A Comparative Study Of Hedges In Chinese And American Foreign Press Conferences From The Perspective Of Appraisal Theory

Hedges are widely used in languages and are considered as an important pragmatic strategy.The foreign press conference is an important carrier of national standpoint policy,and its discourse has important research significance.Studying the hedges in Chinses and American foreign press conferences is a meaningful attempt.In recent years,most researches on hedges have explored the pragmatic functions of hedges from the perspective of Cooperation principle and Politeness Principle Comparative studies on hedges from the perspective of Appraisal Theory are scarce As a new development of Systematic Functional Linguistics,Martin's Appraisal Theory not only makes up for the lack of research on the semantics evaluation,but also deepens the study of interpersonal meaning.Therefore,it is considered as an ideal tool for explaining interpersonal meaning.The thesis aims to make a comparative study of hedges in Chinese and American foreign press conferences from the perspective of Appraisal TheoryThe research questions are as follows1.What are the similarities and differences in the distribution of hedges as appraisal resources in Chinese and American foreign press conferences?2.What are the possible reasons for the similarities and differences?3.What are the interpersonal meanings realized by hedges as appraisal resources in Chinese and American foreign press conferences?The author selects each 10 foreign press conferences from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website and the US State Department website in the past three years for a total number of 84,867 words.Based on Prince et al.'s classification,the author uses BFSU Qualitative Coder software to label and count the hedges.From the perspective of Appraisal Theory,the following conclusions are drawn with a combination of quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis1.The distribution of hedges as appraisal resources in CFPC and AFPC has similarities and differences.(1)Similarities:in engagement system,hedges as'dialogic expansion' resources occupy the largest portion.Within 'dialogic expansion'resources,hedges as 'entertain' resources occupy the largest portion.Within 'attribute'resources,hedges as 'acknowledge' resources take up a larger portion than hedges as'distance' resources.Within‘dialogic contraction'resources,hedges as‘proclaim'resources occupy a larger portion than hedges as 'disclaim' resources.Within'disclaim' resources,hedges as 'deny' resources are employed less than those as'counter' resources.In graduation system,hedges as 'force' resources take up a predominant part compared with hedges as 'focus' resources.Within 'focus' resources,hedges as 'soften' resources outnumber those as 'sharpen' resources.(2)Differences in engagement system,within 'proclaim' resources,in CFPC,hedges as 'pronounce'resources take up the largest portion while in AFPC,hedges as 'concur' resources occupy the largest portion.As for graduation resources,within 'force' resources,there are more hedges as 'intensification' resources in CFPC while there are more hedges as 'quantification' resources in AFPC2.The possible reasons for the above similarities mainly depend on the features of foreign press conferences,communication strategies and purposes.The possible reasons for the above differences lie in the different thinking patterns and different language habits between China and the United States3.The interpersonal meanings conveyed by hedges as appraisal resources in Chinese and American foreign press conferences are as follows:(1)Enhancing reliability and persuasiveness(2)Showing politeness and building a harmonious interpersonal relationship(3)Taking a firm standpoint and showing confidence(4)Achieving self-protection and avoiding responsibilityThe study has the following significance.Theoretically,the present study has made a comparative study of hedges in Chinese and American foreign press conferences from the perspective of Appraisal Theory.It provides a new perspective for the study of discourse in foreign press conferences,broadens the scope of research and complements the limitations of the previous research on hedges to some degreePractically,this study is helpful for people to better understand hedges and the content of foreign press conferences.What's more,this study explores the similarities and differences in the distribution of hedges as appraisal resources and the possible reasons in Chinese and American foreign press conference,which helps people better understand cultural differences and thus facilitate cross-cultural communication.