On Expressing Vague Quantification and Scalar Implicatures in the Logic of Partial Information
In this paper, we use the logic of partial information to re-examine some early analyses of vague quantifiers in French such as quelques,peu,beaucoup that are found in particular in the work of O. Ducrot [2]. Our approach is based on the paradigm offered by the logical formalization of the sorites paradox. We claim that this paradox offers a general scheme along which the argumentation structure of all vague quantifiers in French may be expressed. We offer a variational principle approximating Grice's maxims in the case of vague quantification.