摘要 3-4 ABSTRACT 4-5 List of Abbreviations 8-9 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 9-13 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 9-10 1.2 PURPOSES OF PRESENT RESEARCH 10 1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 10-11 1.4 ORIGINALITY OF THE RESEARCH 11-12 1.5 LAYOUT OF THE THESIS 12-13 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 13-30 2.1 VAGUE LANGUAGE 13-18 2.1.1 Concepts of Vague Language 13-16 2.1.2 Previous Studies on Vagueness 16-18 2.2 HEDGES 18-26 2.2.1 Definition of Hedges 18-21 2.2.2 Classification of Hedges and Vagueness of Modal Hedges 21-23 2.2.3 Previous Studies on Hedges 23-26 2.3 VAGUENESS IN LEGAL LANGUAGE 26-30 2.3.1 Legal Language 26-27 2.3.2 Previous Studies on Vagueness in Legal Language 27-30 CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 30-37 3.1 INTRODUCTION 30 3.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 30-31 3.3 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY 31 3.4 CORPORA ESTABLISHMENT AND DESCRIPTION 31-32 3.5 INSTRUMENT 32 3.6 RESEARCH DESIGN 32-33 3.7 DATA ANALYSIS 33-37 CHAPTER FOUR ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 37-52 4.1 IRREMOVABLE VAGUENESS IN LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE 37-38 4.2 AUTHORIZATION OF LAW SHOWN BY THE TENDENCY IN THE USE OF “MAY” 38-41 4.2.1 Meanings of “may” 38-39 4.2.2 “may” in Legislative Language 39-41 4.3 COMPULSION OF LAW SHOWN BY THE TENDENCY IN THE USE OF “SHALL” 41-44 4.3.1 Meanings of “shall” 41-42 4.3.2 “shall” in Legislative Language 42-44 4.4 STABILITY OF LAW SHOWN BY PRIMARY MODAL HEDGES 44-47 4.4.1 Primary Modals, Secondary Modals and Mitigation 44-46 4.4.2 Primary Modals in Legislative Language 46-47 4.5 ANALYSIS OF MODAL HEDGES WHICH SHOW WEAK EPISTEMIC MEANINGS 47-50 4.5.1 Some Classifications of Modal Hedges related to Epistemic Modals 47-48 4.5.2 Epistemic Modal Hedges in Legislative Language 48-50 4.6 ANSWERS TO THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS 50-52 CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSIONS 52-56 5.1 MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE RESEARCH 52-54 5.2 PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS 54-55 5.3 LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 55-56 Acknowledgements 56-57 REFERENCES 57-61 APPENDIX PUBLICATIONS 61 A 作者在攻读学位期间发表的论文目录 61 B 作者在攻读学位期间取得的科研成果目录 61 |
