A Study Of Pragmatic Vagueness In Chinese Officialdom Discourse

The Chinese officialdom discourse,different from the Chinese official discourse,typically refers to the red-taped,stereotyped and empty discourse that some officials deliberately use in face of accidents or crises.It is typically characterized by vagueness,ambiguity,obliqueness and indirectness,for the purpose of evading the problem and avoiding the responsibility of the official.The Chinese official discourse used by the government departments,thanks to the effective anti-corruption campaign,the increasing political transparency,and the media development,is becoming increasingly clear and distinct.The officially issued information is conveyed in a more accurate and transparent way.In spite of this positive trend of the Chinese official discourse,the Chinese officialdom discourse still exists to some extent in our country.Thus,it is extremely essential and practically significant to make a study of the Chinese officialdom discourse in order to help people to recognize its nature and harm so as to reduce or even eliminate its use.Verschueren's Linguistic Adaptation Theory holds the opinion that using language is a dynamic process of making language choices,which can be realized because of the variability and adaptability of the language.Accordingly,the pragmatic vagueness of the Chinese officialdom discourse is a deliberate pragmatic choice of language for the purpose of evading the responsibility.Thus,the thesis,under the framework of the Linguistic Adaptation Theory,expounds systematically on the pragmatic vagueness of the Chinese officialdom discourse in terms of its pragmatic variability and adaptability.To put it in detail,the variability of the pragmatic language is shown in the use of the lexical and syntactic devices to realize the pragmatic vagueness,while the adaptability of the Chinese officialdom discourse is demonstrated in its pragmatic choices to adjust to the mental motivation,the social context and the physical context.All the examples in the thesis are derived from the news reports in the contemporary mainstream media in China.The thesis consists of five chapters.The first chapter gives a brief introduction of the research background,objective and methodology.The second chapter makes a review of the relevant research on the Chinese officialdom discourse,its pragmatic vagueness and Verschueren's Linguistic Adaptation Theory.The third and the fourth chapters,as the main body of the thesis,make a systematical discussion of the pragmatic vagueness of Chinese officialdom discourse.Chapter Three makes a detailed analysis of the variability of its pragmatic vagueness — how it realizes its pragmatic vagueness at the lexical and the syntactic levels.At the lexical level,the vague words in scope and degree are illustrated in terms of referential vagueness and quantity vagueness.At the syntactic level the pragmatic vagueness is realized by moderating tone,shifting a focus,shifting the responsibility to the third party and divergent thinking.Chapter Four makes a profound analysis of the adaptability of the Chinese officialdom discourse,that is,how the deliberate linguistic choice in the Chinese officialdom discourse is made to adapt to the mental,social and physical contexts in order to cover up the truth,maintain the authority and make a self-protection.In the mental context,the Chinese officialdom discourse achieves the pragmatic vagueness mainly by adopting the strategies of self-protection and politeness.In the social context,the pragmatic vagueness of the Chinese officialdom discourse is achieved to adapt to the social and official conventions by using the official routine to avoid sensitive topics with the attempt of appeasing the sentiment of the general public.In the physical context,the Chinese officialdom discourse is used to relieve the pressure of the practical time or space to achieve the pragmatic vagueness.Chapter Five makes a conclusion of the major findings,significance and limitations of the research.The systematic study of the pragmatic vagueness of the Chinese officialdom language provides a brand-new perspective for the study of it,casts an insight into its nature and its harm,and helps reduce or even eliminate the Chinese officialdom discourse.