A Study On Hedges Used In Chinese English Learners’ And Native English Speakers’ English Speeches

Fuzziness is a feature of human language.Hedges,as a vital part of the fuzzy language,commonly exist in a variety of language phenomena.The concept of“hedge”was first proposed by American linguist—Lakoff in the early 1970s.After that,this concept gradually developed at home and abroad.In the past,most studies on hedges mainly focused on written language and pragmatic function of the hedge,and there were relatively few studies on oral language,especially on public speech.This thesis conducts a comparative analysis of the use of hedges in the two corpora—70 Chinese“21^stCentury Cup”motivational speeches and 25 TED motivational speeches,and the token number of the two corpora is 40624 and 41509respectively.The metafunctions of Halliday’s functional grammar are set as the theoretical framework.The author combines Hyland（1998）and Prince’s（1982）classification of hedges and classifies hedges into two categories:lexical hedges and non-lexical hedging devices.Antconc is used to calculate the frequencies and distribution of hedges in the two corpora,and the use of hedges between the two corpora are compared and analyzed by Chi-square test,and then the author explores possible reasons for the similarities and differences.Then,the interpersonal function and textual functions of hedges in these speeches are discussed.Through quantitative and qualitative analysis,this thesis draws the following findings:（1）Hedges are commonly used in Chinese English learners and native English speakers’motivational speeches,with an average of 19.96‰and 20.96‰respectively.At the same time,there are no significant differences in the general frequencies and types of hedges used in the two corpora（p>0.05）.In addition,the lexical hedges are more frequently used than the non-lexical hedges in both corpora.（2）Through the comparative analysis,the author found that adaptors,plausibilities,and modal verbs are the top three of the most frequently used hedges in the Chinese English learner’s corpus,while the top three in the native English speaker’s corpus are adaptors,modal verb,and conditionals.Meanwhile,according to the Chi-square test,it can be seen that there are significant differences in the frequencies of adaptors and modal verbs between the two corpora（p<0.05）.The frequency of adaptors used by native English speakers is significantly higher than that of Chinese English learners,while the frequency of modal verbs used by Chinese English learners is significantly higher than that of native English speakers.（3）According to the result,the author finds that the hedges in the two corpora realize similar interpersonal functions,such as:softening the tone,being decent,enhancing the credibility,relieving responsibility,enhancing preciseness,etc.However,Chinese English learners generally use hedges to lighten the tone and make the content more infectious,and the native English speakers more often use hedges as a polite strategy to enhance the objectivity of the utterance.What’s more,from the Chi-square result,it’s easily found that there are significant differences between the two corpora when hedges realize the interpersonal functions of strengthening persuasiveness and enhancing charisma（p<0.05）.The frequency of Chinese English learners using hedges to enhance charisma is significantly higher than that of native English speakers,while English native speakers use hedges to enhance persuasion more frequently than Chinese English learners.（4）In this thesis,hedges are regarded as a whole,and hedges in motivational speeches mainly realize their textual functions in the following three aspects:structural mechanism,information conveying and their influence on listeners.The results show that although there is no significant difference in the overall frequency and distribution of hedges between Chinese English learners and native English speakers,there are still some differences in the specific use of hedges between the two.The possible factors for these differences are as follows:1)Chinese English learners’low awareness of hedges;2)the complexity of hedges makes it difficult for learners to use hedges accurately;3)the negative transfer of L1 on L2influences the learners’use of hedges.Finally,the author puts forward some pedagogical suggestions for English teaching and learning about hedges:1)teachers should put forward the term“hedges”clearly and explain its definition and classification systematically;2)teachers should illustrate hedges’functions to the students with examples,including pragmatic functions and textual functions;3)students should learn hedges systematically and enrich their pragmatic knowledge of hedges.This thesis not only provides evidence for the study of hedges from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics,but also helps English learners realize the importance of hedges in daily communication and understand the differences in the use of hedges between Chinese English learners and native English speakers in public speeches.So they can better understand and use hedges in public speech,and enhance language communication skills.