Pragmatic Analysis Of Vagueness In Language

Vagueness, also called as cosmetic words, is not only a social lingualphenomenon, but also a cultural phenomenon. It is the embodiment of culture inlanguage. Vagueness is also a proper language pattern which people created in socialcommunication in order to make communication effective. It plays an important rolein social communication. It can help to avoid hurting the other party’s feeling. Itmakes the human relationship in communication go smooth and helps to save face ofcommunicators. If people make full use of vagueness human communication can beaccelerated and facilitated. In our daily life, to avoid embarrassment, some things orbehaviors cannot be expressed directly. So, to express them asks for the use oflanguage vagueness to achieve the purpose of communication. The study has shownthat in the world of very common cross-cultural communication, vagueness is widelyused in all aspects of social lives. To understand and master the effective use ofvagueness in social communication can help people to reduce pragmatic failures andfrictions brought by culture conflicts so as to promote communication.From the angle of pragmatics and culture and based on the theory ofCo-operative Principle, Politeness Principle and face theory, this thesis analyses andstudies the extensive use of Chinese and English vagueness in every social filed bythe method of illustration and analysis. Chinese and English vagueness about how toviolate the Co-operative Principle and observe the Politeness Principle; and the thesisalso discusses the widely application of Chinese and English vagueness underCo-operative Principle and Politeness Principle in the fields of daily communication,business negotiation, news reporting and diplomatic language. Thus we can see thatonly when vagueness is properly used can the degree of politeness be well adjustedand the personal civilization and personal cultivation be well manifested. Therefore,the injury to interlocutors can be decreased to the minimal extent and communion canbe further improved to achieve the successful communication. Therefore, on the basis of the research results of predecessors, this thesis mainlyexplores the effective application of Chinese and English vagueness underCo-operative Principle, Politeness Principle and Face theory from the perspective ofthe pragmatic analysis. It is found that the proper use of vagueness can reflect witsand humor; create a harmonious atmosphere; save face; avoid direct expression; beeuphemistic and self-protecting.