As language evolves through every generation, there are certain concepts which connect all speakers together. Despite age, language, or background, a sense of vagueness is present in all forms of communication. As it often leads to miscommunication amongst speakers, it is important to identify vagueness and the reason of its occurrence through language. As words carry their own difinitive meaning, there is still the important of context to take into consideration which can change the perception of a word from each speaker. It can be assumed that the most crucial action taken to avoid vagueness amongst communication is to be as informative as possible. When describing something, it is necessary to be comparative and specific when referring to an object or person. without withholding important information. Vagueness is not to be confused with ambiguity as they are similar terms often associated together. Ambiguity leaves question of meaning as there is more than one present sense to a statement or question. However regarding vagueness, there is rather not enough information given to be confused about. As we move forward in time, our way of communicating seems to be going backwards rather than progressing. There is definetely an increase of vaguness concerning everyday communication in this day and age which is important to look into as well.  I think that the first step in avoiding vagueness when speaking is to differentiate the term from these similar concepts which are often associated. The idea of context must also be further studied to understand it’s significance regarding vagueness and why it is necessary in communication as a whole.

I will be exploring both Sense, Denotation, and expressive meanings in words. Expressive meaning is words like “ouch” that convey the speaker’s attitude or feelings. Sense and Denotation was a topic that stood out to me because it opened up my eyes in realizing that on a daily basis I tend to see and use words that are the exact same but can have two completely different meanings or denotations in different discursive universes. I admire how when talking about sense and denotation you are able to see that the sensor determines a denotation set for each situation, and knowing the sense of the word allows speakers to identify the members of this set” this way it gives off a meaningful concept but referents in our world during the present time today. Although denotation “depends upon the universe in which the discourse takes place” I would furthermore like to explore and understand more about the connotations and words that can enhance the description, meaning and possibly the tone in which someone states a word. How is it that two expressions with the same denotation can have two different senses? These are questions that we have to ask ourselves assuming that everyone has the same mental capacity to perceive concepts; For example,  “if a language fails to provide a word for the color yellow; language does indeed affect perception “ language gets perceived as in multiple things based off of your thoughts and on the way that you see and interpret a specific thing. I plan on conducting a survey that can get people to answer the question without being self-conscious about their answers. For instance, if I ask “who taught you how to ride a bike?” They could either answer “mom or mother” or “dad or papa”; this indicates their usage of expressive meaning. 

 

Like many other words in the English language, the word “girl” can have different meanings to different groups of people.  It is something that you might not be thinking about when you use it, but it can have certain connotations, both positive or negative.  The first time I stopped to consider this was while reading Analyzing Meaning: An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics, when I came across a few examples of binary feature analysis.  This analysis uses the symbols + and Ø to distinguish between different lexical categories; the + symbol shows a positive relationship, that the word has that feature, while the Ø symbol means that the word does not have that particular feature.  In one of the examples, they describe the word girl as -adult and -male.  This would mean that the word should only be used when referring to female children.  This was surprising to me, because I have used this word for not only female children, but also female adults.  For example, I was telling my friend a story about someone I work with, a 27-year-old with a child of her own, and I referred to her as “a girl that I work with.”  According to the textbook, this would be an improper use of the word; however, I don’t think it is that much of a stretch because many of my friends speak the same way.  Some of my friends even use the word when speaking to people who do not identify as female.  It is true that historically the word “girl” has been used to refer to female children, but one of the most beautiful things about language is that it is constantly shifting and changing, and it shouldn’t be governed by strict and outdated rules.  It is interesting to consider how this word can have different connotations depending on who is using it and how it is said.

“Expressive meaning” has many different “meanings” if you should ask to explain the definition of.  The definition of expressive is showing feeling, or full of meaning. It is of, or relating to, or characterized by expression. It effectively conveys thoughts or feelings. Expressive meaning is full of meaning or feelings. It serves to express or indicate meaning or feeling by showing or communicating meaning or feeling effectively. For someone to be expressive it means they would be described by a person or by their behavior as expressive, meaning that their behavior clearly indicates their feelings or intentions. What’s expressive meaning? It is words like oops and ouch. Both of these words convey a certain kind of meaning, neither referring to things in the world.  Nor do they help determine conditions under which a sentence serves the immediate expression of subjective sensations, emotions, affections, evaluations or attitudes. Expressions with expressive meaning are called expressives. More examples of this is father vs dad, dad is less formal, different respect and different emotions… alcohol vs booze is more casual.. and eating vs devouring is different in respect and mannerism. Expressive language and wordplay are embodied in a special word class called “expressives”. This is a basic class of words that are distinct from verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in that they can’t be subjected to logical negation. They describe noises, colours, light patterns, shapes, movements, sensations, and emotions. There is a difference between expressive and propositional meaning. When a translation is described as ‘inaccurate’, it is often the propositional meaning that is being called into question. Expressive meaning can’t be judged as true or false. This is because expressive meaning relates to the speaker’s feeling or attitude rather than to what words and utterance refers to.

