On Redundancy And Its Positive Functions

Redundancy refers to excess information in communication, that is, the amount of information that exceeds the minimum amount of information which is needed to guarantee reasonable understanding. Redundancy is a prevailing phenomenon in language as well as one of the controversial topics in the field of linguistics. With the support of affluent linguistic evidence and some relevant theories, the author of this paper holds that redundancy is not only a linguistic reality but also a communicative necessity in many cases. This paper aims at discussing this phenomenon in order to have a clear knowledge of the nature and the positive functions of redundancy in English.The paper consists of six parts:In the introduction of this paper the definition of redundancy is introduced. The significance of studying this topic is also presented.In Chapter One we review some theoretical achievements made on redundancy. According to Information Theory, redundancy is counted as a means of overcoming noise. Nida, a famous American scholar, believes that redundancy reflects predictability in language. Chinese scholar Qian Guanlian thinks that the use of redundancy is motivated by communicative goals and that the use of appropriate redundancy can help achieve communicative goals. Wang Hong classifies redundancy into repetition, circumlocution, verbal fillers and phatic communion. We hold that redundancy is a way to achieve certain communicative effects, and appropriate redundancy can play a positive role in language practice.Chapter Two and Chapter Three are the most important part of this paper, which expound some positive functions of redundancy from two aspects. Chapter Two mainly deals with pragmatic functions of redundancy. Pragmatically, redundancy has much to do with the Cooperative Principle, politeness and Speech Act Theory. Proper use of redundancy can help observe Cooperative Principle on one hand, and flout Cooperative Principle for special implicature on the other hand.Besides, redundancy contributes to politeness of language. Redundancy is also often employed in indirect speech acts. Moreover, redundancy can achieve humorous effects, remove ambiguity of a sentence and perform phatic function. Rhetorically, repetition, a kind of redundancy as well as a kind of figure of speech, is widely used in literary works to achieve different effects. In Chapter Three two types of repetition and their functions are discussed.Chapter Four is devoted to a brief analysis of the factors that may affect the degree of redundancy. First, context will influence the degree of redundancy. Since we don't repeat information which has already existed in context, context has a screening function on information. Second, different functions language performs will lead to different degree of redundancy. The third factor is style. The more formal the style is, the more redundant the language will be. Moreover, some social factors, such as race and sex, also affect the degree of redundancy.A conclusion is drawn at last. It is believed that the use of redundancy is a kind of linguistic choice made by people in communication for various purposes, and it is pointed out that the most important thing concerning redundancy is to use it appropriately. Appropriate use of redundancy is a communicative necessity.