A Study On The Interpersonal Meaning Of Hedges In English Interview Programs

Since Lakoff first introduced the concept of hedging or hedges in1972, much research has been done on hedges and the research scope has been broadened from the field of semantics to pragmatics and discourse analysis. The data involved in hedging study mainly includes news commentary, research articles, courtroom discourse and so on. However, little research has been done on hedges in interview programs.In interview programs, the interviewer and the interviewee manage to adopt stances and negotiate with people holding different positions by employing hedges. Therefore, hedges play a significant role in meaning negotiation, and the interpersonal meaning of hedges should not be ignored.As a partial response to the limitations of previous research, this thesis aims to conduct systematic research on the linguistic forms and interpersonal meaning of hedges in the transcripts of30NPR interview programs on NSA surveillance reform within the framework of appraisal theory. Specifically, the present study attempts to answer four questions:(1) What are the linguistic forms of hedges in the selected interviews?(2) What are the frequencies of different types of hedges in the data?(3) How are hedges employed in NPR interview programs distributed in the subsystems of engagement and graduation?(4) What are the interpersonal meanings of hedges in the selected interview programs?The present study adopts both quantitative and qualitative research methods. In the first place, hedges in the data are identified and classified according to the definition and classification proposed by Hyland (1996,1998) and Prince, Frader and Bosk (1982). Then, hedges in each category are counted by using the software Ant Conc3.2.1. Based on the statistics from Ant Conc3.2.1, the percentage of each category is calculated. Next, according to the features of each subsystem under engagement and graduation, hedges in the data are classified into each subsystem. Finally, the interpersonal meaning of hedges is analyzed from a heteroglossic perspective within context via applying the qualitative method. The research findings are as follows.First, the linguistic forms of hedges in the data can be divided into lexical form and syntactic form. Hedges under lexical form include approximators and epistemic modality. Hedges under syntactic form contain concessions, conditionals, direct quotations and rhetorical questions.Second, there are1438hedges in the24300-word data, accounting for5.92%of the whole data. Epistemic modality is used most frequently, accounting for68.85%of all hedges identified. Approximators rank second, and account for15.65%of all hedges. Direct quotations are least used, accounting for only0.21%of all hedges.Third, hedges serve as an important linguistic device in engagement. The research findings suggest that through employing various kinds of hedging engagement resources the speaker manages to adjust the extent to which the dialogistic space is opened up or closed down. In engagement, hedges as entertain resources are employed most frequently, followed by hedges as disclaim resources. By using hedges as entertain resources, the speaker tends to make allowances for dialogistic alternatives and align with those holding different opinions. In contrast, by using hedges as disclaim resources the speaker challenges divergent positions so as to enhance persuasiveness of his own position.At last, hedges in the graduation system mainly involve approximators and modalized expressions of probability and usuality. Research findings show that downscaling hedges outnumber upscaling ones, so the speaker tends to reduce personal commitment to the current proposition and to leave space for dialogistic alternatives.The present study provides a preliminary framework for summarizing the linguistic forms of hedges in interview programs, and is also a tentative exploration to comprehensively analyze the interpersonal meaning of hedges in interview programs via applying appraisal theory. Furthermore, the present study contributes to helping English learners to gain a better understanding of the speaker’s viewpoints in interview programs, and to use hedges appropriately in communication.