A Brief Analyses of The Pragmatic Vagueness in Diplomatic Language.docx

a brief analyses of the pragmatic vagueness in diplomatic languageby a thesis submitted to school of foreign languagesin conformity with the requirements forthe degree of bachelor of arts normal university jan, 2011acknowledgementsby writing this thesis i have learnt much knowledge about the pragmatic vagueness be used in traslation. besides i learn that the language in the world have many relationships, although how far the distance is. english and chinese, as the two popular language, have their own characters, but in order to communicate more convenient to each other, we should know more about them. the completion of this thesis is closely related to those who have contributed to it and i would like to say “thank you” to all of you who have devoted time，energy and ideas directly orindirectly. what comes first is my teacher mr. tong who has devoted much time to the thesis and at the same time he gives me a lot of suggestions. finally, i am grateful for my classmates and friends because they help me collect some masteries and help me correct some mistakes. .abstractpragmatic vagueness is a common lingusitc phernomenon in diplomatic speech. from the perspective of pragmatics and cognitive linguistics, this paper takes the press conferences to illustation the characteristics of pragmati vagueness in diplomatic translation and interpretaion and the application of pragmatic vagueness in diplomatic discourse, the cause of pramatic vagueness, the deifnition of pragmatic vagueness. pragmatic vagueness one of the consitutive properties of natural language. it is embodied in several efficiently used aspects of natural languge as phonetics, semantic, syntax, etc. linguistic philosophers have pointed out that pragmatic vagueness is neither a marginal nor a problematic phennomenon. on the oppopsite side, it is playing an essential an crucial role just as precise language dose in everyday communication. it emerges during the process of understanding for both the speakers and the interpreters; the process of responding to them by the other party of communication as well as the processof reproducing out the vague meaning by interpreter.this paper will introduces some studies of diplomatic language, and focuses on a number of selected political diplomatic language materials to study the linguistic realization of vagueness in diplomacy from lexical, syntactical and discourse level and analysis their pragmatic functions.key words: pragmatic function, diplomatic language, translation,wi vagueness.摘要语用模糊在外交演说中是一种常见的语言现象。而这篇文章则是通过对媒体外交会议的分析展示，从语用视角和认知语言学阐明了语用模糊在外交翻译中的特点和应用。以及对语用模糊定义和它产生原因的探索。模糊是自然语言的属性之一。它在自然语言的很多应用范围内被体现出来，如语音学，语言学，语义学，语用学等。语言心理学家指出模糊不是一个负面的概念，相反它在日常交际中起着不可缺少的重要作用。在口译过程中，它出现在译员理解信息或信息输出的阶段，或是交际的双方在交际过程中应用一定的有效的交际语用策略而产生的模糊现象。本文将介绍一些有关外交语言的研究，在收集的大量外交语言的基础上，从词汇、句法、篇章三个层面分析模糊语言在政治外交语言中的应用。关键词：语用功能；外交语言；翻译；模糊。1.introduction the pragmatic vagueness is a pragmatic strategy in some situations. it can show itself on the level of definition of category and degree of vagueness and it is the combination of linguistic meaning and text meaning. for example in some discourses, the speaker in order to achieve some special purposes that they changed the way they spoken and the words they used. give to other people a uncertain expression. it is a kind of special use of language phenomenon. this language phenomenon often happens in foreign affairs, including agreements, bulletins, declarations and the official telegrams telephone between the leaders.nicholson early in his book, diplomatic (1950) pointed out the pragmatic vagueness of diplomatic language, the most common diplomatic language meaning is usually said that can make diplomats wording sharp and do not break cautious and gentle prudence retain statements (guarded reselling). therefore, the language of the diplomats spoken what take part in various diplomatic activities for solving and deal with the relationship between countries and contradiction is particularly important. application of vagueness in diplomatic language can achieve the goals of good manners, harmonious atmosphere and special communication aim. therefore, the diplomats frequently tend to use the diplomatic language to reply the sensitive questions as well as to relax the communicative atmosphere. the comprehensive command of hedges meta functions in political diplomatic language would be a great benefit to make correct decisions in the changeable international situation. the studies suggested that the principles applied to diplomatic translation are: accuracy, appropriateness and preservation of the source language style. practically, this thesis enables readers to gain a better understanding of vagueness in diplomacy, and is helpful for diplomats interpretation and analysis of diplomatic language.2. literature review2.1 international studiesabroad, since professor l.a.zadeh put forward the famous idea of vague theory, a series of such as vague linguistics, vague logic and vague psychology, vague rhetoric and other emerging disciplines have emerged. in linguistics field, lakoff, kempson, labov, these masters of language mainly study vague phenomenon from semantic, grammar perspective. russell, ullman, deese, burns, are masters of language study vague phenomenon mainly from psychology, cognitive science, sociology perspective.2.2 domestic studieschinese scholars also very interested in it. from 1979 to 1998, nearly 800 research articles about a vague had been published. wu shi xiong, shi an shi, zhang qiao, wang yin and other linguists analyzed vague phenomenon mainly from semantics perspective; he zi ran, analyzed vague phenomenon from the pragmatic perspective. in recent years researchers gradually switch to the sight of a specific style. such as chen yi de, xiao yun shu, analyzed the application of vague language in poetry, laws, news.2.3 brief commentsintroduced by zadeh in 1965,the notion of vagueness has been drawing attention from many disciplines like logic, mathematics and linguisticss, etc. in 1970, the notion of vagueness was first formally introduced into liguistic study by lakoff and ross, who were interested in semantics and grammaticality respectively, before accepted quickly by the chinese liguistics circle. in 1979, wu tie ping presented his paper entitled preliminary study of vague languge , marking the beginning of systematic study of vaguenss language in china, since then, great achievement have been made covering all respects of language study, from lexical to grammatical, from semantic to pragmatic. 