Analysis of Hedges and Their Pragmatic Functions in News

中图分类号：H0 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1007-0745（2013）01-0007-01

摘要：模糊限制语，是现实世界中的语言现象。新闻中使用模糊限制语，是其准确性、简洁性、时效性等决定的。对BBC和NYT上的语料分析，笔者研究得出其语用功能：增强准确性；保持灵活性和提高可信度。

关键词：模糊语 新闻 语用功能

1.Introduction Fuzziness is the nature of language， and hedging is a crucial part of fuzzy language. G. Lakoff （1972） first studies the fuzzy words in the field of linguistics and his focus is on the logical properties of hedges in their ability “to make things fuzzier or less fuzzy”.He also suggests that hedges are words whose job is to make things fuzzier or less fuzzy （quoted from He Zi-ran， 2003：141）. Now， many scholars start to inquire into the application of hedges in all kinds of genres， but the research findings of hedges in English news are not quite persuasive from pragmatics. Therefore， the writer explores the pragmatic functions of hedges in the online materials from BBC and New York Times by contextual analysis of the hedges to sum up their pragmatic functions and to make the readers understand the hedged sentence. From the above mentioned， it can be concluded that hedging， referring to those words and expressions making things fuzzier or less fuzzy， is a linguistic device to encode the speaker’s degree of commitment to the truth condition.

2.Pragmatic Classification of Hedges Prince divides hedges into two types from the pragmatic view， approximators and shields. Approximators can be further classified into adaptors and rounders， while shields cover plausibility shields and attribution shields as their own subordinate members （Dong Chan， 2006）.Approximators affect the truth conditions of the propositions associated with them but not the speaker's commitment （He Zi-ran， 2003： 142）. This type of hedges also can change or even cancel the original meaning.One is adaptors，which can change the degree of truth condition of the statement， including sort of， somewhat， commonly， etc.The other type of approximators is rounders， which give a certain range to a proposition. There are rounders， such as around，roughly， etc..Shields do not affect the truth conditions of the propositions. With plausibility shields， speaker/writer makes his direct estimation or shows his hesitation towards the event， such as I think， probably， as far as I can， etc. Attribution shields are used to express the attitude of guess or doubt that is stated by a third person， though the writer also agrees with the same idea， such as presumably， someone says that.

3.Characteristics of News Truthfulness and accuracy are the key elements in news and are essential for the information conveying. These require the pressman to report the facts accurately and objectively. Then， news information also needs conciseness. One of reporter’s purposes is to use the briefest words to provide the most information. Another aspect is that the value of news diminishes with time. So timeliness plays an important role in news reporting.

4.Pragmatic Functions of Hedges in News Application of hedges plays a great role in the information propagation of news and strengthens the expressive force. Here the pragmatic functions list as follows.

1.Achieving accuracy.When the writer edits the news report， it is impossible for him to provide the thorough knowledge of latest news. ①The leadership is planning to bring it back this week under the normal rules.（New York Times）“Under the normal rules”， indicates that the reporter confines his statement to a limited range， in which the truth-condition of the statement is assured.

2.Improving flexibility.Reporters used hedges to avoid being too affirmative about the information conveyed through news， when they lack enough evidence②Currently there are some 100，000 United States forces in Afghanistan.（New York Times）“Some” makes the above example fuzzy but more flexible. Readers will not criticize the reporter even if the real number of United States forces in Afghanistan was not correct， for the use of hedge helps solve the problem on the point.

3.Enhancing credibility.③The cabinet shake-up has long been demanded by Mr. Fayyad and others in the Fatah faction， according to Reuters news agency.（BBC）In order to improve the credibility of the news， the reporter states the source，by“according to”. Reuters news agency， as a renowned news medium， provides the relatively trustworthy news information. Though the reporter is in favor of the opinion of the reports show， to state the source can make the information objective and reliable.

5.Conclusion As fuzziness is the nature of language， the application of hedges stands to reason. The plausible use of hedges can be of benefit for smooth communication. Hedging could moderate the speaker/writer’s language， and make clear his views. Hence， it is urgent for the scholars to explore and utilize the pragmatic functions of hedges.

Bibliography：

[1]G. Lakoff. Hedges： A Study in Meaning Criteria and the Logic Fuzzy Concepts [A]. Chicago： Chicago Linguistic Society， 1972

[2]董婵. A Pragmatic Analysis of Hedges in Journalistic English[D]. 广西大学， 2006

[3]何自然. Notes on Pragmatics[M]. 南京：南京师范大学出版社， 2003

[4]何自然， 冉永平. 新编语用学概论 [M]. 北京：北京大学出版社， 2009