Summary of Hedge and Modality Study文档格式.docx

Summary of Hedge and Modality Study文档格式.docx

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Vaguenessisoneoftheessentialfeaturesofnaturallanguagesandphenomenaoffuzzylanguageexisteverywhereinourdailylife.Whenpeoplecan’tmakesureofwhattheyaresaying,theyoftenemployvaguelanguagetoexpresstheiropinionsonsomeoccasions,andinthiswaytheycanmakethecommunicationcontinuesmoothly.Since20thcentury,researchersathomeandabroadhavemadewidespreadstudiesonvaguephenomenainlanguageuse,andhedges,asanimportantmemberofvaguelanguage,havealsobeenstudiedbroadly.

Thisarticleisasummaryofcurrentstudiesofhedgeandmodalitymainlyaboutthedefinitions,classificationsandpragmaticrealizationandfunctions.

.LiteratureReview

In1965,LoftiA.ZadehpublishedanarticleFuzzySets.Influencedbyhim,G.Lakofffirstintroducedthenotion“hedge”inhisfamousarticleHedges:

AStudyinMeaningCriteriaandtheLogicofFuzzyConcepts（1972:

195）tomean“wordswhosejobistomakethingsfuzzier（orlessfuzzy）”.Sincethen,theuseofhedgehasbeenstudiedbymanyotherresearchersasanimportantpragmaticphenomenonfromvariousperspectives.Thestudyshiftedtosociallinguistics,pragmatics,discourseanalysis,andtextanalysis.Hedgesmayintentionallyorunintentionallybeemployedinbothspokenandwrittenlanguagesincetheyarecruciallyimportantincommunication.Andhedgeshelpspeakersandwriterscommunicatemorepreciselythedegreeofaccuracyandtruthinassessments.Inreality,hedgesareusuallyconsideredasapragmaticstrategy.Inrecentyears,thestudyofhedgehasbeengreatlyenrichedinthecontentandtheory,andhedgesarealsousedindifferentfields,suchaspolitics,lawsandbusiness.

1.DefinitionofHedge

Differentresearchersstudyvaguenessinlanguageindifferentways,andnocongruentdefinitionhasbeenformulated.Thefollowingaresomedefinitionsfromdifferentresearchers.

ThenotionoflinguistichedgesisfirstintroducedbyG.Lakoffin1972.Hedefineshedgesasfollows,“Forme,someofthemostinterestingquestionsareraisedbythestudyofwordswhosemeaningimplicitlyinvolvesfuzziness—wordswhosejobistomakethingsfuzzierorlessfuzzy.Iwillrefertosuchwordsas‘hedges’”.Theyincludesuchexpressionsasvery,rather,moreorless,generally,inasense,alittleof,nearly,mostlyandsoon.Herearesomeotherexamples:

（1）John’sfeetweresortofblue.

（2）IthinkJohn’sfeetwereblue.

（3）I’mkindofgladthatIdidn’twin.

（4）Westayedthereforalmostaweek.

（5）Ithinkshehastheabilitytofulfillthetaskontime.

（6）Itissaidthatthesportmeetingwillbeheldsomedaynextmonth.

InaccordancewithLakoff’sconcern,however,BrownandLevinson（1987:

56）havelaterdefinedthetermofhedgesas“aparticle,wordorphrasethatmodifiesthedegreeofmembershipofapredicateoranounphraseinaset”.Thisdefinitionregardshedgesbothasdetensifiersandintensifiers.

DealingwithhedgesfromthepointofviewofteachingandlearningEnglishasasecondlanguage,Holmesdefineshedgesasdevicesforattenuatingthestrengthofutterance（1982a）andasapartofepistemicmodality（1982b,1984）.

Wecanseethathedgescouldbeverbs,adjectives,adverbs,andsoon.Andallthesehedgesexpressmeaningsofunclearorfuzzy,buthedgescouldalsobedividedintoseveralcategories.

2.ClassificationofHedge

Manyscholarsstudyhedgesfromvariousperspectives,andtheymanagetodividehedgesindifferentways.PrinceandhiscolleaguesFraderandBoskstarttheresearchonhedgesfromLakoff’sdefinitionofhedgesasadevicethatmakesthingsfuzzyandclassifyhedgesintotwocategoriesfromtheperspectivesofsemanticsandpragmatics:

approximatorsandshields.Approximatorsaremainlysuchexpressionsaskindof,sortof,about,etc.whichactonmakingmeaningfuzzierorimprecise.Shieldscontainthosewordsorsentencepatternslikemight,perhaps,Ithink,etc.,whichhavesomeconnectionwithspeakers’assessmentofthetruthofthepropositionandindicatethatthespeakersarenotfullycommittedtothevalidityofthepropositiontheyareconveying.

2.1Approximators

Approximatorsarealwaysusedtoaffectthetruth,soastogivearangeorlimitthemeaningtoacertainscopeandtomaketheinterpretationclosertothefact.Approximatorsaffecttruthconditionsofproposition,includingexpressionssuchaskindof,alittlebit,about,andsoon.Approximatorscanbesubdividedintotwotypes.Oneisusuallyappliedwhenapropositionisalmostprecisebutnotfullycertainbythespeaker,suchaskindof,sortof,some,very,quite,almost,entirely,etc.,whicharenamedadaptors.Forexample:

（7）I’mkindofgladthatIdidn’twin.

（8）Westayedthereforalmostaweek.

（9）Hisfeetweresortofblue.