Pragmatic Vagueness As A Strategy

The present study focuses on the use of pragmatic vagueness in the setting of PRC Foreign Ministry press conference as an intentional communicative strategy. Constructing its conceptual framework based on Verschueren's Adaptation Theory, the thesis adopts a qualitative research method to analyze the use of pragmatic vagueness in the data collected from the spokesperson's remarks in the press conference of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The investigation is mainly concerned about variability, adaptability and function of pragmatic vagueness in foreign ministry spokesperson's remarks.According to the understanding of Verschueren's "variability" of language, it is true that pragmatic vagueness plays its roles in actual situations by relying on various linguistic structures. The study generalizes two-level linguistic structures for the realization of pragmatic vagueness for the spokesperson to successfully manage his or her remarks in the press conference, namely, lexical level and sentential level whose specific linguistic choices are included in each level, such as vagueness by deictics, hedges, general/abstract wording, understatement, metalanguage, indirectness and meaning inconsistency.Variability of pragmatic vagueness in the spokesperson's remarks shows how the spokesperson uses it during the press conference while "adaptability" of pragmatic vagueness demonstrates why pragmatic vagueness is employed by the spokesperson. In this research, adaptation is realized on condition that the use of pragmatic vagueness should satisfy such corresponding contextual factors as communicative norms and diplomatic tactics. Further adaptation will be introduced in each area, such as adaptation to needs of saving face and maintaining smooth international relations.After the analysis of the "variability" and "adaptability" of pragmatic...