| Linguistic vagueness has been widely evidenced as a popular phenomenon in language, and hedges, which are the most common, typical and worthwhile elements in the study of vagueness, have been differentiated from it by Lakoff. The thesis takes the social-pragmatic perspective in analyzing hedges'functions in English news. It aims to develop a coherent framework in analyzing hedges in English news context and tends to help English learners get an easy access to English news reading and writing, serving as an efficient way of improving their English level.Lots of studies on English hedges make due contributions to the understanding and mastering of them both at home and abroad, but far from satisfaction, especially in the study of hedges in different genre-based texts. So the first chapter of the thesis has concluded the significance of the study in view of the little study on hedges in English news and the important role played by the learning of appropriate use of hedges for English learners.The second chapter has given the scenario of previous studies on hedges in various approaches. In view of these studies, it has been pointed out that hedges are also widely used in news reporting. However, the specific study of hedges in English news writing is rare. In the third chapter, the Relevance-Adaptation Model by our scholar Yang Ping, as well as the New Concept of Politeness Principle by Xu Shenghuan, displays great force in the functional analysis of hedges in English news. Subsequently, the author has tentatively suggested the functional framework of hedges employed in English news. The functions of hedges in news reporting can be categorized into two superordinate functions, that is, a way to realize the characteristics of news style and a way to coordinate the three parties'intra-relationships in the reporting communication. To be subdivided, hedges can be employed to improve news objectiveness, to elevate news appropriateness, to bring news brevity and to integrate the sense of humor into news reporting so as to fulfill the demands of news style; next, they can be rephrased into three sub-functions in lubricating the involved intra-personal relationships in news context, that is, to protect the author himself/herself, to cater for the readers'requirements and to safeguard the third party's interests. And the pragmatic functions of hedges in English news are analyzed with concrete sample sentences taken from recently issued magazines or papers briefly in this chapter, with the following two chapters demonstrating the elaborate illustration.To sum up, the sixth chapter concludes the functions of hedges in English news and infers hedges'significance in English learners'study. And still the analysis of hedges in the sub-styles of English news needs future exploration. Finally some suggestions for future research are pinpointed.
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