Pragmatic Functions And Translation Of Hedges In EAST

As a significant component of fuzzy language, hedge is widely adopted in different types of texts to fulfill certain pragmatic purposes. This term is put forward by the American linguist George Lakoff in 1972. He points out that hedges are words whose job is to make things fuzzier or less fuzzy. Ever since Lakoff proposed the term, scholars at home and abroad have studied this language phenomenon from various perspectives. However, study of hedges in scientific writings is no common at all, let alone the study of hedges in agricultural texts. So far, almost no specific or systematic study on hedges in English for Agricultural Science and Technology (EAST) has been conducted.Based on the research materials, definitions, classifications and linguistic forms of hedges in EAST texts are introduced for the purpose of exploring pragmatic functions of hedges, along with techniques for the translation of hedges in EAST texts by the adoption of qualitative and descriptive method.The research shows that hedges exist in EAST texts mainly at lexical level, syntactic level and discourse level. The reason for the adoption of hedges in EAST texts lies in their crucial pragmatic functions. Hedges work efficiently in helping the writers express their findings objectively and precisely, protect the writers from shouldering responsibilities, show the writers'respect to the readers and make the readers accept their opinions in a better way. The present study also holds that for better translation versions of hedges in EAST texts, Peter Newmark's semantic and communicative translation method can be employed as theoretical basis, and"equivalent effect"should be achieved to the largest extent in the translation process. Finally, translation techniques like replacing hedges in the EAST text directly with their corresponding counterparts in Chinese text, making slight changes, addition and ellipsis are proposed.