浅谈英语口语中的语用模糊.doc

廊坊师范学院本科生学年论文题 目： 浅谈英语口语中的语用模糊性以美国情景剧好运查莉中的口语为例学生姓名：唐雪 指导教师：王钟锐 二级学院： 外国语学院系 别： 英语系专 业： 英 语年级班级： 2012级4 班学 号： 12030144017完成日期： 2014年12月30日Title: Brief Discussion to Pragmatic Vagueness in Verbal Communication Realized in the Conversation of the American Sitcom Good Luck CharlieAbstract: Pragmatic vagueness is a common phenomenon in daily communication. It refers to the indeterminacy of language in terms of language use and appreciation. Pragmatic vagueness as a strategy in verbal communication has its own functions. Therefore this paper is to apply pragmatic principles and theories to interpret the occurrence of vague language and reveal its functions in sitcom conversations.Key words: Vagueness; Pragmatic vagueness; Verbal communication; Good Luck Charlie 1. Introduction Pragmatic vagueness is widely used in our daily life. As the research on pragmatics is deepened, many scholars conducted research on pragmatic vagueness. What is vagueness? Different people look it in different ways, so no congruent definition has been formulated. Charles S. Pierce, considered as the originator of the notion of vagueness in language, gave a definition of vagueness in 1902. “A proposition is vague where there are possible states of things concerning which it is intrinsically uncertain whether, had they been contemplated by the speaker, he would have regarded them as excluded or allowed by the proposition. By intrinsically uncertain we mean not uncertain in consequence of any ignorance of the interpreter, but because the speakers habits of language were indeterminate: so that one day he would regard the proposition as excluding, another as admitting, those states of things. Yet this must be understood to have reference to what might be deduced from a perfect knowledge of his state of mind; for it is precisely because these questions never did, or did not frequently present themselves that his habit remained indeterminate” (1902:748, quoted from Channell, 2000:7). In China, the first one to study vagueness is Professor Wu Tieping (1999). He defines that, in fact, in human language, many expressions have no clear-cut boundaries and they are vague concepts. He points out that those words denoting time, color and temperature do not have an explicit boundary between them. At present, two main branches can be divided for those who study pragmatic vagueness: Professor He Ziran is representative of first branch, he makes a development on definition of vagueness raised by Kempon and advocates the study with the name “pragmatic vagueness” as his research object (He Ziran, 1990; 2000). Professor Yu Dongming is the representative of another branch. He gave an introduction to the major findings of pragmatic vagueness made by Thomas in our domestic linguistic journals (Yu Dongmig, 1993; 1997). Good Luck Charlie is an American sitcom that originally aired on Disney Channel from April 4, 2010 to February 16, 2014. It focuses on the Duncan family of Denver as they adjust to the births of their fourth and fifth children Charlie and Toby. The main characters in this sitcom are Bob, Amy, PJ, Teddy, Gabe, Charlie, Toby, Mrs.Dabney. This corpus has a characteristic of informal spoken language of sitcom genre because the show centers round characters living in more loosely structured environment. It is fully loaded with humorous, vivid and punning language frequently used by Americans in their daily life. These languages create or enhance the effects of wit, amusement and laughter so as to represent a special style of American humor. This paper mainly analyses the pragmatic vagueness in verbal communication based on He Zirans theory.2. The Categories of Pragmatic Vagueness Professor He Ziran, who studies vagueness from the angle of pragmatics, holds that pragmatic vagueness arises from the indeterminacy of an utterance. According to him, the study of pragmatic vagueness should concern the indeterminacy of an utterance in the light of language use and understanding. In the real use of language, the topic of a speech is continuous and this means that in the study of language there are situations in which it is difficult to judge a true topic from a false one. In 1990, with different approaches to analyzing a topic, he divides pragmatic vagueness into four kinds: continuum, category, nominalization evaluation and hedges. Continuum vagueness refers to an extension of a vague boundary between the presentation of the true and false topic. Category vagueness refers to the vagueness caused by a certain category because things have an upper-category and lower-category. Nominalization evaluation refers to the vagueness that arises when a speaker makes a subjective comment on a certain topic. Hedges refer to words which make things vaguer or less vague. 3.The Analysis of Vague Language in Sitcom Good Luck CharliePoliteness is very important function that vagueness serve in daily life. For example,A. PJ: Those are our neighbors, the Dabneys. They have been married a long time.PJ heard Mrs.Dabney quarreling with his husband and talked to Charlie about this. The meaning behind his words is that their relations are not harmony. As their neighbor, PJ cant discuss their relations directly. So he uses “a long time” to express his meaning. In this context, vagueness show its politeness function.B. Ivy: Im sorry. Is this a problem for you? Teddy: No, I just think its a little bit inappropriate.Teddy saw her best friend, Ivy, sending message with her mother. She was unhappy. But she cant express her feeling directly, because the one is her mother, another one is her best friend. Thus, “a little bit inappropriate” makes her words more polite.Vagueness can makes the language more accurate. Vagueness means give enough information and dont need list everything. Vagueness is sometimes an important mean of accurately stating or expressing indeterminate, uncertain things and phenomena (Hyland: 1996). For example: Amy: Bob, do you think we should get something for Charlie to play on? Bob: She doesnt need any of that stuff. Shes got an sorts of things to do back here.In this context, Amy need not list everything for Charlie to play on. She uses something to express her meaning. It can makes the language more brief and accurate.In everyday conversation, vague language, especially hedges are widely used because they are less direct and blunt than precise language and therefore they become the main devices to weaken the degree of ones commitment. For example:PJ: Dont you think you should give us a shot at writing your jingle?In this context, PJ is making a suggestion. “should” make his suggestion more polite and euphemistic, which also is a face-saving strategy. That is to say, even if his father is against his proposal, he still has a way of escape.4. ConclusionThis paper does focus on analyzing vagueness in everyday conversation from the angle of pragmatics. Vagueness widely occurs in everyday conversation. It does not prevent the transmission of information but plays a rather important role. Vague language can be used as a strategy to achieve kinds of purposes in everyday conversation. Although with vague meaning, vague expressions can provide adequate information, thus making the utterance credible. When there is lexical gap, communicators can turn to vague expressions. In addition, vague expressions can perform some other important functions such as producing aesthetic effects, changing the degree of ones commitment to show the communicators uncertainty to