A Study on Fuzzy Words in Chinese Diplomatic Discourse

This paper discusses the use of time-fuzzy words and frequency-fuzzy words in President Xi Jinping’s diplomatic speeches, and analyzes the fuzziness of the words “long-term” and “continuous”, which are frequently used in the time-fuzzy words and frequency-fuzzy words. Meanwhile, it discusses the pragmatic function of these two words based on specific corpus of diplomatic speeches. According to the study, it is found that the use of fuzzy words in diplomatic speech is typical and representative, which is of vital importance to the writing of political-style writing and political communication. In political language writing, the pragmatic function of fuzzy words cannot be replaced by precise words. However, the use of fuzzy words requires certain rules and regulations, such as grasping the ambiguity degree of fuzzy words and combining fuzzy words with precise words. Otherwise, the political discourse will look like stereotyped and rigid, resulting in a negative impact of fake and inane political discourse language.