Transcript Modality and hedging - Roma Tre University

Modality and hedging
Verbal modality
1.«concerns with the speaker’s assumptions or
assessment of possibilities»
(what the speaker/writer thinks possible or states
as possible)
2. Indicates the degree of confidence (or lack of
confidence) the speaker has in their statement.
3. Shows the status of the speaker’s
understanding or knowledge
4. Weak epistemic modality (may) suggests a
lower level of commitment to the truth value of a
statement
5. Strong epistemic modality (must) suggests a
higher level of commitment
hedging
• Expression of speculative statements as
opposed to factual language
• Way to express absence of certainty
• Strategic desire not to be too categorical
Hedging establishes the acceptability of the
contribution by the scientific community.
Acceptability largely depends on the respect of
shared formal rules (rhetorical devices in use
within the research community = grammar of
politeness)
How to detect hedging: surface
textual features
• cognitive verbs such as think, believe, suppose, reckon
• plausibility shields, in particular appear, seem. They give
further emphasis to the epistemic verbs (verbs relating
to knowledge) constituting the traditional hedges, such
as suggest, imply, speculate, indicate;
• cues, such as perhaps, maybe, although;
• modal adjectives such as likely, possible, consistent with,
• downtoners (barely, nearly, slightly)
• adverbial forms of the type quite, almost, usually,
probably, etc.
• lexical verbs conveying the idea of modality: indicate,
suggest, propose, advise
• approximators (or “rounders” in Prince 1982)
of quantity, degree, frequency, and time, such
as approximately, roughly, somewhat, quite,
often, occasionally;
• emotionally charged intensifiers: extremely,
particularly, unexpectedly, surprisingly
• The passive
• existential subjects (there+verb+nominal
group)