Literature Review This chapter consists of three sections. Section 2.1 gives a brief explanation of fuzzy language and English political news. Section 2.2 briefly introduces the theoretical background of cooperative principle. And section 2.3 provides a general literature review related to linguistic researches on English political news and studies on fuzzy language in English news from the perspective of cooperative principle. 2.1 Basic explanation of key concepts 2.1.1 Brief explanation of fuzzy language Language is an inevitable product of the development of human history, and the fuzziness of language is the objective feature of natural language. The process of human cognition of the world is from vagueness to exactness. Thus, language features fuzziness from the day of its birth. Fuzziness means not clear or distinct. In the process of language communication, people tend to use fuzzy language in order to achieve certain communicative purposes. Fuzziness makes human language different from mathematical language and machine language, and makes our expressions more infectious and expressive. The fuzziness of language is mainly reflected in five aspects: semantic, rhetoric, grammatical, deictic, pronunciational fuzziness(He Wei, 2018). Sometimes a word has many different meanings, and without a specific context, readers or the audience cannot figure out the exact meaning. This is called semantic fuzziness. The second one is rhetoric fuzziness. The use of rhetoric can help achieve the most effective function in the expression of thoughts or facts. It is fuzzy because it is subjective. The more common used rhetoric techniques include metaphor, parallelism, antithesis and metonymy. When people try to understand the information that is sent to them, it may be difficult to form specific concepts and impressions in English, but it can create distinctive expression effect. The third one is grammatical fuzziness. In the process of communication, some sentences are not grammatically right, but they can also be received and understood by the listener. The most common case is the divergence in understanding the grammar which includes the meaning of the word and the grammatical structure. It#8217;s hard to understand the meaning without the useful context. The fourth one is deictic fuzziness. Deixis refers to the words which can truly convey meanings only after they are put in a certain context. Pronouns and appellations are the main deixis. The last one is usually caused by the ”linking” of the pronunciation. The use of fuzzy language is very common in daily communication. Its manifestation is various, and its use is flexible. Using fuzzy language reasonably can help people achieve different goals effectively in communication. Thus, language learners must attach great importance to fuzzy language. 2.1.2 Brief explanation of English political news Political news is a broad branch of news that includes coverage of all aspects of politics and political science, although the term usually refers specifically to coverage of civil governments and political power(Edward Morrissey, 2016). As an important way for people to understand the government#8217;s policy, international situations and relations, political news is very official, time-effective and informative. The content and style of the political news are totally different from social news and entertainment news, which are called soft news. Thus, political news are called hard news. The English political news should not only convey the information in the most refined language, but also cleverly express attitudes and opinions which influences public opinions. As a result, the readers can better understand the news, and keep pace with the trend of the times. The research mainly deals with fuzzy language in English political news. The purpose of the news is to convey information and state facts. Thus, news terminology must be objective and accurate. However, in the news from VOA, CNN and other news media, readers can always find many fuzzy languages. Despite the need for accuracy, the author of the news may use such words as ”about” ”at least” and so on. According to the definition of fuzzy language given by He Wei in 2018, these words are semantically fuzzy. They don#8217;t give readers accurate information on quantity, time or possibility. On one hand, fuzzy language violates the accuracy of the political news. On the other hand, it serves the need of the characteristics of political news itself and has some pragmatic functions. 2.2 The theoretical background In the 1960s, there was a fierce debate between the philosophical formalist school and non-formalist school. The focus was whether to retain such formal symbols as ”and” while their meanings were hugely different from the corresponding natural languages. Concerning such disagreement, Grice claimed that it was caused by insufficient emphasis on the nature and the significance of some factors which dominated the conversation. The factors he referred to are the cooperative principle. Grice used one sentence to summarize the main idea of this principle: making your sentences, in the stage where they occur, consistent with recognized objectives and directions of the conversation you are participating in. Grice proposed ”conversational implicature” in his lecture at Harvard University in 1967, which has aroused great repercussions. Grice points out that the conversation people have is limited by some conditions. To make the conversation go smoothly, people will follow the rule which is known as the ”cooperative principle”. Cooperative principle can be further divided into four parts: Maxim of Quantity 1) Make sentences as informative as is required (for current purposes of exchanges); 2) Do not make your sentences more informative than is required. Maxim of Quality Try to make your sentences true: 1) Do not say what you believe to be false; 2) Do not say what you don#8217;t have enough evidence to prove its authenticity. Maxim of Relation Be relevant. Maxim of Manner Be perspicuous. 