A Study Of Pragmatic Vagueness In Reality Show From Relevance-adaptation Perspective

Reality show has become very popular as a carrier of a culture. It can often tell thereal life situation, including interpersonal relationship, people’s communicativepsychology, discourse, etc. Dialogues in such reality shows have been the research targetfrom different aspects. Some scholars studied various linguistic phenomena in realityshows from the perspective of pragmatics, cognitive linguistics and conversationanalysis, etc. The present research is intended to study pragmatic vagueness within thetheoretical framework of the Relevance-Adaptation theory. The Relevance-Adaptationtheory is put forward by Yang Ping in2001, the purpose of utterance communication isseeking for the optimal relevance, and the addressor’s presumption of relevance decidesthe choice of language. The speakers adapt their choice of language to context which inaccordance with relevance principle. Relevance-Adaptation is a dynamic process. By theanalysis of the pragmatic vagueness in the reality show, the thesis studies the followingresearch questions:(1) How is pragmatic vagueness realized in reality show?(2) Whatare the communicative functions of pragmatic vagueness in reality show?Data analysis reveals the following findings: firstly, the pragmatic vagueness inreality show is mainly manifested at the lexical level, syntactic level and discourse level,such as hedges, sentences with indefinite referents, sentences beginning with “why, howor what”, and sentences with ambiguous meaning. Secondly, pragmatic vagueness ismainly to adapt to the physical world, social world and mental world, people use vague language in the show to express politeness, face-saving, self-protection and humor.The study of pragmatic vagueness in the reality show can improve English learners’understanding of American culture, including their ways of communication andcommunicative discourse, etc. And it can promote English learners’ awareness aboutpragmatic vagueness. Therefore, English learners’ can use English accurately, fluently,appropriately, and effectively in their daily language communication.