A Pragmatic Study Of Hedges In Communicaton

Hedge is a universal and complicated phenomenon of language use. Hedges are widely used in different types of communication and exist in almost all human language. Hedges can play important roles in the interaction of human beings when being used properly and appropriately.In communicative activities, people in everyday conversation not only transmit their information, but also exchange their feelings. They use their communicative strategies as well as their relations with others. Hence the study of everyday conversation is of great importance.Up to now, studies of hedges are far from being satisfactory. Therefore, this paper attempts to take Adaptation Theory to analyze the use of hedges. Based on this theory, proposed by Jef Verscheren, it is held that the use of hedges is a process of continuously making choices with consciousness or not, explanations on how the adaptation is conducted are made with detailed illustration of examples. In the process of interaction, language user makes choice of hedges to achieve his communicative goals and intentions. And it is the three properties of natural language that make it possible to make continuous choices; they are viability, negotiability and adaptability. During the process of choice making, language user has to make adaptation. To be specific, physical, social and mental world have to be adapted to. Comparably speaking, Adaptation Theory provides a clearer account of the use of hedges.The language in "Tell It Like It Is" is typical modern spoken Chinese. A case study of this interview program can offer us knowledge of how hedges operate in modern Chinese and thus deepen our understanding of communication in the language. Meanwhile, hedges are an important part of natural language and play a significant role in human communication. The research on hedges sheds light on how we use hedges to reach our communicative goals. This in turn enhances communicators' linguistic expressiveness and improves the interpersonal relationship between them. Last but not least, a detailed analysis of the pragmatic features of hedges in TV interview contributes to a better understanding of the hedging phenomenon.