An Analysis Of Vague Language In Chinese Conflict Talk

The study of vague language has been a fascinating topic for philosophers and linguists.In recent years,the research content and application area of vague language have been further expanded.In a narrow sense,conflict talk refers to a type of speech act and it can also be viewed as a type of interaction in a broad sense.Conflict is a common social phenomenon and it is also a special communicative model.Vague language is frequently used and plays a significant role in conflict talk.Nevertheless,little research on vague language in Chinese conflict talk has been conducted both at home and abroad.In the present study,the author takes quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the application features,pragmatic functions of vague language in Chinese conflict talk and reasons for using vague language in Chinese conflict talk based on the framework of Face Theory,Impoliteness Model and Linguistic Adaptation Theory.The Chinese conflict talk of the present study is selected from the television series Tiger Mom Cat Dad.The television series tell the frequent family conflict as well as emotional conflict between the couple and among family members due to their different educational concepts towards the children.There are numerous vague words or expressions in Chinese conflict talk from this television series,which play an essential role in characters' relations and in communicative effects.The author collects and rewrites 104 pieces of Chinese conflict talks from Tiger Mom Cat Dad based on the definition of conflict talk by Honda.Then according to Zhang Qiao's classification of vague language,the author identifies,marks and classifies the vague language in each Chinese conflict talk.The total number and percentage of six types' vague language are carefully calculated.Besides,the author calculates the number and percentage of six types' vague language in Chinese conflict talk between the couple,among family members,among friends and among colleagues.By analyzing the statistical result,the author finds out that vague language is frequently used in Chinese conflict talk and there are dissimilarities in different contexts and among different participants.In Chinese conflict talk,the application of vague language can mitigate conflict,save one's face and others' face,show one's position,be humorous and eliminate embarrassment.The frequent use of vague language in Chinese conflict talk reflects people's need for adapting to internal world and outside world.The present study analyzes vague language in Chinese conflict talk,which contributes to people's understanding of vague language.Besides,it enables people to explore in depth the characteristics of Chinese,understand Chinese social culture deeply,and provide some research findings that foreign scholars have neglected.Better understanding of Chinese conflict talk can facilitate the communicators' choices of vague language for different purposes and promote the positive interaction of interpersonal relationships.