A Study On Hedges In Political Discourse From The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

Hedges, as a core component of language, are widely used on many occasions. It attracts the attention of many linguists both at home and abroad. They make a study on hedges in many ways. In recent years, linguists'attention shift to the study of hedges in discourse analysis. But little work has been done on the hedges in political discourse. Based on the previous study, the thesis analyzes the features and functions of hedges in political discourse. The thesis is trying to make a study on hedges in political discourse within the framework of Verschueren's Adaptation Theory.The thesis firstly makes a definition of the political discourse, and introduces the principle of data collection and methodology. In the literature review, the thesis presents and analyzes the previous study at home and abroad. It introduces the theoretical framework with the introduction of three properties and four angles in the Adaptation Theory.The thesis focuses on studying how the hedges in political discourse adapt to the context. The thesis, under the guidance of Adaptation Theory, tries to analyze the features and practical functions of hedges used in political discourse. And then the thesis illustrates the adaptation of hedges in political discourse by studying of the hedges adapting to the mental world, the social world and the physical world respectively, and explains how people employ hedges to adapt to contextual correlates in political discourse.The study on hedges in political discourse from the perspective of Adaptation Theory sheds a new light on the language study, and is of great significance to understanding and employing hedges properly in people's daily communication, especially in political and foreign affairs.