Semantico-pragmatic account of vagueness as an implicit and persuasive/manipulative strategy

What is it about?

Vagueness characterizes almost every verbal exchange, yet we are mostly unaware of it, right? This book specifically shows some very common persuasive uses of vagueness that aim at convincing addresses of some questionable content in a deceitful way, and explains why this is the case from the cognitive point of view (i.e., it explains why our brain likes vague expressions so much!). It also presents a very updated analysis of how vagueness is manipulatively used in persuasive text types, such as political discourse and advertising.

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Photo by Matthew Fassnacht on Unsplash

Photo by Matthew Fassnacht on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This work helps people become aware of the vagueness that pervades every verbal exchange they experience and, perhaps more importantly, it presents a new, interdisciplinary model about vagueness as an implicit strategy. Thanks to original insights from linguistics, discourse analysis and psycholinguistics, it explains (and shows through a lot of contemporary public discourse examples) why vague expressions are so effective persuasive and manipulative communicative means, that is to say, how it can be used to convince people of some questionable content they would otherwise not (fully) endorse. This is something every citizen participating in public life (though voting or purchasing decisions, for example) should be made aware of.