A Pragmatic Study Of Hedges Used By Females From Perspective Of Relevance Theory

Vagueness is one of the essential features of natural languages. As a core member of vagueness, hedging language is also widely used as a communicative and pragmatic strategy, which has drawn a lot of attention in the field of linguistic studies. Researches show that females, compared with males, are inclined to make use of hedges more frequently. Therefore, hedges have become distinguishing features in the females’discourse. Since the1970’s, studies of hedges have been done from different perspectives at home and abroad by linguists. This thesis is chiefly a pragmatic study of hedges used by females in the novel Pride and Prejudice from the perspective of relevance theory.With the help of relevance theory and its principles, the author tries to make analysis from the following questions:1) Whether hedges are used widely by females in their discourse?2) Why hedges are used by females more frequently than males in their discourse?3) What pragmatic functions are mainly realized with hedges used by females in Pride and Prejudice?The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one is introduction including background of study, purpose of study, significance of the thesis and organization of the thesis. Chapter two is literature review which includes the introduction and description of some basic knowledge of hedges, and hedges studies in western countries and in China. Chapter three is theoretical framework and research methodology. It presents the background and the definition of relevance theory, the major principles of relevance theory inclusive of ostensive-inferential model, concept of context, concept of communication in relevance theory, and the relationship between hedges and relevance theory as well. Finally, research methodology used in this thesis is introduced in this chapter. Chapter four is the pragmatic analysis of hedges used by females in Pride and Prejudice based on relevance theory including hedges used by females, the pragmatic functions of hedges used by females, the factors of hedges used by females, and pragmatic analysis of hedges used by females in Pride and Prejudice from perspective of relevance theory. Chapter five is conclusion inclusive of major findings, implications of the study, limitations of the study and suggestions for further research. The author selects dialogues in Pride and Prejudice written by Jane Austin as analyzing materials and qualitative analysis is used to do the research. With a pragmatic study of hedges used by females based on the framework of relevance theory, the author finds that due to the influences of social customs and traditional cultures and the females’ psychological factors as well, females use hedges far more frequently than males, and hedges are demonstrated as functions of interpersonal coordination, self-protection and self-display in females’ discourse, which enables readers be aware of great influence of the hedges in the females’ discourse and then it will help females to achieve the successful communication.