Incidental Development of Epistemic Modality in an Interactive Discourse: The Use of Boosters and Hedges

Abstract

Kim, Hyung-Sun. 2016. Incidental Development of Epistemic Modality in an Interactive Discourse: The Use of Boosters and Hedges. Korean Journal of Linguistics, 41-4, 545-570. Epistemic modality (EM) concerns how writers qualify their claims in terms of commitment. It is mostly realized by means of boosters and hedges that constitute a subset of metadiscoursal skills. The outcome texts of a computer-mediated forum created internationally between American and Korean university-level speakers of English was utilized in searching for clues about the incidental development of EM. This study attempted to determine the level of EM occurrences as it changed over time. As for the within-group variance, while the L1 uses stayed at a relatively steady rate for both categories, the L2 use changed in statistically significant degrees. The semantic analysis revealed that the L2 fluctuation moved in the direction of more prudence and deference to audience in voicing one’s opinion as the discourse sessions continued, and the subject-related knowledge increased. Even in employing boosters, the frequency of those featuring strong versions of certainty constantly decreased while that of its milder version, probability markers, increased. This trend was confirmed by the between-group analysis, which also showed the incidental effect was more evident for hedges than for boosters. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for future studies are also offered. (Chosun University)