Hedging in academic text in English

1. Hedging in academic text in English Source: Hinkel, E. (2003). Teaching academic ESL writing: Practical techniques in vocabulary and grammar. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for Academic Purpose: A guide and resource book for teachers. New York: Cambridge University Press

2. Hedging • A feature of academic writing is the need to be cautious in one’s claims or statements. • Hedging represents the use of linguistic devices to show hesitation or uncertainty, display politeness and indirectness, and defer to the reader’s point of view (Hinkel, 1996, 1997).

3. Hedges遁言/hedging避險 • 學術論文寫作並非是不受作者主觀影響的就事論事的客觀陳述,成功的學術英語寫作需要藉助遁言運用以達到特定的交際目的.對遁言的運用和分佈的研究結果表明: 遁言是學術語篇社團成員廣泛使用的一種修辭手段,學術英語中的遁言現像不僅是作者、讀者、語篇三者交互的結果,也是用語言形式體現作者心理取向的產物,是一種認知情態,遁言研究對學術英語具有重要意義.

4. By hedging By attribution By specifying conditions Examples: modal verbs (may, might, etc.) Adverbs (possibly, perhaps, etc.) Adjectives (likely, probably, etc.) Impersonal verbs (suggest, seem, etc.) X expects y … According to X, the y X will happen if Makaya and Bloor (1987)about commitment to a prediction From economic reports

5. Salager-Meyer (1994) in the discussion and comments sections of medical journal articles: • Shield, e.g. all modal verbs expressing possibility; semi-auxiliaries like: to appear, to seem, probablility adverbs like: probabaly, likely; • Approximators, e.g. of quantity, degree, frequency and time viz. approximately, roughly, often

6. Salager-Meyer (1994) in the discussion and comments sections of medical journal articles: • Expression such as ‘I believe’, ‘to our knowledge’, etc. which express the author’s personal doubt and direct involvement; • Emotionally-charged intensifiers, such as: extremely interesting, particularly encouraging, unexpectedly; • Compound hedges, i.e. the juxtapostion of several hedges, e.g. It may suggest that …, it seems reasonable to assume…, etc.

7. EXAMPLE 1, 2: Compare the following: • It may be said that the commitment to some of the social and economic concepts was less strong than it is now.(The commitment to some of the social and economic concepts was less strong than it is now.) • The lives they chose may seem overly ascetic and self-denying to most women today.(The lives they chose seem overly ascetic and self-denying to most women today.)

8. EXAMPLE 3, 4: Compare the following: • Weismann suggested that animals become old because, if they did not, there could be no successive replacement of individuals and hence no evolution.(Weismann proved that animals become old because, if they did not, there could be no successive replacement of individuals and hence no evolution.) • Yet often it cannot have been the case that a recalcitrant trustee remained in possession of the property entrusted to him.(Yet a recalcitrant trustee did not remain in possession of the property entrusted to him.)

9. EXAMPLE 5, 6: Compare the following: • Recent work on the religious demography of Northern Ireland indicates a separating out of protestant and catholic, with the catholic population drifting westwards and vice versa.(Recent work on the religious demography of Northern Ireland shows a separating out of protestant and catholic, with the catholic population drifting westwards and vice versa.) • By analogy, it may be possible to walk from one point in hilly country to another by a path which is always level or uphill, and yet a straight line between the points would cross a valley.(By analogy, one can walk from one point in hilly country to another by a path which is always level or uphill, and yet a straight line between the points would cross a valley. )

10. EXAMPLE 7, 8: Compare the following: • There are certainly cases where this would seem to have been the only possible method of transmission.(There are cases where this would have been the only possible method of transmission.) • Nowadays the urinary symptoms seem to be of a lesser order.Nowadays the urinary symptoms are of a lesser order.