| Acknowledgements | 第1-5页 |
| Abstract | 第5-7页 |
| 摘要 | 第7-11页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第11-14页 |
| ·Motivation of the current study | 第11-12页 |
| ·Scope of the current study | 第12页 |
| ·Layout of the dissertation | 第12-14页 |
| Chapter Two Literature Review | 第14-26页 |
| ·Previous studies of vagueness related to legal language | 第14-17页 |
| ·Overseas studies on the topic | 第15-16页 |
| ·Related research at home | 第16-17页 |
| ·Traditional views on vagueness | 第17-21页 |
| ·Sorites paradox and tolerance principle | 第17-18页 |
| ·Open texture | 第18-19页 |
| ·Fuzzy set theory | 第19-20页 |
| ·Family resemblance and prototype theory | 第20页 |
| ·Context and understanding of vagueness | 第20-21页 |
| ·Relevance theory | 第21-22页 |
| ·Pioneering research on vagueness within the framework of relevance theory | 第22-23页 |
| ·Evaluations of the previous studies | 第23-24页 |
| ·The author's proposal | 第24-26页 |
| Chapter Three Notion and Sources of Vagueness in Legal Language | 第26-38页 |
| ·Notion of vagueness in legal language | 第26-32页 |
| ·Definition of vagueness in legal language | 第26-28页 |
| ·Ambiguity vs.vagueness | 第28-29页 |
| ·Fuzziness vs.vagueness | 第29页 |
| ·Generality vs.vagueness | 第29-30页 |
| ·Indeterminacy vs.vagueness | 第30页 |
| ·Hedge vs.vagueness | 第30-31页 |
| ·Precision vs.vagueness | 第31-32页 |
| ·Factors affecting the understanding of vagueness in legal language | 第32-38页 |
| ·The property of common language | 第32-33页 |
| ·Influence of the objective factors | 第32-33页 |
| ·Influence of the subjective factors---human's cognitive psychology and process | 第33页 |
| ·The requirement of legislation and legal system operation | 第33-38页 |
| ·Lack of context in legislation | 第34-35页 |
| ·Influence of cultural discrepancies | 第35-36页 |
| ·Intentions of legal language users | 第36页 |
| ·Requirements of legal system operation | 第36-38页 |
| Chapter Four The Ways of Clarifying Vagueness in Legal Language from the Perspective of RT | 第38-55页 |
| ·Effectiveness and adequacy of vagueness in legal language from the perspective of RT | 第38-39页 |
| ·The feasibility of understanding and clarifying vagueness in legal language from the perspective of RT | 第39-44页 |
| ·The essence of legal activities from the perspective of RT | 第40-41页 |
| ·Conformity of the reasoning of judicial process with that of RT | 第41-44页 |
| ·The reasoning of RT | 第41-42页 |
| ·The reasoning of the judicial process | 第42-43页 |
| ·The conformity of both the reasoning of judicial process and RT | 第43-44页 |
| ·The clarification of vagueness in legal language from the perspective of RT | 第44-55页 |
| ·Illustrative Cases | 第44-46页 |
| ·Case statement of Roe v.Wade | 第45-46页 |
| ·Judgment opinion of the U.S.federal court | 第46页 |
| ·Factors involved in clarifying vagueness in legal language from the perspective of RT | 第46-55页 |
| ·Factors related to the objective world and subjective human cognitive psychology and process | 第48-49页 |
| ·Contextual factors | 第49-51页 |
| ·Factors related to cultural discrepancy | 第51-52页 |
| ·Factors related to intentions of language users and requirements of legal system operation | 第52-55页 |
| Chapter Five Conclusion | 第55-59页 |
| ·Major findings | 第55页 |
| ·Application of the study | 第55-56页 |
| ·Limitations and suggestions for further studies on the topic | 第56-59页 |
| NOTES | 第59-60页 |
| Bibliography | 第60-62页 |
