浅谈VOA经济新闻中模糊限制语的应用和语用功能【毕业论文】.doc

1、 I （ 20_ _届） 本科毕业 设计 浅谈 VOA 经济新闻中模糊限制语的应用和语用功能 An Analysis of the Application and Pragmatic Functions of Hedges in VOA Economic News 英语 II 摘要 作为模糊语言家族的一员，模糊限制语在自然语言中广泛存在。尽管准确是新闻语言的基本要求，但并不排斥模糊限制语的存在。本文经过分析VOA经济新闻中的典型案例说明模糊限制语的语用功能及以此产生的带给听者的积极效果 。说明新闻语言中是允许模糊限制语的存在的，恰当地使用模糊限制语更能反映新闻的真实性和客观性。 关键词： 模糊

2、限制语； VOA；经济新闻；语用功能 III Abstract As a part of fuzzy language, hedges widely occur in natural language. Although precision is one of the principles of broadcast news, it does not exclude the existence of hedges. This paper discusses the pragmatic functions and positive effect of hedges in economic new

3、s by analyzing the examples from VOA. It proves that the existence of hedges is permitted in the broadcast news and the proper use of them can better reflect the truthfulness and objectivity of broadcast news. Key words: hedges; VOA; economic news; pragmatic functions IV Contents Abstract . III 1 In

4、troduction . 1 1.1 Introduction of hedges . 1 1.1.1 Definitions of hedges . 1 1.1.2 Classifications of hedges . 1 1.2 Purpose of the writing . 2 2 Literature review . 2 2.1 Theoretical background . 2 2.1.1 Cooperative Principle . 2 2.2.2 Politeness Principle . 3 2.2 Previous studies . 3 3 The applic

5、ation of hedges in VOA economic news . 4 4 The pragmatic functions of hedges in VOA economic news . 6 4.1 Being brief . 6 4.2 Being accurate. 7 4.3 Self-protection . 8 4.4 Being polite . 9 4.5 Creating persuasive effect . 9 5 Conclusion . 10 Bibliography . 11 Acknowledgements . 11 1 1 Introduction F

6、uzzy phenomena widely exist in every aspects of human life. Since L. A. Zadeh put forward the fuzzy-set theory in 1965, many subjects appear such as fuzzy logic, fuzzy mathematics, fuzzy linguistics, etc. Fuzzy linguistics is a new subject. Studies show that on the one hand, fuzziness is one feature

7、 of natural language; on the other hand people use vague words and expressions to make meanings vague. There are lots of vague words and expressions being used in the formal and informal context, such as the advertisement, news report, negotiation, etc. And they play an important role in the specifi

8、c context. 1.1 Introduction of hedges 1.1.1 Definitions of hedges As a part of fuzzy language, hedges widely occur in natural language. Hedge this word originally appeared in the paper A Study in Meaning Criteria and the Logic of Fuzzy Concepts written by G. Lakoff in 1972. He gave the definition of

9、 “hedge”: words whose job is to make things fuzzier or less fuzzy.(quoted from Hu Zhankui, 2009) In A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, hedge is defined as “an application in PRAGMATICS AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS of a general sense of the word (to be non-committal or evasive) to a range of items

10、which express a notion of imprecision or qualification”. Examples of hedging include sort of, more or less, I mean, approximately, roughly. Hedge may also be used in combination: something of the order of 10 percent, more or less. (David Crystal, 2008: 227) Channell defines hedge from the perspectiv

11、e of pragmatics and points out that “perhaps a closer definition is that hedging refers to the use of words and expressions which encode the speaker/ writers degree of commitment to the truth of what follows ”(Channell,2000: 218) Different people have different definitions for hedge. From the differ

12、ent definitions, we can see that hedge can make things fuzzier and more imprecise, but it reflects the truthfulness. 1.1.2 Classifications of hedges According to different perspectives, hedges can be classified into different types. According to the semantic point of view, hedges can be classified i

