Pragmatic Value of Hedging in British Political Discourse

Abstract

Hedging is part and parcel of any discourse (either oral or written). It’s worth mentioning that the functions of hedges are not totally agreed on by the scholars. However, they all admit the multifunctional nature of this phenomenon and its dependence on the context. Mostly hedges imply lack of commitment, indicate politeness (negative and positive), fuzziness, lack of certainty, protecting one’s ego. Despite the extensive research carried out in this area, there are not so many studies that address the issue of hedging in political discourse. The aim of the present study is to analyse pragmatic value of hedging as a means of persuasion and manipulation. Main focus is given to prosodic features and their strategic role in hedging. The material comprises speeches of British politicians at conferences, press conferences, in British Parliament and political debates. The observations made in the paper proved that prosodic means (either in complex with other verbal means or in isolation) contribute to pragmatic effect of hedging in political discourse as a valuable tool to persuade people, to shape their opinion, to mark “us vs them” opposition, protect one’s ego and lack of personal involvement.