Abstract:

Clear and accurate expression of the language is the pursuit of the ideal realm of language   users. However, our life is full of vague language. Actually, vagueness is one of the features of the natural language. Vague language makes our language rich, colorful, and euphemistic. This article studies vague language in English news reports. The study begins with the definition, classification and factors of vagueness. This study then applies Relevance Theory and Adaptation Theory to analyze the use of the vague language in news reports. On this basis, the study summarizes the pragmatic functions of vagueness in English news reports and explains the importance of vagueness in news reports.

Key words: vagueness; English news reports; pragmatic analysis

摘要：

语言表达清晰和精确是语言使用者追求的理想境界，但是在日常语言中，模糊语却比比皆是，其实，模糊性也是自然语言的一种属性，正是这些模糊语使得我们的日常语言丰富多彩，委婉含蓄。本文收集英语新闻报道中的模糊语言素材,对模糊语的定义，分类和产生因素做了归纳和总结，此外本文还结合关联理论和顺应理论对英语新闻报道中的模糊语的使用进行了分析。在此基础上，本文总结了模糊语言在英语新闻报道中的语用功能,阐明了模糊语言在新闻报道中的重要性。

关键词： 英语新闻报道; 模糊语; 语用分析

1. Introduction
Vagueness came from philosophy and mathematics. In the early 17th century, Voltaire talked about the ambiguity of words. He argued that there is no such language can express all our concepts and feelings. B. Russell (1923) pointed out that the whole language is more or less vague. Then, L. A. Zadeh put forward the fuzzy-set theory on Information and control in 1965. The theory of fuzziness set an attempt at creating a conceptual framework for a systematic treatment of fuzziness. Under his research, a series of new subjects about vagueness phenomenon was produced. From then on, people began to pay more attention on the study of vagueness and many scholars started to become interested in this area. Joanna Channell（2000）gave the definition of vagueness in Vague Language and held that fuzzy language is not all bad or good. It is important to use vague language appropriately.