Pragmatlec Vagueness-a Result Of Lingulsgtic Adaptation To Context

Vagueness is one of the inherent natures of human language. Vague language is auniversal phenomenon in our daily life, which should not be simply regarded as somethingbad. Pragmatic vagueness, the actual use of vague language in communication, is generallyregarded as the skillful use of vague language to convey more than one indefinite meaningsby communicators in order to achieve certain purposes. This communicative strategy plays animportant role in our daily communication.This paper will focus on the production of pragmatic vagueness in specific contexts. Toachieve this aim, the following questions will be dealt with:(1) What is pragmatic vagueness?(2) What possible linguistic forms can be chosen to produce vague effects?(3) What principles is the choice of pragmatic vagueness based on in verbalcommunication?(4) How different contexts can influence the choice of vague expressions?To answer them, the production of pragmatic vagueness are explained in the frameworkof Verscueren's Linguistic Adaptability Theory. For him, using language is actually thecontinuous making of linguistic choices. The possibility of making choices for human beingslie s in three natures of language: variability, negotiability and adaptability. The study willfocus on four aspects including language users, physical world, social world, and mentalworld to investigate the contextual adaptation in the using process of pragmatic vagueness.The answers bing seeked mainly include the following aspects:(1) Pragmatic vagueness consists of a continuous linguistic choice-making;(2) In accordance with the variability of language, the choice of vague language possiblyhappens on various linguistic levels: the phonetic level, lexical level, syntactic level anddiscourse level.(3) Due to the negotiability of language, pragmatic principles will influence the choice oflanguage by human beings, of which vague language is employed through the negotiation ofcertain pragmatic principles.(4) Vague expressions are produced as a result of adaptation to different contextsincluding language users, the physical world, social world and mental world.In the process of probing into the above questions, the conclusion the study tries to get is that the use of pragmatic vagueness is the result of linguistic adaptation to context at last,through our study on different vague forms and on the high flexibility of vague languageunder the direction of necessary pragmatic principles.On the whole, the qualitative research method is used to study the strategic use ofpragmatic vagueness, employing Linguistic Adaptability Theory with the assistance oflingustic examples to expound the role that contextual adaptation plays in the production ofpragmatic vagueness. The study will have theoretical implications as well as practical ones.Theoretically speaking, Verschueren's"Adaptability Theory"provides a relative newperspective to study pragmatic vagueness. Practically speaking, it will enable us to use thepragmatic vagueness scientifically to achieve certain communicative needs.