Interpreting Fuzzy Language In The Documentary Blair—Problems And Strategies

Fuzziness is an essential feature of natural language. Fuzzy language is widely used because certain needs of communication on special occasions must be met. Therefore, it is the frequently encountered source language that interpreters must learn to handle.Interpreting fuzzy language calls for prudence in interpreters. On one hand, they must work hard on most occasions to maintain the level of fuzziness in the source language. On the other hand, sometimes they must work out how information hidden behind the fuzzy language could be made explicit to facilitate communication.Theoretically guided by linguistics, this thesis aims to reveal the problems and explore the interpretation strategies through a case analysis of the fuzzy language as it is used in the political documentary Blair. This thesis classifies fuzzy language into four categories, namely evasive fuzzy language, figurative fuzzy language, euphemistic fuzzy language and abstract fuzzy language. With a view to coping with different kinds of fuzzy language, this thesis argues that the strategy of literal interpretation(interpreting fuzzy source language into fuzzy target language) can be used in interpreting evasive and figurative fuzzy languages because in these cases fuzziness is intended by speakers as part of their communicative acts and that the strategy of free interpretation(interpreting fuzzy source language into clear target language) can be used in interpreting euphemistic and abstract fuzzy languages in which the real message is often more important than speakers’ communicative attitudes that lie hidden in the understatements and abstractions. It is hoped that the analysis of some typical examples cited and case-specific solutions put forward in this thesis will be of some value to interpreters for similar tasks.