Approximators and approximatives. on how vagueness and approximation intertwine

Abstract

This work distinguishes approximation from vagueness. From a semasiological point of view, I argue that certain forms like approximately differ from other ones like almost. I consider that these forms correspond to two different types of vagueifiers: those vagueifiers of the type-approximately and those of the type-almost. I call the former ones approximators and the latter ones approximatives. Approximators suspend the truth-value assignment of a given utterance and prototypically denote vagueness, while approximatives trigger a negative scope and involve the phenomenon here defined as approximation. Although both phenomena cover different functional domains, approximation and vagueness are akin, as the semantic implications of their forms reveal.