Hedges And Their Pragmatic Functions

Though the traditional thinking holds that the academic writing should be precise and clear, hedges are found abundant in academic journal papers and play an important role. As an important part of vague language, hedges have drawn more and more attention of researchers in recent years; however, it is noteworthy that at home much attention has been devoted to hedges in casual conversations, but little work has been carried out into the expression and functions of hedges in academic writing. This study is therefore undertaken to provide a comprehensive description of hedges in research articles.The present thesis has chosen 10 research articles written by native English speakers from 5 prestigious journals in the field of linguistics as the corpus and attempts to make a comprehensive description of hedges in research articles. In discussing the linguistic realization of hedges in research articles, the present thesis restricts hedges primarily to lexical items. It is found that modal verbs, lexical verbs, adjectives, adverbs and nouns can be hedges. Through the analysis of hedges by using cooperative principle and face threatening acts theory, the conclusion is drawn that hedges perform mainly four pragmatic functions.First of all, hedges can adjust the information to suit the need of readers. By using hedges, writers can give the information whose amount is considered appropriate for the purpose of communication in that situation, because too much detailed information may distract readers'attention from the main points. Secondly, hedges can increase the credibility of the papers. Recognizing the impossibility of exactly quantifying the world, writers seek to balance facts and interpretations as they try to present information as accurately as possible. So hedges can allow writers to express a proposition with greater precision. Thirdly, hedging is also an important strategy writers use for self-protection. Hedges can help writers guard against any potential criticism resulting from poor judgment. Finally, hedging is a politeness strategy contributing to the good interpersonal atmosphere of communication between writers and readers. By inviting the readers'view and engagement in the dialogue with writers, hedges help writers to develop a relationship with readers, thus gaining more possibility of acceptance for claims on part of readers. What is more, writers often resort to hedges to soften academic disagreements and criticisms.Before the thesis ends, some suggestions are put forward for the teaching of using hedges in academic writing and some issues for further study. By arousing students'awareness of hedges used in academic writing, teachers should help students notice the important functions of hedges in academic writing and encourage students to use hedges appropriately in their own writing.