A Pragmatic Analysis of Fuzzy Language

Abstract：Fuzzy language refers to the inaccurate of language expression or the natural language with vagueness. Although the fuzziness of language was once misunderstood as a shortage in terms of the law of excluded middle， it is now referred to as an advantage of language itself that context of situation determines its positive or negative effect. This article is intended to introduce several definitions on fuzzy language and its three basic styles. A case study based on fuzzy language is included. This article aims to display some pragmatic effects of fuzzy language in real case， which gives a hand to the daily use of fuzzy language.

Key words：Fuzzy Language; Classification; Case Analysis

中圖分类号：H030         文献标识码：A            文章编号：1672-1578（2019）08-0001-02

1   Introduction 

Fuzzy Set was published in 1965 by Zadeh who is a cybernetician of California University， Berkeley， and the Fuzzy Theory was proposed， which marks an epochal change of scientific thinking method. Since then， Fuzzy Linguistics came out. Fuzzy Linguistics refers to a study of fuzzy phenomenon in natural language by virtue of Fuzzy Theory. It studies the fuzzy word and fuzzy phenomenon of natural language. This article is intended to introduce fuzzy language in terms of definition and its basic styles. A case study about fuzzy language is included.Some examples of fuzzy language are presented likewise， so as to give a hand to daily use.

2   Some Definitions on Fuzziness and Fuzzy Language

By now there is still no consistent definition on Fuzziness and Fuzzy Language. But it is still conducive to comprehension by making an overview on several different kinds of definition

The basic definition on Fuzziness can trace back to Bertrand Russells definition on it. He points out that fuzziness is one of characteristics of natural language. And there exists a notion of degree of fuzziness which depends on variance degree of different systems with same expression. He believes that precision existed in the ideal situation（Russel，1923：90）. Eighteen years later， Van Deemter reclaims that there is just a vague boundary on most of things around us. It is a kind of illusion at most to take something with vague definition as the explicit one（Van Deemter，2010：95）.

Carter and McCarthy explains the fuzziness of language in the perspective of semantics that fuzzy words and fuzzy phrases are not concrete in meaning（Carter&McCarthy，2006）.And the fuzzy language is defined as the language unit with no specific boundary（including word， phrase and sentence）（Zhang，1998）. Some adjectives are the typical instances. It is hard to define the degree of beautiful. The degree of adjectives is determined in terms of context of situation.

Winnie Cheng， considers that fuzzy language is composed of a closed set of recognizable words and expressions which can be explained by their context of situation（Cheng，2007：162）. Fuzzy language imparts information that utterances or part of utterances can not be explained accurately.

Van Deemter（2010：95） believes that vagueness is all about languages function and meaning. Channell（1994：20） thinks that fuzzy words possess uncertainty in essence and they can be replaced by words with same meaning.While fuzzy language refers to undis-guised vagueness on purpose. Hence， Channells denifition on fuzzy language place an emphasis on its property and strategic application. And Ruzaite puts a focus on strategic application in communication. He （2007：28） believes that fuzzy language is an unprecise， natural， targeted and multifunctional language phenomenon which is used for some communicative tactic.

Although these definitions above focus on different perspective of language， it can still make a short summary. Above all， fuzziness is admitted as a characteristic of natural language rather than a shortcoming.

3   Classification of Fuzzy Language

3.1 Fuzzy Continuum

Fuzzy continuum refers to a situation that a thing can develop into different possibilities， and whether those possibilities belong to that thing can not be determined simply. Fuzzy continuum can also be known as fuzzy border（Pang， 2008：16）.The words among fuzzy continuum possess some traits as collection， abstraction， and gradient. But it is essential to mark off fuzziness and generality（Wu，1997：88）. Generality covers a set of common features owned by some sort of things. And those common features can distinguish the sort of things from others and make people understand what the thing refers to. For instance， apple generalizes the size，taste， and shape of a kind of fruit， which anything owning these features can be called “apple”.  However， fuzziness refers to the indistinct border of meaning. The word “people”is indistinct in meaning， which can refer to man， woman， child， the aged， Chinese， Japanese and so forth.

Hence， the fuzzy continuum has a prototype existing in the middle of it which shows the typical distinctions of it. And the fuzzy meaning occurs in both ends， which is called border line case in Cognitive Linguistics. The specific meaning of vague words in fuzzy continuum can be decided in the context of situation.

3.2 Fuzzy Category

Fuzzy category means a category with a different or uncertain set of distinctions that whether something pertains to it can not be determined in some condition（Pang， 2008：17）.The title of“imported”is always regarded as an advantage in sales. It can make a good impression of high quality to customers. However， the quality of imported products also changes along with country of origin. Hence， imported product is a vague statement.  It can be utilized to blur the details of product. And it is normal to use such kind of fuzzy words and phrases in practice which blur the boundary of different words among the same category.

