The Pragmatic Analysis Of Hedges In Chinese Narrative Talk Show "the Date With Lu Yu"

Although precision is usually advocated by the interlocutors, vagueness is also considered as a significant feature of natural languages and plays a crucial role in the communication. With regard to various forms of vagueness, the variety of hedges is considered as a primary representation. Ever since the notion of hedges was put forward by Lakoff in1972, many scholars have conducted relevant researches in such domains as news reports and scientific journals and they have promoted the development of fuzzy linguistics. Based on the predecessors'achievements, the present study intends to analyze hedges in the mass media discourse in a pragmatic perspective.The innovative aspect of the present research lies in the data which are selected from one of the representative colloquial Chinese narrative programs—"The Date with Lu Yu". Meanwhile, the descriptive method makes the whole study valid and reasonable, and the theoretical basis of this study is Adaptation Theory which was proposed by Belgian linguist Verschueren at the end of20th century. He considers Adaptation Theory as a comprehensive theory which comprises social, cognitive and cultural factors. Furthermore, both choice-making and adaptability apply to any linguistic form, including hedges. Moreover, any pragmatic study should abide by four dimensions—contextual correlates of adaptability, structural objects of adaptability, dynamics of adaptability and salience of the adaptation process. The present research is focused on the first dimension which is manifested by the adaptation of hedges in "The Date with LuYu".The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one introduces practical aims and significance of the research and some existing research questions; Chapter two summarizes the reasons for vagueness in natural languages and outlines some definitions and classifications of hedges. The pragmatic classification of hedges which is proposed by linguists Prince et al. and Chinese linguist He Ziran is adopted by the present research, including adaptors, rounders, plausibility shields and attribution shields. Meanwhile, some characteristics of Chinese talk show programs are summed up in this chapter; Chapter three expatiates on two elementary components of Adaptation Theory—choice-making and adaptability and lays a solid foundation for the following analysis; Chapter four outlines the feasibility of the present research and analyzes how Chinese hedges in some samples of "The Date with Lu Yu" adapt to contextual correlates of the program; Chapter five makes some conclusions of this study and offers some suggestions.The ultimate purpose is to let language learners realize that various linguistic forms of hedges are the embodiments of adaptability to contextual correlates, and enhance their pragmatic competence of facilitating the conversation by comprehending underlying mechanism and pragmatic functions of hedges.