13、nto five types: hedge of degree, hedge of range, hedge of quality, hedge of quantity and hedge of manner maxim (quoted from Chen Linhua,Li Fuyin,1994). From the view of pragmatics, Prince et al divided hedges into two types, approximators and shields. (quoted from Hu Zhankui, 2009) Approximators can

14、 be 2 classified into adaptors and rounders. Words like almost, entirely, some are all adaptors. Adaptors are used when the speakers are not sure. Rounders are words like about, more than, nearly which are used before a number and give a rough range to the hearers. While shields also have two types,

15、 plausibility shields and attribution shields. I think, I seem, I wander, probably all belong to the former. Plausibility shields show the uncertainty or doubt of the speakers. It is said that, according to, someone says that are all attribution shields. Attribution shields are to quote others words

16、. Princes classification will be adopted in this paper. 1.2 Purpose of the writing Hedges are widely used in the context such as English broadcast news. Although precision is one of the principles of broadcast news, it does not exclude the existence of hedges. Many scholars have studied the special

17、functions of hedges in the English broadcast news. There are studies on political news, but the studies of economic news are rare. Because the application of hedges in the economic news is common, and economic news has unique characteristics, it is worth studying the hedges in the economic news. Thi

18、s paper analyzes the application and pragmatic functions of hedges in VOA economic news. Through the analysis, we can know that hedges have considerable pragmatic functions in the context. And the proper use of hedges can better reflect the truthfulness and objectivity of broadcast news. 2 Literatur

19、e review 2.1 Theoretical background 2.1.1Cooperative Principle The Oxford philosopher H.Paul Grice first put forward the Cooperative Principle in 1967. Cooperative Principle (CP) shows that people should meet some standards in the communication. The general principle: Make your conversational contri

20、bution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged. And the four maxims are: First, maxim of quantity, requires the speaker to be informative: Make your contribution as informative as required (for the curre

21、nt purpose of the exchange); do not make your contribution more informative than is required. Second, maxim of quality, requires the speaker to be truthful: Do not say what you believe to be false; do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence. Third, maxim of relation, requires the speaker t

22、o be relevant: Be relevant. Fourth, maxim of manner, requires the speaker to be clear and lucid: Avoid obscurity of 3 expression; avoid ambiguity; be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity); be orderly.(quoted from Chen Xinren, 2007:163-164) The CP tells us that we should follow some rules and make some

23、 contribution in the conversation to make the communication smooth. When a speaker fails to observe a maxim, an implicature is generated. Something is implied or left implicit in conversation. 2.2.2 Politeness Principle Politeness Principle was first put forward by Brown and Levinson. It shows that

24、politeness plays an important role in the communication and it can make conversation smooth. Politeness Principle has three concepts. They are face, face threatening acts (FTAs) and politeness strategy (quoted from Luo Zhan, 2008:35-36): 1) Face, the public self-image that every member wants to clai

25、m for himself, consisting in two related aspects: a) Negative face: the basic claim to territories, personal preserve, rights to non- distraction- i.e. to the freedom of action and freedom from imposition. b) Positive face: the positive consistent self-image or “personality”(crucially including the

26、desire that this self-image be appreciated and approved of) claimed by interactants. 2) It is intuitively the case that certain kinds of acts intrinsically threaten face, namely those acts that by their nature run contrary to the face wants of the addressee and/or the speaker. These acts are called

27、Face Threatening Acts (FTAs). FTAs can threaten not only the hearers positive face and negative face but also the speakers positive face and negative face. 3) In the context of the mutual vulnerability of face, any rational agent will seek to avoid these face-threatening acts, or will employ certain

28、 strategies to minimize the threat. The possible strategies include (a) bold on record (most direct); (b) positive politeness(c) negative politeness (d) off record (e) Dont do the FTA 2.2 Previous studies In 1965, L.A. Zadeh first put forward the theory of “fuzzy set” in his paper Fuzzy Set which wa

