摘 要

模糊语言是指说话者在特定语境中使用难以准确界定的，含糊的或间接的话语，包括诸如言外行为或产生的言外之力等一些现象。语用模糊是指从语言使用和理解的角度来看语言的不确定性，由于语境的不同，一个句子中可以有多种理解，模糊语言可以表达言外之力，本文介绍了在外交场合下恰当使用模糊语言的策略。本文以2018年3月23日中国外交部例行新闻发布会为例，阐明模糊语言的功能和意义。

关键词：模糊语言；关联理论；交际原则；外交场合；语境

Contents

1.Introduction...................................................................................................................1

1.1 A brief introduction of vague language from the perspective of pragmatics.........1

1.2 The current situation of vague language in China.................................................2

1.3 The significance of vague language study on diplomatic occasions.......………..3

2.Demonstration...............................................................................................................3

2.1 Relevance Theory...................................................................................................4

2.1.1 The communicative principle of Relevance Theory.......................................5

2.1.2 Relevance Theory and vague language..........................................................6

2.2 Vague language on diplomatic occasions..............................................................7

2.2.1 Strategies to the use of vague language..........................................................8

2.2.1.1Employing the vague language according to context...............................8

2.2.1.2Employing vague language based on self-consciousness........................8

2.2.2 Function of vague language............................................................................9

2.2.2.1Offering the right amount of information.................................................9

2.2.2.2 Expressing indefinite information..........................................................10

2.2.2.3 Maintaining face and politeness.............................................................13

3. Conclusion................................................................................................................14

Bibliography...................................................................................................................15

An Analysis of Vague Language on Diplomatic Occasions

1. Introduction

1.1 A brief introduction of vague language from the perspective of pragmatics

According to the Language Adaptation Theory proposed by （1998：36）, language has variability, negotiability and adaptability. It is precisely because of these characteristics of language that the process of people using language is actually based on the language or outside of the language to determine how to make use of and understand the language. The arbitrariness of language, the ambiguity of human thinking, and the uncertainty of context can inevitably lead to vagueness in the outcome of language choice. This is the objective reason for the emergence of pragmatic vagueness. Since vagueness is the nature of natural language, it is very common and indispensable that there exist vague expressions in inter-personal communication. There are two definitions of vague languages from the angles of linguistics and psychology. Deese（1974:65）put forward that vague language is inherent in our mind not in language grammar. It can be seen that successful interpersonal communication is not based on the vague language but the pragmatic functions of vague language, in other words, the vague language users.

Pragmatic vagueness refers to an interactive strategy in which a language user or what we can call participants in oral discourses intentionally uses vague language interpret the meaning or explain the uncertainty of speaker’s words for a communicative purpose. Actually, pragmatic vagueness is used as a particular purpose in most cases. Research on vagueness in verbal communication, including "hedges" that are seemingly vocabulary but actually discourses, and other phenomena that are considered "semantic vagueness" are called pragmatic vagueness, as a matter of fact. Ruzait's definition of vague language emphasizes more on the nature of fuzzy applications of fuzzy language in communication. He put forward that vague language is an inaccurate, natural, often targeted and multi-functional language phenomenon with certain communication strategies. (1965:338-53)Fuzzy language is a language phenomenon that is “very dependent on context. Thus, most of linguists concentrate on the study of pragmatic purpose of vague language. And when it comes to this topic, whether the usage of vague language is of greatly positive significance is of high priority. For instance, Channell (1994: 3) believes that“fuzzy language is neither 'bad' nor 'good'. What is important is whether the use of vague language is appropriate or not. Wu(1999:24),illustrated the positive role of vague language in his book Fuzzy Linguistics. If you want someone to go to the meeting to find someone he does not know, you only need to use vague language to tell others that the person is middle-aged, tall, fat, with a high nose, big ears, wearing myopia glasses and it is not difficult to find him. He takes an example to show that in some cases, vague language can enable speakers to express their meaning more exactly and meanwhile some words that are inaccurate and undefined can just make listeners get what speakers want to deliver to others. The intentional use of pragmatic vagueness is a pragmatic strategy. It has strong communicative and wide practicality. It can make the statement appear polite and leave room for maneuver. In addition, many rhetorical devices metaphor, pun, implied satire can be used.