| Synopsis | 第1-5页 |
| 内容提要 | 第5-8页 |
| Introduction | 第8-12页 |
| 1 The Objectives and Significance of the Study | 第8-9页 |
| 2 Research Questions | 第9页 |
| 3 Data Collection and Research Methods | 第9-10页 |
| 4 Structure of the Thesis | 第10-12页 |
| Chapter One Review of Relevant Literature | 第12-23页 |
| ·Definition of Vagueness and Similar Notions | 第12-17页 |
| ·Definition of Vagueness | 第12-15页 |
| ·Vagueness and Fuzziness | 第15-16页 |
| ·Vagueness and Generality | 第16页 |
| ·Vagueness and Ambiguity | 第16-17页 |
| ·Vagueness of Previous Research Abroad | 第17-18页 |
| ·Vagueness of Previous Research at Home | 第18-19页 |
| ·Features of Vague Language | 第19-23页 |
| ·Indefiniteness | 第19页 |
| ·Definiteness | 第19-21页 |
| ·Interchangeability | 第21-23页 |
| Chapter Two Theoretical Framework of the Present Study | 第23-34页 |
| ·General Introduction to Linguistic Adaptation Theory | 第23-31页 |
| ·The Pragmatic Perspective | 第24页 |
| ·Making Linguistic Choices | 第24-25页 |
| ·Three Properties of Language Use | 第25-27页 |
| ·Four Angles of Pragmatic Study | 第27-31页 |
| ·Linguistic Adaptation Theory as a Theoretical Framework for Pragmatic Analysis | 第31页 |
| ·G rice's Theory of Cooperative Principle | 第31-34页 |
| Chapter Three Variability of Vague Language in English News | 第34-53页 |
| ·News | 第34-39页 |
| ·Definition of News | 第34页 |
| ·Linguistic Features of News | 第34-35页 |
| ·The Reasons for Existence of Vague Language in English New | 第35-39页 |
| ·The Proposed Taxonomy of Vague Language in This Paper | 第39页 |
| ·Vague Language in English News | 第39-52页 |
| ·Vague Language as a Process of Choice-making | 第40-41页 |
| ·Vague Language at Lexical Level | 第41-49页 |
| ·Vague Language at Syntactic Level | 第49-52页 |
| ·Summary | 第52-53页 |
| Chapter Four Adaptation of Vague Language to Contextual Correlates in English News | 第53-72页 |
| ·Adaptation of Vague Language as a Communicative Strategy | 第53-54页 |
| ·Adaptation to the Language Users | 第54-57页 |
| ·Adaptation to the Utterer’s Voices | 第54-56页 |
| ·Adaptation to the Interpreters’ Roles | 第56-57页 |
| ·Adaptation to the Mental World | 第57-61页 |
| ·A daptation to the Readers’ Psychology | 第58-59页 |
| ·Adaptation to the Utterer's Intention | 第59-61页 |
| ·A daptation to the Social World | 第61-63页 |
| ·Adaptation to the Social Conventions | 第61-62页 |
| ·Adaptation to the Social Relations | 第62-63页 |
| ·Adaptation to the Physical World | 第63-67页 |
| ·Adaptation to Objectivity | 第63-64页 |
| ·Adaptation to Timeliness | 第64-66页 |
| ·Adaptation to Brevity | 第66-67页 |
| ·Functions of Vague Language in English News | 第67-72页 |
| ·Meeting Readers’ Reading Habits | 第67-68页 |
| ·Enhancing Self-protecting | 第68-70页 |
| ·Avoiding Absoluteness | 第70-71页 |
| ·Increasing Credibility | 第71-72页 |
| Conclusion | 第72-76页 |
| Bibliography | 第76-79页 |
| 中文摘要 | 第79-83页 |
| Abstract | 第83-86页 |
