2 Literature Review

2.1 Relevant Studies on Pragmatic Vagueness

Vague language and expressions exists everywhere in daily life．For example, no one can tell exactly what is big and what is small, no one can tell exactly on which day winter ends and spring begins．It is hard to say how long a stream should be to become a river; it is difficult to tell how large a village should be to become a town．Therefore, it can be summarized that this kind of indefiniteness of language is called vagueness．As for the notion of vagueness, Pirce is considered to be the producer and initiator．In order to better understand vague words and expressions, many factors should be thought over. For example, the communication context, the mutual background information and the comprehending ability of the listeners．As the above discussion, it can be confirmed that vagueness is related with speakers and listeners, as well as other factors．