3. vagueness in language3.1. the definition of pragmatics vaguenessan expression is vague if and only if it is possible that it give rise to a borderline case. and a borderline case is a situation in which the application of a particular expression to a particular object dose not generate an expression with a definite ture value. this is the piece of language in question neithwe applies to the object nor falls to apply.communication filed falls into three categories in terms of conversational analysis: literal talk, loose talk and metaphorical talk. most peoples conversation in daily life is loose in verbal communication,to some extent, carrying approximation, vagueness, generality, ambiguity, ambivalence. in addition, daily conversation usually carries connotative expression such as metaphor, meiosis, irony and hyperbole. (he ziran, 2000:8) the peripherical meaning or range error manifested in pragmatics is called generality or vagueness. (he ziran, 1990:8) from what these scholars discussed above, we know that pragmatic vagueness in communication is very important. especially, in diplomacy, pragmatic vagueness is an important strategy and weapon for diplomats to safeguard honor of a country and win honor for his/her motherland. pragmatic vagueness incorporates phonological, lexical, syntactic and textual level (wei zaijiang, 2006:46).3.2. the cause of pragmatic vaguenessvagueness is a common and inevitable phenomenon in daily life. but the reason of its existence should be carefully analyzed, which might be helpful for the later discussion of this thesis.objective speaking, many thing, phenonmena and characters a continuum, which it quite difficult to make clear boundaries among them. for exampe, physicians consider spetrum as a continiuum of different wavelengths, in which there are no clear boundraries between the neighbor colors. people cant compartmentalize the exact boundary between red and orange, nor orange and yellow, etc. here is another example, if 24 hours in a day could be seen as a time continuum, people can approxmiately divide them into several periods: morning, noon, afternoon, dusk, evening, night, midnight and late midnight. when people are dividing these periods, there are still transitional ares which cause the indeterminacy of the neighbor boundaries. since the world is complicated and full of changes, human language is unable to express all the items in the world. vacabulary of any human language is limited in expressing the objective world. usually it takes more time for people to find the words or expression to descirbe what has happened or is happenin. during this process, vagueness is inevitable and even plays an important role in communication.subjectively speaking. human beings habitually base their cognition on the classifucation of the world. jackendoff(1983;77)once pointed out that one of the indispendsable aspects of human cognition is the ablity to classify the objective worl, that is the ablity of judging whether one object belogs to certain category or not. the nations have their own classifications about the objective world, which has something to do with the characteristics of the thing as well as communication requirements of different nations. each nation might have its own way of cogntion and classification towards the same objective world, such as the filed of colors an relatives. as to the indiividuals, human brain cant respond to the reflection as the mirrror to the objective world. instead, the process of reflection is dynamic and full of sujective elements. the cognition of human beings towards the objective worl is actually a process to seek the perfect state, although the goal can never be reached. that is why every individual has its own evaluation of young or old, rich or poor, ugly or beautiful, ect. to be more exact, vagueness occurs in the process of cognition and communication because of gap between sujective and objective cognition; between thought and expression; between expression and interpretation.3.3. types of vague diplomatic languagediplomatic activities requires linguistic technique and diction of words because diplomatic activity directly concerns a countrys national interest. due to different ideology and value, there are always different views on the same issue which is a common phenomenon. therefore, diplomatic language is a vital strategy to achieve success in diplomacy. diplomats tend to employ vague language to safeguard their countrys interest and win honor for their country. now we will divide the vague diplomatic language into several types. 3.3. 1. vague diplomatic language for the sake of face the face theory was put forward by brown and levinson (1978). face has two aspects: a positive one, by which a persons status as an autonomous, independent, free agent is affirmed; and a negative one, which stresses a persons immunity from outside interference and undue external pressure. we may give face and lose face in communication. leaders of different countries try to save face in diplomatic activities by using vague expression. knowing of president nixons expressed desire to visit the peoples republic of china, premier chou en-lai, on behalf of the government of the peoples republic of china(announcement on president nixons visit to china january 15, 1971) (guo hong et al, 1999:255). “knowing of” was added when premier chou en-lai considered that president nixon expressed his desire to visit china. then, we invited president nixon to visit china for the sake of his face. therefore, the source of the information is very vague and the vagueness avoided which party is active or passive. 