| Since the concept and theory of fuzziness was proposed by L.A.Zadeh in 1965, much has been done in systematic and descriptive study of vague language, especially on the aspect of semantics. However, little interpretive study on vague language has been made. Business English has always been required to be clear and concrete, therefore the study of vague language in the field has long been neglected. Due to the above two aspects, the present study has centered its attention on the employment of vague language in English business correspondence from a pragmatic perspective with an attempt to explore the following three problems: (1) When is vague language employed in English business correspondence? (2) Why is vague language employed in English business correspondence? (3) What specific functions does vague language perform in English business correspondence?Based on the definition and delimitation of vague language in the present study and the analysis of the data from the articles or books on business communication and correspondence, it is found that vague language definitely exists in business correspondence. To some extent, it can be said that the use of vague language can distinguish the classification of business letters, i.e. the employment frequency of vague language can represent more or less the business letter types. We have found that, by using linguistic adaptation theory, vague language is used to adapt to contextual influences and psychological motivations. Through the pragmatic analysis of vague language in English business correspondence, theoretically, this thesis tries to reveal that the use of vague language is a result of linguistic choice and pragmatic adaptation. The analysis has proposed that vague language performs four functions in business correspondence: (1) helping with proper use of business language; (2) enhancing the flexibility of business language; (3) making the writing more polite and persuasive; (4) ensuring self-protection. |
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