Application Of Vague Language In English News

Vagueness is an essential feature of human language, and it is also an important characteristic of human psychology. Vague concept and vague judgment are important ways to know the real world. And hedges are an important member in vagueness family. Vague language is the product of human concept; accordingly, English news can not do without vagueness. Applying descriptive and qualitative methods, the thesis being studied probes into the pragmatic embodiment and functions of vague language in news report on the basis of the theoretical framework of Verschueren?s Adaptation Theory and Fairclough?s Critical Discourse Analysis. The analysis is conducted by a number of news materials selected from the official and well-known newspaper and news websites (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn, http://www.nytimes.com/ and http://www.observer.co.uk), seeking to demonstrate the necessity and importance of vague language in English news and its pragmatic functions within the theoretical framework. This thesis is composed of four chapters expect for introduction and conclusion:The thesis begins with a brief introduction of methodology and the significance of the study, and then displays the structure of the whole thesis.Chapter One is the study of vague language. It explains vague language, its definition and the factors causing vague language; and hedges---the core of vague language; and finally, it analyzes the vague language from pragmatic perspective.Chapter Two is the theoretical framework. It demonstrates the Adaptation Theory and the Critical Discourse Analysis. It concludes the general introduction of Adaptation Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis. Then it comes to the relevant and further study of the two theories.Chapter Three is the study of vague language in English news. First of all, it involves the study of vague language based on Adaptation Theory, which deals with the vague language performing as a process of making choices and as realization of adaptation. Secondly, the thesis discusses the reasons from the viewpoint of Adaptation Theory, including the adaptation to metal world by using vague language, the adaptation to readers? and journalists? acceptance, and the adaptation to human?s limited ability to know the outside. Vague language also adapts to timeliness of news and flexibility of expressions. Thirdly, the thesis applies Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in analyzing vague language in English news with CDA?s three concepts as well as modality. Vague language contributes to revealing the underlying ideology and power in political news and to making possible prediction when expressing attitudes, which also demonstrates the reasons and importance of using vague language in English news from the perspective of CDA. Finally, it analyzes the news discourse.Chapter Four is the pragmatic analysis of vagueness in English news. In this part the thesis comes to its focus that is the investigation of English news with vague language. In the study, some typical news is analyzed respectively covering several kinds of news, such as political, economic, social, technological, sports and entertainment news. Through the careful investigation, some findings are explored, that is, pragmatic functions of vague language can be also viewed as favorable communicative strategies: (1) Keeping secrets; (2) Enhancing the reliability and appropriateness of news language; (3) Saving time; (4) Avoiding losing face and hurting other people?s feelings; (5) Achieving politeness and euphemism; (6) Minimizing the negative effects. Moreover, some effective ways are put forward to use vague language in news report properly. However, it?s improper to say news language is supposed to be as vague as possible; much attention is to be paid to avoiding abusing vague language in English news.Then follows the conclusion which summarizes the main points as well as the results, and points out the limitations and some suggestions for further study. In spite of limitations, it is hoped that the present study may provide some hints to reporters and readers so as to help reporters use vague language more appropriately and tactfully and help readers have a better understanding of the employment of vague language in English news.