3.3 Fuzzy Evaluation

Fuzzy evaluation refers to vague subjective appraisal in reality. Endicott（2000：126） points out that vagueness is the marked feature of appraisal language（2000：126）. Some evaluative words are typical examples， such as “proper”. How could it define the “proper”？What specific amount can be defined as proper？ It is hard to describe. In addition， people can have free comprehension of evaluative words to some degree owing to the uncertainty of those words in extension， which means the concrete meaning of evaluative word depends on the context of situation.

4   Case Analysis on Pragmatic Field

The following materials are written statements with some modifications elected from a piece of audio file uploaded in Netease Cloud Music（https：//music.163.com/#/program？id=9724055）.This piece of video records a query process about the usage record of an anti-fraud fund， which is related toa security fund and the oversight group. The questioner and replier are Luo and the Lawyer Peng respectively.

This dialogue is occupied with concrete questions and blurry responses. Three segments will be pick out to be analyzed. The italic words in bold are the fuzzy responses from the lawyer Peng to Luos questions. Most of responses are obscure typically. Even some of those obscure responses are applied to explain just slightly concrete but still vague responses.

Segment 1

Luo：你不承諾过，先说第一个，五年半前的为什么不公布？Peng：科技打假资金的项目对吧，我们说会公布。

Luo：嗯，五年了还没公布。Peng：我们会考虑的，在合适的时候公布。

Luo asks when the use details of anti-fraud fund of science can be released， the lawyer Peng says it will be taken consideration and be released at a right time. The “a right time” is a fuzzy phrase of which the “right” pertains to the fuzzy evaluation which has a blurry extension. The blurry extension of the word “right” could create a situation that both sides differ in their cognition about it. Luos opinion about the phrase” a right time “is concrete and ordinary that the process of release about anti-fraud fund of science is as same as other average process. Perhaps he just hopes a specific time from the lawyer. Nevertheless， the lawyer thinks the right time is as long as possible because he does not want to release the details. Peng attempts to avoid a straight answer to Luos question by this fuzzy phrase.

Segment 2

Luo：什么时候合适呢，因为有可能一百年以后比较合适嘛，你准备什么时候公布？Peng：不可能，不可能一百年。

Luo：那你可能也许……Peng：近期，几个月内，因为要有一个一定的流程……

In the light of fuzzy answer from the lawyer Peng， Luo asks whata right time means at length since its concrete meaning could vary in mind of different people. The lawyer Peng notices that the vague answer is unable to satisfy Luos expectation， so he gives a slightly specific time limit with a vague condition： a certain procedure. The word “certain”， as a member of fuzzy evaluation， blurs the slightly time limit “several months”. The lawyer Peng begs the question again.

Segment 3

Luo：看你心情是吧。Peng：不是我心情，我們有我们的……

Luo：五年半没公布很正常对吗？Peng：我们有充分的理由，没有问题。

In the presence of a general question， Peng provides an indirect answer with a phrase of fuzzy evaluation： sufficient reasons. However， who knows the sufficient reasons except for Peng？ The lawyer sidesteps again.

For the Lawyers part， it is right to use the tactic of fuzzy words in that Peng does not intend to give any concrete response to Luos questions.

5   Conclusion

Fuzziness is admitted as a characteristic of natural language rather than a shortcoming， which is ubiquitous in human communication. This short case analysis just shows some practices of fuzzy language in communication， which provides a reference to use.

Bibliographies：

[1] 伍铁平.模糊语言学综论[J].西南师范大学学报，1997（06）：88-90.

[2] Russell Bernard. Vagueness[J]. AustralianJournal Philosophy and Psychology，1923（1）：84-92.

[3] Van Deemter， kees. Not Exactly： In Praise of Vagueness[M].Oxford： Oxford University Press，2010.

[4] Carter， Ronald & McCarthy， Michael. Cambridge Grammar of English[M].Cambridge： Cambridge University Press，2006.

[5] Zhang， Qiao. Fuzziness Vagueness Generality Ambiguity[J].Journal of Pragmatics，1998（29）：13-31.

[6] Cheng，Winnie.The Use of Vague Language across Spoken Genres in an Intercultural Hong Kong Corpus[A].Vague Language Explored[M].Hampshire：Palgrave Macmillan，2007：161-181.

[7] Channell，Joanna.Vague language[M].Oxford：Oxford University Press，1994.

[8] Ruzaite， Jurate. Vague Language in Educational Setting： Quantifiers and Approximators in British and American English[M].Frankfurt： Frankfurt am Main：Peter and Lang，2007.

[9] 庞建荣.模糊语言及其语境依赖性[J].外语与外语教学，2008（07）：16-18.

[10] Ullmann S.Semantics[M].Oxford， Blackwell，1962.

[11] Endicott， T. Vagueness in Law[M]. London：Oxford University Press，2000.

[12] 张乔.模糊语言的弹性[J].外国语言文学，2012（04）：217-288.

作者简介：俞冰洁（1992-），女，江西南昌人，硕士，外国语言学及应用语言学专业16级研究生，主要研究方向：语言学理论与应用。