Study On The Use Of Fuzzy Language In Business English Context

The prevailing of vague language, or fuzzy expression, is so common that fuzzy linguistics has become an important branch of study in the family of linguistics. At the same time, business English, a branch of English for Specific Purposes, has kept on developing so abruptly in the past 30 plus years in China that it has become a separate discipline in some of China's key universities. The study of it and particularly the study of the use of fuzzy language in its context is of theoretical and practical significance.Scholars at home and abroad have studied fuzzy language from different perspectives. Though they differ in some aspects, they all notice the nature of the vagueness of language and the essential functions fuzzy language performs in both general and specific English.Fuzzy language is used with specific features in business contexts like business correspondence, business negotiation, business contract, business advertisement, and business catalogue. Fuzzy language used in business English context is in high agreement with linguistic theories of relevance and adaptation as well as cooperative and politeness principles.Fuzzy language used in business English context is for improving the objectivity and accuracy, showing politeness, making expression more flexible and efficient, or moderating relationship in business.As has been noted, in studying fuzzy language used in business English context, inadequate examples sometimes become the bottleneck. So the paper allocates a whole chapter to provide practical examples of the use of vague language in business English context.The study, though not in great depth, still is of due importance in revealing the nature of fuzzy language in business English.