| Acknowledgements | 第1-4页 |
| Abstract | 第4-5页 |
| 摘要 | 第5-9页 |
| Chapter 1 Introduction | 第9-12页 |
| ·General introduction | 第9页 |
| ·Research questions | 第9-10页 |
| ·Research objects | 第10页 |
| ·Methodology and data to be investigated | 第10页 |
| ·Rationale of the study | 第10-11页 |
| ·Structure of the thesis | 第11-12页 |
| Chapter 2 Literature Review | 第12-25页 |
| ·Clarification of some terms | 第12-14页 |
| ·Vagueness and fuzziness | 第12-13页 |
| ·Vagueness and ambiguity | 第13-14页 |
| ·Vagueness and generality | 第14页 |
| ·Hedges and hedging | 第14-18页 |
| ·Prince et al's taxonomy | 第16-17页 |
| ·Hyland's model | 第17-18页 |
| ·Approaches to the study of vague language | 第18-24页 |
| ·Philosophically-oriented | 第19-20页 |
| ·Psychologically-oriented | 第20-21页 |
| ·Semantically-oriented | 第21页 |
| ·Pragmatically-oriented | 第21-24页 |
| ·Problems unsolved in past researches | 第24页 |
| ·Summary | 第24-25页 |
| Chapter 3 Theoretical Framework of the Study | 第25-34页 |
| ·A working definition of vague language in the present study | 第25页 |
| ·A general introduction of Adaptation Theory | 第25-31页 |
| ·Three properties of language | 第26-29页 |
| ·Four angles of investigation | 第29-31页 |
| ·Adaptation Theory applied in the present study | 第31-32页 |
| ·Summary | 第32-34页 |
| Chapter 4 The Analysis | 第34-64页 |
| ·The reasons for the existence of vague language in news | 第34页 |
| ·The main linguistic realization devices of vagueness in news | 第34-55页 |
| ·Hedges | 第34-47页 |
| ·Accuracy-oriented hedges (approximation) | 第35-42页 |
| ·Writer-oriented hedges (shields) | 第42-46页 |
| ·Reader-oriented hedges | 第46-47页 |
| ·Vague language by choice of vague words | 第47-55页 |
| ·Vague words in political news | 第48-49页 |
| ·Vague words in economic news | 第49-50页 |
| ·Vague words in sports news | 第50-52页 |
| ·Vague words in entertainment news | 第52-53页 |
| ·Vague words in technological news | 第53-55页 |
| ·Research results | 第55-59页 |
| ·Vague language employed as adaptation to mental world | 第55-58页 |
| ·Vague language employed as adaptation to the objective situation——the situation when lacking exact or adequate information | 第58-59页 |
| ·The pragmatic functions of vague language in news | 第59-62页 |
| ·Giving the right amount of information | 第59-60页 |
| ·Increasing creditability and appropriateness of news language | 第60-61页 |
| ·Improving flexibility of news language | 第61页 |
| ·Achieving politeness | 第61-62页 |
| ·The frequency of vague words in different news | 第62-63页 |
| ·Summary | 第63-64页 |
| Chapter 5 Conclusion | 第64-67页 |
| ·Major findings | 第64-65页 |
| ·Limitations | 第65页 |
| ·Suggestions for further study | 第65-67页 |
| Bibliography | 第67-71页 |
| 攻读学位期间发表的学术论文 | 第71页 |
