Let a sentence be second-level indeterminate just in case it has different truth-values under different acceptable assignments of semantic values, and let a sentence be first-level indeterminate just in case there are acceptable assignments under which the sentence lacks a classical, determinate truth-value. Many theorists of vagueness take for granted that the indeterminacy with which vaguenes...

The emergence in recent years of initiatives like the Linked Open Data (LOD) has led to a significant increase in the amount of structured semantic data on the Web. In this paper we argue that the shareability and wider reuse of such data can very often be hampered by the existence of vagueness within it, as this makes the data’s meaning less explicit. Moreover, as a way to reduce this problem,...

The emergence in the last years of initiatives like the Linked Open Data (LOD) has led to a significant increase in the amount of structured semantic data on the Web. Central role to this development has been played by ontologies, as these enable the representation of real world domains in an explicit and formal way and, thus, the production of commonly understood and shareable semantic data. N...

In an interesting experimental study, Bonini et al. (1999) present partial support for truth-gap theories of vagueness. We say this despite their claim to find theoretical and empirical reasons to dismiss gap theories and despite the fact that they favor an alternative, epistemic account, which they call ‘vagueness as ignorance’. We present yet more experimental evidence that supports gap theor...

This paper investigates the way that lexical semantic properties of linguistic expressions influence vagueness, focusing on the interpretation of the positive (unmarked) form of gradable adjectives. I begin by developing a semantic analysis of the positive form of ‘relative’ gradable adjectives, expanding on previous proposals by further motivating a semantic basis for vagueness and by precisel...

Bonini et al. [2] present psychological data that they take to support an ‘epistemic’ account of how vague predicates are used in natural language. We argue that their data more strongly supports a ‘gap’ theory of vagueness, and that their arguments against gap theories are flawed. Additionally, we present more experimental evidence that supports gap theories, and argue for a semantic/pragmatic...

Ontologies play a crucial role in the development of the Semantic Web as a means for defining shared terms in Web resources. They are formulated in web ontology languages, which are based on expressive description logics. Significant research efforts are recently directed towards representing and reasoning with uncertainty and vagueness in ontologies for the Semantic Web. In this paper, we give...

Context is a prominent theme in accounts of the semantics of vagueness. Contextual theories of vagueness have been motivated in part by a desire to disarm skeptical arguments that make use of vagueness; another motive is the hope that they might help to resolve the Sorites Paradox. This paper is intended as part of a larger project, which aims at describing and comparing the leading theories th...

Vagueness is a pervasive feature of natural languages that is challenging semantic theories and theories of language evolution alike. We focus here on the latter, addressing the challenge of how to account for the emergence of vague meanings in signaling game models of language evolution. We suggest that vagueness is a natural property of meaning that evolves when boundedly rational agents repe...