摘 要:随着20世纪六七十年代以来模糊语言学的发展,语言中的模糊现象日益受到关注。模糊限制语不仅在中文新闻报道中广泛使用，在英语新闻报道中也随处可见。本文将对英语新闻中的模糊限制语进行分析，找出它们在英语新闻中的存在理据，并进而分析它们在新闻中的功能。通过分析发现，恰当地使用这些模糊限制语不仅不会违背新闻语言客观、准确的表达要求，反而会在一定程度上增强语言的客观性和准确性。此外,模糊限制语还在文本效果、语用效果等方面体现出其在新闻英语报道中的重要价值。本文旨在为新闻英语的阅读和写作提供某些有益启示，增强人们对新闻英语中模糊限制语的理解，并提高对模糊限制语的使用技巧。

关键词：模糊限制语；新闻英语；功能

Abstract:With the development of hedges since the sixties of the twentieth century, the hedges in language have been drawn increasing attention. They are not only widely used in Chinese news reports, but also can be seen everywhere in news English. This article chooses the hedges in English news as a study subject to discover the justification for their existence, and further analyzes their functions in news English. The study has found that the proper usage of these hedges will not go against the objective and accurate requirement of the journalistic expressions, but enhance the objectivity and accuracy of the language. In addition, hedges play an important role textually and pragmatically. This paper aims to bring some helpful tips for reading and writing news English, enhance readers’ understanding of hedges and improve the techniques of using them.

Key words: hedges; news English; function

Contents

摘 要 i

Abstract ii

Ⅰ. Introduction 1

Ⅱ. Definition and Classification of Hedges 2

2.1 The Definition of Hedges 2

2.2 The Classification of Hedges 3

2.2.1 Approximators 4

2.2.2 Shields 4

Ⅲ. The Reasons for Using Hedges in News English 5

3.1 Objective Reasons 5

3.2 Subjective Reasons 7

Ⅳ. The Functions of Hedges in News English 9

4.1 Textual Function 9

4.1.1 Precision Function 10

4.1.2 Generalization Function 10

4.2 Pragmatic Function 11

4.2.1 Politeness Function 11

4.2.2 Self-protection Function 13

Ⅴ. Conclusion 14

Bibliography 16

Acknowledgments 17

An Analysis of the Hedges and Their Functions in News English

Ⅰ. Introduction

What we call journalism is the work related to the information reported and disseminated about affairs happening recently, and the the contents of the information should be true transmission of the fact. Nevertheless, the objective facts are not news. The reported news is the conceptualized information the reporter forms after the subjective reflection from the objective facts, including the message the reporter produces after his subjective comprehension of the objective facts. The characteristics of journalism are to be authentic, to provide true information as much as possible, to be accurate, concise and timely.

In the real life, the journalists usually use some words with fuzzy expressions, that is to say hedges, which means to convey the information when they don’t have the confidence to reflect the reality of the subject, and they are unable to confirm and assure it otherwise (Lakoff 183). The fuzziness of the words means the indeterminacy and unclarity of the language, which is beyond dispute in academia. The fuzziness of words is characterized by continuity, relativity and uncertainty, among which feature the continuity is the most obvious one. It is hard to find an appropriate point of pision to the two connected things, and the extension of the objective things’ nature is continuous and uncertain, just like the four seasons with no definite splitting point. Relativity refers to that the word is clear on the one hand, but fuzzy on the other hand, which has much to do with subjective evaluation reflecting the real world. Uncertainty refers to that the same word has different meanings from different points of view, and the concept of expressions belongs to “A” and also “B”, just like the intersection of two collections.