Research On Pragmatic Functions Of Vague Language In Doctor-Patient Dialogues

The study of vague language is a newly-born discipline which originated from the mid 1960s, taking L.A Zadeh's. Fuzzy Sets as its landmark. Since then, scholars at home and abroad carried out extensive researches on the vague nature of language from different perspectives, say, semantics, lexicology, psychology, cognitive science and pragmatics.In recent years, pragmatic functions of vague language attract more and more attention from scholars, and much work has been done in this aspect. Pragmatic study of vague language covers a much broader scope than semantic study of vague language. Generally speaking, any concepts that can be used to show vagueness strategically in communication can be taken as suitable object for the study of vague language from the perspective of pragmatics. As He Ziran (2000) said, the key is to make out how some unclear notions show vague meaning pragmatically. The research on pragmatic functions of vague language is also titled the study of pragmatic vagueness, i.e. to discover what kind of pragmatic effects vague expressions can have on communications.The research is a qualitative study which focuses on the pragmatic functions of vague language in a specific context-hospitals and clinics. In order to present an analysis of pragmatic functions of vague language as exhaustive as possible, pragmatic theories such as Grice's CP, Verschueren's Adaptation Theory and Leech's Politeness Principle are made as the theoretical foundation of the study.The whole thesis is composed of four chapters apart from introduction and conclusion.The first chapter is the literature review of the study of pragmatic vagueness. In this part, key definitions and relevant works on vague language are introduced.The second chapter is the detailed account of pragmatic vagueness. In this chapter, hypthesized pragmatic functions of vague language based on pragmatic theories are generalized. While explaining, copious examples are supplied to serve the argument.The third chapter is the detailed analysis of pragmatic vagueness found in medical environment. In this chapter, the research method of the study is presented which is followed by the detailed analysis of vague expressions used in doctor-patient dialogues from the angles of doctors and patients respectively.The fourth chapter has the findings of the study. In addition, discussion about the findings and research questions, and implications derived from the study are included in the chapter.