence *John served approximately 50 sandwiches*, for example, there is potential indeterminacy in what counts as a sandwich, what counts as an event of serving, and what quantities qualify as *approximately fifty*. I explore sentences like these in the context of the question What is the nature of vagueness?  I address this through case studies of a variety of modifiers, focusing on * approximately*, *maybe*, and *about*, as in *John served approximately/maybe/about 50 sandwiches*. Comparing modal modifiers like * maybe *to non-modal modifiers like *approximately*, I argue that vagueness is a systematically heterogeneous phenomenon by identifying fundamental differences in the vague readings these two classes of modifiers produce.