Analysis Of Vague Language And Its Pragmatic Functions

Vagueness, an important attribute of language, has been a constant topic of linguistic research. As vague language is widely employed in people's daily communication, laws, advertisements, literature, and news media and even in science and technology, it is necessary for one to understand and manipulate vagueness of language. This thesis is an attempt to be of some help for one to meet this requirement. By introducing some basic notions relative to vague language and its theoretical basis, analyzing vague language from different perspectives, and expounding its pragmatic functions in different fields, this thesis tries to fulfill its purpose of depicting the significance of understanding and manipulating vague language. It should be mentioned that because of the author's limited research and the diverse existing opinions on what vague language is really about, this thesis is to mainly deal with vague language caused by vague terms and its pragmatic functions.Chapter one is a brief introduction to the vague language by describing the reflection of vagueness in various aspects of language.Chapter two is a brief introduction to the presence of vagueness in language by describing the reflection of vagueness in various aspects of language. Including the definition and source of vagueness, the distinction between vagueness and ambiguity, fuzzy set theory and prototype model, which might help one to get a general idea of vagueness of language.Chapter three is the further analysis of vague language from different perspectives: first, from the perspective of vague terms: the most prominent demonstration of vagueness of language, describing types of vague terms and emphasizing hedges; second, from the perspective of meaning and context, explaining their important role in understanding vague language; last, from the perspective of pragmatic principles, analyzing the uses of vague language through two communicative principles: Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle.Chapter four is a further analysis of certain aspects of pragmatic functions of vague language by expounding its usage in a number of fields, such as in people's daily communication, laws and advertisements, among which the first two cases are mainly dealt with in this thesis.Chapter five is the conclusion of the thesis. It points out the significance of better understanding and manipulating vague language, the limitation of this thesis, and further research possibility.