A Study on the Pragmatic Functions of Hedges in Xinhuanet English News on Culture

Abstract

Hedges, as an inherent phenomenon of natural language, are ubiquitous in news discourse. Drawing upon the theoretical framework of Adaptation Theory, this study constructs a specialized mini-corpus to investigate the pragmatic functions of hedging devices in Xinhuanet’s English-language cultural news reports. Quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal that hedges occur with high frequency, with adaptors and rounders constituting the dominant subtypes. The findings indicate that the strategic deployment of hedges not only foregrounds the epistemic rigor of journalistic texts but also accommodates the cognitive expectations and mental models of the target readership.