{{Short description|Narrative with incomplete or imprecise description}} '''Vague language''' is a choice of narrative in which the degree of accuracy, certainty, or clarity in a description of a situation or thing is less than it may be possible.<ref>Hugh Trappes-Lomax, [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230627420_7"Vague language as a means of self-protective avoidance: Tension management in conference talks"], In: ''Vague Language Explored''</ref>
A thorough treatment of vague language, including placeholder words, was provided by Joanna Channell.<ref name=jocha>Joanna Channell, ''Vague Language'', 1994 [https://archive.org/details/vaguelanguage0000chan readable in the Internet Archive]</ref> In particular, she demonstrates that dictionaries often provide inadequate definitions and explanations of vague lexical items.<ref>[https://academic.oup.com/ijl/article-abstract/10/2/176/963658?redirectedFrom=PDF ''Vague language'' book review]</ref>
==See also== *Hedge (linguistics) ==References== {{reflist}}
==Literature== *[https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230627420 ''Vague Language Explored''], 2007 *[https://books.google.com/books?id=P4ukCgAAQBAJ Communicating through Vague Language: A Comparative Study of L1 and L2 Speakers], 2016 *[https://books.google.com/books?id=UhwkEQAAQBAJ& ''Vagueness, Ambiguity, and All the Rest: Linguistic and pragmatic approaches''], 2024
Category:Linguistics terminology Category:Ambiguity
{{ling-stub}}