A Study Of The Interpersonal Meaning Of Hedges In Light Of Appraisal Theory

The annual Premier’s press conference is a communication platform for the Premier and the domestic and foreign media to discuss hot issues face to face.The information conveyed from the Premier’s press conference is relatively authoritative and reliable,which gains worldwide attention.Therefore,the Premier tries to pursue objectivity,accuracy and authority.He usually turns to some linguistic strategies to achieve his goals.Since Lakoff advanced the term “hedges” in 1972,many scholars have cast the eyesight at it.As an effective linguistic strategy,hedges are widely used by the Premier to negotiate all kinds of attitudes,to show his value position and to deal with interpersonal relationships.Martin’s Appraisal Theory,a new development of the traditional Systemic Functional Linguistics,makes up for the blank of semantic evaluation and deepens the research of the interpersonal meaning.Thus it is considered as a relatively ideal tool to interpret interpersonal meanings.Specifically,the frequencies and distributions of hedges in the selected Premier Li’s press conferences will be explored under subsystems of engagement and graduation,along with ways of realization of the interpersonal meaning are and what interpersonal meanings are realized in the present study.To make the study more feasible and credible,the thesis selects three Premier Li’s press conferences which contain 19,277 words in total.Quantitative and qualitative research methods are used.First,according to Hyland’s and Prince’s definition and classification of hedges,hedges will be identified,classified and calculated with the software of Ant Conc 3.4.4.Second,the qualitative research method will be adopted to explore interpersonal meanings conveyed by different hedges under the subsystems of engagement and graduation based on actual context.According to the study,hedges used as engagement resources and graduation resources occur frequently.In the selected data,the total number of hedges accounts for 6.02%,among which the highest frequency is plausibility shields(42.49%)and the lowest occurrence is direct quotations(0.87%).As for the interpersonal meaning expressed,hedges used as different appraisal resources express different interpersonal meanings.Hedges as engagement resources are used to negotiate the actual or potential external voices,which indicates that Premier Li tends to acknowledge the existence of alternative voices and is willing to open up the dialogistic space for different voices.Among engagement resources,hedges used as entertain resources are used most frequently,accounting for 42.79%,while hedges as distance resources take up 0.07%,which are used least frequently.This is because Premier Li is inclined to interact with the reporters and leaves the space for the alternative views,thus alignment will be established with the audience who hold different views.In contrary,the proclaim resources show the proposition is irrefutable so that alternative voices are excluded.Within hedges as graduation resources,hedges used as force resources outnumber hedges used as focus resources.Furthermore,the number of hedges as upscaling resources outweighs hedges as downscaling resources.This conforms to the stylistics of the Premier’s press conference,which not only strongly indicates the stance but also eliminates challenges that may exist.The present study is a tentative exploration of interpersonal meanings of hedges in Premier Li’s press conferences under the framework of Appraisal Theory.This study is conductive to comprehending the purpose and the stance of Premier Li’s utterances,improving English learners’ understanding of hedges and Appraisal Theory as well as increasing their awareness of applying them in real communication.