A Study On Hedges In English Abstracts Of Theses From Meta-pragmatic Awareness Perspective

Language users,under different degrees of regulations and guidance of meta-pragmatic awareness,adjust language constantly in the process of using language.There are particular traces after regulations and guidance of meta-pragmatic awareness,namely,indicators of meta-pragmatic awareness.Hedges,a kind of indicators,show language users‘ meta-pragmatic awareness in language choices.Theoretically,there is no hedge in academic writing,which requires objectivity,preciseness and accuracy.In fact,as a kind of language devices,hedges are used in academic writing on account of academic research all have limitations.It is very important to envisage hedges in academic writing.The authors use hedges properly in academic writing to show their rigorous meta-pragmatic awareness and modest attitudes,show the clear-cut stances of authors,avoid making arbitrary evaluations on predecessors‘ research results,and play a role in persuading readers to evaluate others‘ studies objectively and leaving readers space to think.An abstract is the epitome and quintessence of the whole paper,which plays an important role in academic communications.Readers and scholars find their desired academic contents through skimming abstracts.Based on Hyland‘s definition(1998)and Varttala‘s classification(2001),the author selects 120 English abstracts of natural science disciplines(chemistry,physics and math)and social science disciplines(history,politics and pedagogy)written by postgraduates in Shanxi Normal University who graduated in 2016 and 2017,and 120 abstracts in English journals written by native researchers as linguistic data,which are further divided into Shanxi Normal University(SNU)group with natural science disciplines group and social science disciplines(SNU-SS)group,and English Journal(EJ)group with natural science disciplines(EJ-NS)group and social science disciplines(EJ-SS)group.With a comparative analysis of the data,the author intends to answer the following research questions:(1)What are the frequencies and categories of lexical hedges in the students‘ English abstracts of social science disciplines and natural science disciplines in SNU?(2)What are the similarities and differences in abstracts between students in Shanxi Normal University and native researchers in terms of lexical hedges use?With the help of quantitative and qualitative analyses on hedges in collected linguistic data,the research results show:(1)Five categories of lexical hedges are all employed in four sub-corpora,and the overall frequency of lexical hedges in English abstracts of natural science disciplines and social science disciplines in Shanxi Normal University is obviously lower than that in the native researchers‘ abstracts.(2)In terms of native researchers,there is an obvious difference of lexical hedges use between natural science disciplines and social science disciplines,and the overall frequency of hedges in social science disciplines is much higher than that in natural science disciplines;in terms of postgraduates in Shanxi Normal University,there is a slightly difference of lexical hedges use in abstract writing between natural science disciplines and social science disciplines,and the overall frequency of lexical hedges use in social science disciplines is slightly higher than that in natural science disciplines.(3)The frequency orders of the five categories of hedges used in abstracts of natural science disciplines and social science disciplines in Shanxi Normal University are similar;while the frequency orders of the five categories used in abstracts written by native researchers in natural science disciplines and social science disciplines are different.(4)In terms of the five categories of hedges,students in Shanxi Normal University have formed their own features,differing from native researchers in using full verbs,modal auxiliaries,adjectives and adverbs.These features indicate that the students need more practice to raise their meta-pragmatic awareness so as to use hedges properly in abstract writing which is an indispensable part for producing high level academic papers.Because lexical hedges in abstracts reflect particular meta-pragmatic functions,control the relationship among the author,the reader,language and objective fact,and help readers understand the pragmatic meanings in academic writing.Therefore,this research helps students in Shanxi Normal University promote their meta-pragmatic awareness,and plays a helpful and positive role in using hedges better in students‘ academic abstract writing of Shanxi Normal University.