29、s published in Information and control. He studies the fuzziness of nature language and establishes the quantitative fuzzy semantics in which the fuzzy language is counted with mathematical functions. (Luo Zhan, 2008:16) Then a series of new subjects appeared, such as fuzzy logic, fuzzy mathematics,

30、 fuzzy linguistics, etc. Fuzzy linguistics is a new subject to study the fuzziness of natural language on the basis of the theory of “fuzzy set”. In China, the studies of fuzzy linguistics started in the late 1970s. In 1979, Professor Wu Tieping published the paper Elementary Research of Fuzzy Langu

31、age in Foreign Language, which showed the beginning of the studies of fuzzy linguistics in China. It was the first paper 4 to analyze the fuzziness of language on the basis of theory of fuzzy set in China. Then, a lot of Chinese scholars joined the studies of the fuzziness of language. Hedge is one

32、of the most typical types of fuzzy language. It was first raised by G. Lakoff in 1972. He gave the definition of “hedge”: words whose jobs to make things fuzzier or less fuzzy. Linguistic study of hedges was mainly from the aspect of semantics in 1970s, while in 1980s, scholars began to study hedges

33、 from the angle of sociolinguistics, pragmatics, discourse analysis, etc (quoted from Zeng Wenxiong, 2005) The studies of hedges from the perspective of pragmatics started in the early 1980s. Fraser analyzed the modal verbs in pragmatics in his paper Hedged Performatives in 1975. He also analyzed th

34、e hedges in mitigation and politeness research in1980 and in the aspect of discourse markers in 1990. In 1978, P. Brown and S. Levinson, dealing with politeness in verbal interaction from the point of view of pragmatics, consider hedge as a device to avoid disagreement. They described hedges as a st

35、rategy or an expression of negative politeness (quoted from Luo Zhan, 2008:17). Also many scholars in China studied hedges from the perspective of pragmatics. Yang Yujun (2002) and Chen Zhian.etc (1997) used Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle to analyze the communicational functions of h

36、edges. Gao Xiaofang (2002) discussed the pragmatic implication and application characteristics of hedges from the violation of Cooperative Principle. And they showed speakers attitude and point of view to the topic. Meanwhile it is a strategy for communication. Some scholars also analyzed the fuzzin

37、ess of the language in news. Hu Zhankui(2009) studied the functions of hedges in the English news report from four degrees, hedge of range, hedge of quality, hedge of quantity and hedge of degree. And he summarized that hedges can avoid the untruthfulness of the report and the assertion of the words

38、. Kang Juanni (2000) analyzed the functions of hedges in the broadcast news: reflecting the truthfulness and abiding by Cooperative Principle, self-protection, being politeness, avoiding giving details and so on. 3 The application of hedges in VOA economic news The application of hedges in the econo

39、mic news is rather common. The vague words and expressions in the broadcast news do not make listeners misunderstand the real meanings of the news, but make meanings more clear. When the reporters lack the detail information, the hedges will be chosen. The hedges can prevent reporters from being abs

40、olute. Here are some examples from VOA economic news. 5 (1) But experts say it will be as much as 20 years before China can catch the United States, which remains almost three times larger with an annual GDP of more than $14 trillion. 2010-08-17 Here “almost” belongs to adaptors. In example (1), we

41、can see that in order to catch the United States, China has a long way to go. The economy of the United Stated is very strong. Its GDP is larger than that of China. But the reporter can not be sure about the exact multiple. The word “almost” can make the report more tactful. (2) The Pension Benefit

42、Guarantee Corporation protects the pensions of more than thirty-four million workers. The federal agency takes control of troubled pension plans. 2005-12-30 In example (2), “more than” belongs to rounders. Timeliness is one of the features of the broadcast news. Within the limited time, it is hard to collect all the information and find the preci