We all have those moments when we are sitting at the dinner table on Thanksgiving and that one family member brings up a controversial topic/conversation. When a guest (A) mentions something out of pocket or uncomfortable for example guess (A) may start up a conversation by talking about how marijuana should be legal in all states because it has helped the crime rate decrease and health benefits. While guest (B) may use the “maxim of manners’ ‘ to initiate clear, brief, and efficient use of the language to avoid inappropriate conversation guest (B)  states that marijuana will be harmful and corrupt the youth. This created a discrepancy between the two guests but the Grice Maxims of conversation proposed that every speaker of every language operates with several default assumptions about how conversation works to avoid “ambiguity and obscurity.” While the maxim of manners is important we can also use the maxims of conversation and point out if the conversation is lacking adequate evidence or if it does not say what we believe to be false. This way communication can be conveyed in an appropriate way and everyone can understand what is being said compared to what is being implicated. 

Thanksgiving dinner can be the perfect opportunity to implement Grice’s Maxims of Conversation. Out of the four principles, quality, quantity, relation, and manner, I believe that the most effective to use would be relation. This principle simply means to keep the what you are saying relevant to the conversation at hand and not to veer off into random topics. For example, if Person A brought up the pandemic and vaccine mandates and it seemed like it would cause controversy, Person B could violate this principle by asking them something completely different, like how they are doing at work or how their children are if they have any. This would steer the conversation away from a controversial subject and make it obvious that it is something that they would not like to discuss.

If person A was attempting to start a conversation on a topic that is not wanted, person B might break both the manner and quantity principles. They would most likely be overly brief or ambiguous if they say something like “Just stop” or “Enough”. Their response would be short due to their annoyance, so they wouldn’t be specific at all. They are breaking the quantity maxim because they are not providing enough information as to why they want them to stop talking. I think they would also be violating the first maxim under manner which states “Avoid obscurity of expression”. If they were to say “Enough” or “Just stop”, perhaps someone at the table would say “what?” or “what’s wrong?” It’s hard to understand what the person means when they speak in this manner as it is a very indirect and vague response.

We have all been there, where sitting around a table at a holiday with family, a controversial conversation is brought up. Others may agree with the topic and some may definitely not. If guest (A) brings up a topic that makes other feel uncomfortable, guest (B) may use the “manner” part of Grice’s maxims of conversation and say that the topic of the conversation is not welcome or appropriate for the situation. Grice’s maxim of conversation points out that conversations are cooperative. He proposes that every speaker of every language operates with several default assumptions about how conversations may work. These default assumptions include one principle- The cooperative principle and several other Maxims of Conversation. They are not the rules of good communication. “A deliberate deviation from these expectations can be used to communicate extra elements of meaning”. A speaker may communicate by obeying the maxims or by breaking them, as long as the hearer is able to recognize which strategy is being used.

For my final paper, I have chosen the topic of ‘vagueness’. I think firstly, I have to distinguish vagueness from ambiguity as they are close but not the same and are often times confused. I think I myself still get confused between the two and so working on this topic will help me have a clearer understanding. Indeterminacy is also associated with vagueness as it leaves room for question regarding the properties of a word. The word friend does not specify which gender the friend is, however the word ‘friend’ itself only holds one meaning, not several. This is why it is indeterminate, rather than ambiguous. I would like to go further in detail about vagueness and how people view certain words which have a different meaning depending on context. For example, if the verb tall was used, I could possibly survey students on how tall they think someone should be to be considered tall. I liked the example we used in class with shaquille o neill as he is one of the tallest men known, however when standing next to the statue of the world’s tallest man, he was shorter in comparison. Therefore, I think comparison is very important when discussing vagueness and would like to focus on this. I also think it’s interesting that vagueness ties into the topic of antonyms which we learned in class. When discussing scalar antonyms, there needs to be context in order to determine which side something is on. For example, there is either hot or cold, but there can also be somewhere in the middle which is warm or room temperature for example. Therefore, these antonyms can be considered vague as it also depends on context. How hot does something have to be to be considered hot and not warm, for example. The reason that simple antonyms are not vague is because they leave no room for question or context. If is a light switch is on, it physically cannot be off at the same time. Through my paper, I hope to tie these two topics together to explain the concept of vagueness and how important context is when speaking on something.