Hedges Language And Its Communicative Function

Fuzziness is the fundamental feature of human language. In the human language, there are a great number of words that express the concepts, which have not definite boundaries, namely "fuzzy concepts". Hedges, as the most universal and the most typical phenomenon, are widely applied in every aspect of human language.The goal of this paper is to try to analyze thoroughly the hedges and their communicative functions in the language use. It begins with the origin and development of hedges, and then introduces the definition and classification. Apart from that, the main part of the paper analyzes the pragmatic use of hedges in detail through the communicative principles and the different communicative functions of hedges in different field. From the analysis we can learn that hedge is the essential ability for every language users. Its appropriate use can enhance the effect of language expression and improve the verbal communication to fulfill different purposes.