A Study On Hedges In Euphemism-A Perspective Of Pragmatics

Communication has become more and more frequent with the development of human society. As a communicative activity, everyday conversation not only can transmit information, but also can convey feelings and therefore has great influence on communicators'philosophy of life, their communicative strategies as well as their relations with others. Hence the study of everyday conversation is of great importance.It is generally believed that a good use of language should be brief, clear and precise, and vagueness, imprecision and ambiguity should be avoided. However, vagueness and imprecision are very common in everyday conversation because of the lack of conscious planning, which is embodied in the high frequency of hesitations, repetitions and pauses. Despite its vagueness, everyday communication is not prevented, so the good use of language involves not only precision but also hedges.Interest in hedges has arisen in a number of disciplines. Much of it suggests that hedge is present in a great deal of language use. In a broad sense, precision is comparative and hedge is ubiquitous. Studies on hedges from different angles have developed very quickly in recent years; however, few of them have focused on hedges in everyday conversation. So this thesis is to apply pragmatic principles and theories to the occurrence of hedge and reveal its functions in everyday conversation. By the analysis the author holds that linguistic vagueness is neither"bad"nor"good": what really counts is to use vague language appropriately in the context, which will benefit us to communicate effectively in cross-cultural communication.In order to give a clear illustration and explanation, the author applies another language phenomenon into the thesis, that is, euphemisms. Euphemisms are rich and diversified, which can reflect the characteristics and laws of a language. The existence of English euphemisms should abide by certain principles of language, whereas their use largely depends on the context and has a great effect on daily communication. Human communication is conducted in a particular context. Euphemism, as a common language phenomenon, is closely connected with context. Euphemism has been so far defined semantically and rhetorically. Considering the fact that an utterance in one context may be euphemistic and may not be in another and that euphemisms change with the lapse of time, we redefine euphemism from the pragmatic perspective. As a result, whether an expression is euphemism depends on the pragmatic context. Context can influence the choice and interpretation of euphemism. If participants have a thorough understanding of the context and use euphemisms appropriately, communication can be understandable and can be carried out smoothly. In communication euphemism functions as a way of avoiding taboo and showing politeness. In this sense, euphemism is a kind of polite language, which is characteristic of pleasantness, indirectness and implicitness. In most conversational exchanges, participants should abide by certain principles in order to achieve a successful communication. The Cooperative Principle and the Politeness Principle are two basic guiding principles in communication.These principles are the main theories used in this thesis. By means of some vivid examples, the author illustrates the relations between hedges and euphemisms. The thesis can be divided into five chapters: Chapter One is literature review. It illustrates the historical studies of hedge and euphemism. Chapter Two gives a general study of hedge and euphemism, which includes their definition, classification and forms. Chapter Three tries to further analyze vague phenomenon in euphemism, so that we can get a clear understanding of what hedge is and why it is useful in our daily life. In the last chapter, we can get some suggestions. Since hedge is a usual phenomenon in communication, we should learn to use it in the right occasion, especially in the respect of English learning students, who have a total different culture background. Only when we know those culture differences, can we communicate more properly and avoid pragmatic failures as many as possible.