3.3.2. vague diplomatic language for the sake of humorhumor is always enjoyed by people in communication because it makes the atmosphere relaxed and friendly. it is an art in public relations as well as in diplomatic activities. sometimes by using vague language in diplomacy may bring about the humorous effect. at a press conference, a western journalist asked premier chou en-lai a question: “how much capital does peoples bank of china have?” chou en-lai answered without any hesitation: “i think it should be eighteen yuan eight jiao and eight fen.” subsequently, he explained that denomination of rmb at that time was ten yuan, five yuan, two yuan, one yuan, five jiao, two jiao, one jiao, five fen, two fen and one fen, which totaled eighteen yuan eight jiao and eight fen. chou en-lai used accurate number to avoid secret financial reserve. the two phrases “i think” and “should be” are indeterminate, and they are humorous and refusing the journalists question. 3.3.3. vague diplomatic language to break the deadlockin diplomatic negotiation, it is common that the participating party come to a deadlock. pragmatic vagueness may break the deadlock and seek the common ground while reserving difference. the u. s side declared: the united states acknowledges that all chinese on either side of the taiwan strait maintain there is but one china and that taiwan is a part of china. the united states government does not challenge that position. it reaffirms its interest in a peaceful settlement of the taiwan questions by the chinese themselves. (guo hong et al, 1999:261) in 1971, when the talk between chou en-lai and the kissinger came to a deadlock, henry kissinger put forward a new formulation in order not to betray their old friend taiwan. at the very beginning, chou en-lai reiterated “the peoples republic of china is the sole legitimate government and taiwan is unalienable part of china.” however, kissinger put forward “one china, taiwan is a part of china”. in fact, he just partially acknowledged one china. whether one china refers to the republic of china (taiwan) or the peoples republic of china still remained ambiguous in his remarks. the u.s. didnt use clear expression like “the united states acknowledges that the peoples republic of china is the sole legitimate government in china and that taiwan is a province of china”. here, “all chinese on either side of the taiwan strait” is used to avoid mentioning “the peoples republic of china” and “the republic of china”. and it is indeed the common position of the two sides that “there is but one china and that taiwan is a part of china” and the so the statement will not invoke the opposition of either side. the united states played a see-saw game between the peoples republic of china and taiwan, and played a good guy.4. diplomatic discourses4.1. diplomatic languageslanguage is one of the many semiotic systems created by human beings and is the most important and unique one. it is uniquely remarkable for its flexibility and versatility. this may be investigated through its symbolic nature, through the functions performed in communication, and through diplomatic design features. diplomatic language refers to those statements made by diplomats of higher ranks on different occasions in diplomatic practices. they also constitute an important category of diplomatic documents. further more, diplomatic language constitutes an important means for a diplomat to expound his countrys stand and policies on issues concerning bilateral or multilateral relations. the diplomatic language is a special way of expressing subtle diplomatic needs. whatever language form a diplomat employs (oral or written), he or she should aim at finding the implicature of the parties involved, while maintaining the maximum interest for the nation in question. evidently there must be strategies in diplomacy, and in diplomatic language. it is noted that diplomatic language belongs to a specific category of language that is used to perform the diplomatic action or behavior so as to achieve the diplomatic goal.as diplomatic language is addressed to foreign hearers or people out of the same group in public, whether in oral or written form, diplomatic language is a formal, cautious and conservative language; it is a “persuasive language; it is a cautious and precise language; it is a polite and tactful language; it is a language in which impersonality is often used and it is also a fairly accessible language.” most importantly, diplomatic language should be fairly accessible, as “diplomatic language is meant for foreigners to read to listen to intelligibly”.(guo hong, chen xiao dong)according to the documents and materials stated, diplomatic language is what a diplomat can say, can mean and can do verbally. diplomatic language is a part of the substance of diplomacy that forms a part of the social system and has grown up in a certain culture. as a use of language, diplomatic language is a meaning potential associated with particular type of social context (consisting of the situational factors: field of discourse, tenor of discourse and mode of discourse) which determines the general features of diplomatic language.4.2. diplomatic discoursediplomatic discourse is a statement made by state leaders or diplomats of higher ranks on different occasions in diplomatic practice. they also constitute an important category of diplomatic documents. diplomatic discourse constitutes