The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) presents a clear path to a word's origin.OED shows us that the first recorded user of the word "vague" in English language isThomas Vicary (1490―1561/2), a Sergeant-Surgeon to Henry VIII, who published abook named Anatomie of Mans Body which is the first book of anatomy in English.There exist two possibilities by which "vague" found its path to English. One isthat it may come from the 13th-century French word with the same form. Or it mayhave been adapted from the Latin word "vag-us". Actually both the two words have themeaning of "wandering, uncertain or inconsistent". As shown in OED， the primarymeaning of "vague" is: couched in indefinite or general terms; not precisely ordefinitely expressed; deficient in particulars or details. The second meaning of "vague"is "not exact or precise in meaning". Locke is believed to be the first person to use theword in this meaning in his article "Epistle to the Reader" in 1690. Locke wrote that inthe Essay: "Vague and insignificant Forms of Speech and Abuse of Language have solong passed for Mysteries of Science."
3 Theoretical Framework ............................20-30
3.1 Overview ............................ 20
3.2 Cooperative Principle ............................20-23
3.3 Politeness Principle ............................ 23-25
3.4 Face Theory ............................ 25-28
3.5 Summary ............................ 28-30
4 Pragmatic Analysis of Vagueness in LOC ............................ 30-37
4.1. Overview ............................ 30
4.2 Employment of Vague Language ............................ 30-32
4.3 Pragmatic Analysis of Vagueness ............................ 32-36
4.4 Summary ............................ 36-37
5 Pragmatic Functions of Vagueness in LOC ............................ 37-42
5.1 Improving the Appropriateness ............................ 37-38
5.2 Enhancing the Flexibility ............................ 38
5.3 Showing Politeness ............................38-39
5.4 Achieving Certain Goals ............................ 39-40
5.5 Summary ............................ 40-42
Conclusion结论
The present study has been focused on the employment of vague language in LOC,with the pragmatic theoretical framework of Grice's CP, Leech's PP and Brown &Levinson's FT. In this chapter, the major findings of this thesis concerning vagueness inLOC will be stated first; following with implications; then limitations and suggestionsfor further study are also presented.
The purpose of the argument and discussion of this thesis is to take a small step onthe study of pragmatic vagueness. LOC is thought to be accurate and precise. But theultimate purpose of business communication is to develop and maintain good businessrelationships or achieve certain purpose, business people tends to communicate in aneffective and appropriate way. Therefore, vague language becomes an indispensablelinguistic choice to be adopted in busi
