The Research On Pragmatic Vagueness And Its Functions

Vagueness is one of the basic properties of language. There are some factors thatcan lead to the emergence of vague language, such as the uncertainty of the categoriesand properties of the objects, the differences of people’s identities and thecontradiction between the limited language symbols and infinite objective things.Vague linguistics is an emerging discipline, which is also an importantinterdisciplinary subject. Scholars have been studying on it since1960s and1970s.The research methods of this subject are mainly based on Zadeh’s fuzzy set theory.Linguists are mostly concerned about the static study of vague language in thevocabulary and semantic levels. They pay little attention to the dynamic study ofpragmatic vagueness, that is, the study of pragmatic vagueness in a particular context.In fact, pragmatic vagueness is a language phenomenon as well as a communicativestrategy. The so-called communicative strategy refers to the use of pragmaticvagueness is derived from a subjective intent in verbal communication.Linguists have different definitions about pragmatic vagueness. The causes ofpragmatic vagueness are the focus of attention for some experts and scholars. For theanalysis of the causes of pragmatic vagueness from several aspects, such as sound,meaning, sentence and context, the scholars found that pragmatic vagueness isubiquitous in verbal communication. J. Thomas had detailed classification ofpragmatic vagueness. Some Chinese linguists, such as professor He Ziran, also hadpragmatic vagueness classified. In addition to classification, scholars haveconcentrated on the relationship between pragmatic vagueness and some pragmatictheories. These theories include dynamic pragmatics, linguistic adaptation theory,speech act theory, cooperative principle and relevance theory. Jenny Thomas believes that there is a process in the production of meaning, and some features are involved inthe process, such as context. Some scholars use dynamic pragmatics methods toanalyze pragmatic vagueness. Verschueren’s linguistic adaptation theory is of greatsignificance in the study of pragmatic vagueness. Verschueren believes that languagehas relationship with society, the acquisition of people as well as some culturalfeatures. It is a process of choice when using language. The choice is based on somefactors, which includes "variability","negotiability", and "adaptability".About the functions of pragmatic vagueness, scholars generally believe that itplays a positive role in verbal communication. Pragmatic vagueness reflects"politeness principle" and "face-saving theory", there are inevitable relationshipsbetween pragmatic vagueness and politeness principle as well as face-saving theory,pragmatic vagueness strategy makes the words become polite and saves the speakerand the hearer’s faces. In addition, pragmatic vagueness improves the flexibility andappropriateness of the discourse, improves the accuracy of the language and createshumorous effect. There are also some negative effects of pragmatic vagueness.The comprehensive and systematic study of pragmatic vagueness phenomenonand strategy is of great significance for verbal communication. This thesis is a casestudy of the dialogues from Oscar-winning movies, in order to analyze pragmaticvagueness in verbal communication. Qualitative research is the main research method.Some examples are used to illustrate pragmatic vagueness and its functions.