摘要

语言的清晰表达和精确应用是语言使用者所追求的理想境界，但模糊语言在整个语言使用中俯拾皆是，很少有人会说他们可以非常精确地用话语或文字来表达自己的想法。人类语言本身就具有模糊性，而本文则主要研究并论述了模糊语言中最普通，最典型的一个部分，即模糊限制语。模糊限制语作为一种特殊的语言形式很早就引起了人们的关注。一方面它可以改变句子的真值，另一方面它可以使语言表达变得模糊，使话语显得委婉、得体。本文通过对模糊限制语的意义及语用功能的研究，帮助英语学习者掌握其用法，并提高他们的语用意识，同时也强调其在语言教学中的意义。

关键词：模糊限制语; 语用研究; 语用教学

Abstract

The phenomenon of fuzziness has been very frequently seen in language use, although people have always pursued the accuracy and clarity of their expression. Seldom of they will say they can be precise in expressing ideas. As we know, human’s language is fuzzy in nature. In this paper, we mainly discuss the most common and typical part in fuzzy language, that is, hedges. As a special kind of language form, hedges have long drawn people's attention. On the one hand, they can change the truth-value of the sentence, on the other hand they can make the language expression ambiguous, euphemistic, and decent. The research of this paper, through the studies of the meaning of hedges and pragmatic function, aims to help English learners to master the usage of hedges, and improve their pragmatic consciousness, but also emphasize the significance in its language teaching.

Key words: Hedges; pragmatic analysis;  pragmatic teaching

1 Introduction

People have many beliefs about the accuracy of language, while as a matter of fact, language more often than not demonstrates its feature of inaccuracy in daily communication. Sometimes, people prefer to use vague language to convey information. In human’s language, many words and expressions with apparently precise meaning or definition often express uncertain concepts, which suggest an inherent linguistic characteristic of language, that is, fuzziness.

1.1    Background information
Fuzziness is one of the essential features of natural language and the phenomena of fuzzy language exist everywhere in our daily life. When people can’t make sure what they are saying, they often employ fuzzy language to express their opinions on some occasions, and in that way they can make the communication continue smoothly.