1) Avoid obscurity of expression; 2) Avoid ambiguity; 3) Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity); 4) Be orderly. If the two parties concerned in the communication can follow the cooperative principle of Grice, then the speaker can honestly and accurately convey enough relevant information to the listener. But according to Grice, people can obviously violate the cooperative principle for a certain purpose, then conversational implicature arises. The fuzzy language in English political news is a violation of cooperative principle, but it helps the readers better grasp the substance of the news. 2.3 Related studies 2.3.1 Linguistic researches on English political news Based on the researches carried out in recent decades, current political news involves the relations between the state and ethnic groups. Careless expression can easily lead to disputes. Because authentic political news represents the government, it should not be too absolute while it guarantees the authenticity. Thus, fuzzy language occurs. The most commonly used fuzzy language, such as ”recently announced”, ”partial results” and ”majority”, is vague in meaning, time or number. It can avoid absolutization as well as convey the most important content of the political news (Li Jingyun, 2018). However, most of the researches at home and abroad deal with the linguistic and stylistic features of the political news from a macro perspective, especially the title of the news. There are few researches paying much attention to the use of fuzzy language and explore its function in a detailed way. So this research will make a deep analysis on the fuzzy language in English political news by citing some examples from VOA and CNN. By studying the usage and function of vague words in political news, the readers can gain insight into the real meaning that the writers want to express, thus they can better understand the meaning of the news beneath the surface meaning of the words. 2.3.2 Studies on fuzzy language in English news from the perspective of Cooperative Principle Recently, some studies have been conducted to discuss fuzzy language in English news from the perspective of the Cooperative Principle. The studies are mainly focused on business news and entertainment news. The speaker and the listener should cooperate with each other to achieve successful and effective communication, which is called Cooperative Principle (Grice, 1967). But actually, the speaker does not always follow such principles, and they may say incomplete, untrue, or irrelevant sentences. Although those sentences use some vague language and absolutely violate cooperative principle, the conversation can still go on smoothly. Fuzzy language may be vague in time, number and meaning, thus they violate the four parts of the cooperative principle(Xiao Xiaoyue, 2017). According to the maxim of quantity, news must provide enough information for the readers. But sometimes the news is just a general description of the event without very specific details. Under a certain circumstance, the use of vague language violates the maxim of quantity. According to maxim of quality, the news must be true and authentic, and the author cannot provide false information or information without enough evidence. However, the author tends to use fuzzy language to show uncertainty, violating maxim of quality(Zhang Hong,2007). According to maxim of relation, the information provided must be closely related to the topic of the news. In order to satisfy the needs of the readers or offer enough information, the author might add some contents which are irrelevant to the topic. According to maxim of manner, the sentences in the news must be clear to prevent ambiguity and irrationality. The repetition of the words obviously violates the maxim of manner(Wu Jie, Wu Jingjing, Liu Xiaofei, 2017). Previous researches have indicated that although fuzzy language violates cooperative principle, it sometimes has its own necessity and functions. To start with, it makes news brief. Although news needs to be comprehensive, it is also critical to refine and summarize the content. Detailed description of the events is more complex and redundant, but using vague language to convey information can play a good role. It contains a large amount of information but remains brief at the same time, and it can help readers better understand the main contents(Li Dongxia, Hu Yahong, 2016). The second function is to improve the quality of the news. In the actual operation process, journalists cannot always obtain accurate data information. Vague expressions, compared with some made-up information, can make readers more convinced. Therefore, appropriate use of fuzzy language in English news can avoid arbitrary expression of an event, reduce the absolute descriptions. As a result, the news can be more authentic and accurate(Zhao Zhiqiang, 2006). Last but not least, the authors use fuzzy language for self-protection. The standpoints or attitudes of the author are shown between the lines in the news. The use of fuzzy language, instead of absolute words, may shelter the authors from unnecessary risks. Experts and scholars at home and abroad have certain limitations in this aspect of research. For one thing, they seldom choose political news as their research subject. For another thing, they mainly discuss the pragmatic function of the fuzzy language, but they rarely analyze how this kind of expressions violates the cooperative principle. As a description and evaluation of political events, political news reflects the attitudes and opinions of a country and the government to a certain extent. Thus, it is more official and rigorous than any other kinds of news. The ambiguity of fuzzy language and the accuracy of political news form a much sharper contrast, making the study of ambiguous words in such news more attractive and valuable. On the surface, fuzzy language violates the requirements of the cooperative principle and hinders the effectiveness of communication. However, in reality, the violation is a prerequisite for exerting greater pragmatic functions. As a result, the author of this research is going to closely connect fuzzy language with cooperative principle by citing some examples from English political news, and then further explain how such words smooth the communication between the writers and the readers. Content Abstract Introduction 1.1 Research background 1.2 Research purpose and structure of the thesis Literature review 2.1 Basic explanation of key concepts 2.1.1 Brief explanation of fuzzy language 2.1.2 Brief explanation of English political news 2.2 The theoretical background 2.3 Related studies 2.3.1 Linguistic researches on English political news 2.3.2 Studies on fuzzy language in English news from the perspective of cooperative principle Methodology 3.1 Research questions 3.2 Data collection 3.3 Data analysis Results and Discussion 4.1 The violation of cooperative principle by fuzzy language 4.2 The functions of fuzzy language in English political news Conclusion 5.1 Major findings 5.2 Research limitation and suggestion for further study Reference Reference [1] Alkhatnai, Mubarak. (2017). Vague language and its social role, Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 7(2), 122-128. [2] Channell, Joanna. (1994). Vague Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [3] Dijk, Teun A. 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