A Study Of Hedges In Chinese Interview Programs From The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

In our daily life, people often use vague language to communicate with eachother. As an integral part of vague language, hedges play a very important role in ourdaily communication. Based on the Prince et al’s classifications of hedges, the presentstudy makes a qualitative analysis of the usage of hedges in Artist within theframework of Adaptation Theory, intending to explore the pragmatic attributes ofhedges, how communicators use hedges to adapt to the contextual correlates ofinterview programs and the metapragmatic awareness behind the use of differentkinds of hedges.It begins with a review of previous research on hedges at home and abroad fromsemantic study, pragmatic study and empirical study. Based on a brief introduction tothe theoretical framework of the present study—Verscueren’s Adaptation Theory, thepaper first identifies the linguistic realization forms of hedges used in Artist, and thenclassifies them into different types according to context according to Prince et al’sclassifications of hedges. The frequency of each type of hedges used by the host andguests is calculated. The study demonstrates that in interview program Artist, hedgesare realized by various linguistic forms. Among different types of hedges, the host andguests use adaptors most, followed by plausibility shields. Attribution shields comelast. Host and guests use adaptors to modify the truth-condition of proposition tomake the utterances which are partly correct much closer to the fact and avoid beingarbitrary. They use rounders to modify or replace accurate numbers. Moreover, whenthey are uncertain about their utterances and want to mitigate tone, they useattribution shields in most cases. The paper also investigates how interview communicators use hedges to adapt tothe contextual correlates of interview program from the occasion of interviewconversations in Artist, the mental world of interview interlocutors and the socialsetting of interview program. The ingredients of interview occasion of program Artistinclude the situation of speaker and interpreter, and temporal reference. As beingbroadcast to the public, the conversations in interview program Artist are bothinformal and institutional, the settings of which are more complicated than dailycommunication. The host asks questions on behalf of program and audience instead ofhimself, so he often uses hedges to indicate the source of information. Artistextensively presents artists’ artistic experience and life story and shares them withaudience. So the interview communicators are bound to recall their past and lookforward to future, in the process of which, they always employ hedges as an effectivecommunicative device. In terms of the mental world, interview interlocutors oftenapply hedges to adapting to their intentions of self-protecting and avoidingresponsibility, showing politeness and saving hearers’ face, and being cooperative andfencing with questions. In the social setting of interview program, in order to adapt totheir roles, authority and power relationships, and values and norms of specific culture,interlocutors often employ hedges as a communicative strategy to achieve certaincommunicative purposes.All language uses are results of making choices under the guidance andregulation of meta-pragmatic awareness. As typical indicators of meta-pragmaticawareness, hedges can reflect language users’ cognitive and psychological state aswell as their communicative intention and purpose. This paper explores themeta-pragmatic awareness behind different types of hedges. The study shows that theuse of adaptors needs higher meta-pragmatic awareness than rounders, attributionshields than plausibility shields.It is hoped that this study can provide a brand-new perspective for the study ofhedges and direct people’s strategic use of hedges in daily communication.