A Study Of English Interpretation Of Vagueness In Foreign Ministry Spokespersons’ Remarks Based On Skopos Theory

It is well known that precision is the nature of language. However, with the deeper and deeper linguistic study, vagueness is also found to be one of the natures of language, which is manifested in language by vague language. Starting with the concept of "Fuzzy set" proposed by Zadeh, more and more scholars began their intensive study on vague language.In daily life, vague language is often taken as a way to soften the tone and avoid some negative circumstances. Precise language makes the speakers clearly understood while vague language is more expressive and obtains some extra-linguistic communicative effects. Since it is one of the most important diplomatic activities to make statements from the Foreign Ministry, the spokesperson’s language is put on the top list. The spokespersons always use vague language to achieve some special communicative effects and purposes. Whether to declare their standpoints clearly, to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding and conflicts or only to beautify the language, vagueness does weigh much in the diplomatic activities. At present, although many scholars have conducted intensive research on the pragmatic functions of vagueness in diplomatic language, it is far from enough on the study of interpretation of vagueness in diplomatic language.This thesis takes the vagueness in Foreign Ministry spokespersons’remarks (FMSR) as the research object, attempts to guide the English interpretation of it with the functionalist Skopos theory and finally figures out some proper and effective interpretation strategies for vagueness in this type of text The material in the thesis comes from the scripts of FMSR in2013.The author collects examples, analyzes and classifies them. Then the author makes deep researches into the classifications and gives some corresponding interpretation strategies. This study will not only bring the research of vagueness deeper into the level of FMSR, but also open up a new perspective of view for the translation of some other similar texts. What is more, the systematic study of interpretation for vagueness in FMSR will give some inspirations on researches of vagueness translation in other fields. The introduction elaborates the research background, objectives and significance and gives a brief introduction to the thesis structure. The literature review presents detailed analysis of vagueness and vagueness in FMSR. Here, the first part reviews the definition of vagueness and classifications. The second part reviews the research history of vagueness at home and abroad. The third part analyzes the vagueness in FMSR in detail, including the introduction, existing reasons in FMSR and classifications. Chapter Ⅲ introduces functionalist Skopos theory as the theoretical framework of the study. The development of Skopos theory is presented firstly. Then three core rules of Skopos theory and the relevant basic concepts are expounded. Finally the effects of Skopos theory on interpretation are presented. Chapter IV presents the research methodology including research questions, data source and collection and research approaches.The main body of this thesis demonstrates the English interpretation of vagueness in FMSR in light of Skopos theory. By combining the three core rules of Skopos theory with vagueness in FMSR, the feasibility of applying Skopos theory to English interpretation of vagueness in FMSR is verified. Based on this finding, the author establishes a new triangle model composed of the interpreter, the process of interpretation and the receivers. None of the three parts is dispensable. Then, three important principles in the process of interpretation of vagueness in FMSR are declared. Finally, according to the previous analyses and amounts of scripts of FMSR, some interpretation strategies of vagueness in FMSR from the overall perspective and detailed perspective are illustrated. Under the guidance of Skopos theory, the author attempts to propose some effective interpretation strategies in the hope of improving the interpretation of this type of texts and enhancing the communications between China and other countries.The last chapter summarizes the findings and implications of this study. After pointing out the limitations of it, the author proposes some suggestions and future research prospects.