Positive Pragmatic Vagueness In Verbal Communication

Vagueness is one of the intrinsic properties of the natural language, so it is with the language permeated in people’s social and daily communication. Appropriate use of vague expressions, as an effective communicative strategy, can contribute to successful interaction. On many occasions, vague expressions can be more accurate, more persuasive than precise ones in effect and help speakers achieve their own goals much easier. But improper use of vagueness would bring about negative effects and cause communicative breakdown. Thus it can be seen that appropriate use of vagueness signifies the level of language users’pragmatic competence.This thesis analyzes ways of using vague language intentionally from the perspective of pragmatics and focuses on the functions brought by positive pragmatic vagueness in various social fields such as science, meteorology, news, advertisements and especially in people’s daily communication. At last, the author of the thesis puts forward that this linguistic phenomenon can be used for reference in college English teaching. In the process of teaching, teachers should pay attention to students’mastery of linguistic knowledge as well as the cultivation of their pragmatic competence by making use of vagueness. Teachers’self-development can’t be ignored, too.