Abstract
Many studies have been carried out on the operations of hedges in different language discourse especially in scientific reports and academic writing. Amongst these studies, none has focused on the operations, functions and layout of hedges in Nigerian newspapers. It is on this basis therefor that the current study pays attention to the nature and pragmatic functions which hedges are deployed in Nigerian newspaper editorials. It is the academic gap which the present study unravels. The study used the categorisation of hedges provided by Salager Meyer (1994) as the theoretical framework. The study sampled six editorials each from the 2017 editorials of the Vanguard, Guardian and Sun newspapers, making a total of 18 editorials for analysis. At the end, the study present amongst other findings that the shield hedges are the more frequently used hedges in the newspaper editorials as all the newspapers used it. On the other hand, the study found out that no newspaper editorial used the compound hedge as there was none found in the sampled data.
Highlights
Newspaper editorials remain an avenue for newspaper houses to project their opinions, ideologies and serve as a voice on burning social, political or economic issues in society
The study found out that no newspaper editorial used the compound hedge as there was none found in the sampled data
The study presents the following as the findings: 1. That the shield hedges are the most frequently used hedges in the newspaper editorials as all the newspapers used it
Summary
Newspaper editorials remain an avenue for newspaper houses to project their opinions, ideologies and serve as a voice on burning social, political or economic issues in society. In the communication processes, the newspaper reserves the right to choose what to say and how to say it to the readers just like every language user. They can in an implicit manner relate to the readers how certain or doubtful they are with the information they are giving out to the audience. This is the point at which hedging comes in editorials. According to Hyland (1996, p.1), ‘hedging is the expression of tentativeness and possibility.’
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