Study On Pragmatic Vagueness In Diplomatic Language From The Perspective Of The Relevance-adaptation Theory

"Precision of a language is the basis of fine tradition. "--AristotelesPeople have been trying for long to pursue precise expression and to search for void vague expression. Precision is regarded as the foundation of expressing language's esthetics, brilliance, and vividness. However, the boundary between precision and vagueness is rather complicated. Since vagueness is one of nature features in language, a lot of researches related to linguistic vagueness have been conducted in many fields, such as daily conversation, public speeches, political conference, literature, business, advertisement, etc. At the same time, vagueness also plays an essential role in diplomatic language.In the present study, pragmatic vagueness is defined:in linguistic communication, the addressor deliberately employs implicit, ambiguous or equivocal ways of expressing ideas under the condition that he or she has the ability to deliver them in explicit, unambiguous or unequivocal manner in order to satisfy certain communicative needs. This type of language phenomenon thus formed and communicative strategy adopted in this case by the addressor is entitled pragmatic vagueness.Generally, diplomatic language is a formal, persuasive, conservative and cautious language. It is such a language that demands politeness, flexibility, generality as well as terseness. Diplomatic language is used to announce the outcome of a talk, to deal with sensitive questions and to harmonize the atmosphere. Vagueness successfully meet the demand of the diplomatic language. Therefore, the pragmatic vagueness used in diplomatic circle, especially in English speaking press conferences, public speeches, arouses the interest of the author and then made the object of the present research.The theoretical framework is the newly proposed pragmatic model: Relevance-Adaptation Theory, which claims that verbal communication aims at seeking optimal relevance. The seeking of relevance results from the inter-adaptation between linguistic structures and contextual correlates. And the seeking of relevance is a dynamic process in which both the addressor and addressee have to make efforts to achieve a successful communication. The research methodology in the present study is a combination of data-driven approach, such as descriptive, qualitative and quantitative methods, with the theory-driven approach.With regard to the Relevance-Adaptation Theory, the communicative process engages the participation of certain cognitive contexts, including series of choosing, extending, adjusting and adapting certain contextual presumptions. In this sense, human's cognitive process in communication can be revealed under this framework. In other words, the communication can be effective and successful if the cognitive contexts can be relevantly adapted.The focus of the present study is on the use of pragmatic vagueness in the setting of the U.S. Department of State press conferences as an intentional communicative strategy. The study is significant in the following aspects:it may shed some new light on the understanding of diplomatic language and vagueness feature of human language as a whole by studying the use of pragmatic vagueness in press conferences; then, it is conducive to the further researches of Relevance-Adaptation Theory by seeing how much explanatory power it has in the present research; further more, it may give U.S. some help in search of a better interpretation of the U.S. foreign policy. The investigation is mainly concerned about variability, functions, and mechanism of pragmatic vagueness in the U.S. Department of State spokesperson's words.The paper generalizes three levels of linguistic structures for the realization of pragmatic vagueness employed by the spokesperson in press conferences, namely, lexical level, sentential level and discourse level. The means of the lexical level include pragmatic vagueness by deixis, hedges, general/fuzzy wording and understatement. The means at the sentential level are conditional clauses, negative clauses and meaning inconsistent clauses.Adaptation of pragmatic vagueness demonstrates why the spokesperson employs pragmatic vagueness. In the setting of diplomatic spokesperson's press conferences, the stable contextual factors that the spokesperson should adapt to include communicative norms and diplomatic tactics. The former includes maintaining good image of the spokesperson and satisfying the addressee's need of face-saving. The latter covers maintaining good bilateral relations and maintaining good image of the country in international community.Pragmatic vagueness has positive functions in press conferences, which is consistent with the claim of Relevance-Adaptation Theory:the language of the addressor achieves a balance between processing effort and contextual effects. The major functions of pragmatic vagueness include:being polite, euphemism, being humorous, self-protection, and serving for political interests.The thesis makes a trial study at the mechanism of pragmatic vagueness in both production and interpretation. Pragmatic vagueness is a process of relevance-adaptation in both production and interpretation, which means that the addressor adapts his linguistic choice to the contextual correlates and chooses pragmatic vagueness consistent with the principle of relevance. And the addressee adapts the context to the linguistic choice of the addressor and infers the interpretation consistent with the principle of relevance.