Abstract
Hedging, the expression of tentativeness and possibility by means of epistemic devices, is often held to be a central feature of more technical ESP texts such as scientific specialist-to-specialist research articles. Furthermore, hedges are also seen as characteristic of medical discourse. This study demonstrates that in medical discourse hedging can also be applied frequently in less specialized ESP texts such as popular scientific articles, but in different communicative functions than in specialist discourse. Hedging, an indication of textual precision and interpersonal negative politeness in scholarly peer communication, may be used as a textual tool for both imprecision and precision as well as a feature of interpersonal positive politeness in popularized communication between specialist writers and non-specialist readers. The implications of such functional diversity of hedging should receive more emphasis in the teaching and research of ESP.
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