The Vague Expressions in English News Headlines and Film Works

Abstract

As a language phenomenon, vagueness has been a prevalent research subject in verbal communication. According to Dictionary of Language and Linguistics, vagueness is expressions that possess uncertain semantic content and undefined extensions, yet remain comprehensible. Hedges and fuzzy language frequently appear in mass media, including news articles, subtitles, and television shows. In film and television production, to enhance their global visibility, it is essential to account for the contextual and cultural differences between Chinese and foreign audiences during the translation of subtitles, in which the use of vague expressions plays an indispensable role. This paper investigated the use of vague expressions in news headlines and English subtitles of a Chinese film, analyzing their linguistic features and pragmatic functions within these specific contexts. The study aims to provide an overview of how vagueness is employed across the Chinese and English languages, shedding light on the translation tendency of Chinese translators towards the use of words in such communicative texts.