HEDGES

Abstract

As a brief glance into the registers of linguistic books (especially introductory books) shows, the notion of hedges can be encountered quite frequently in very different disciplines of linguistics. A sufficient explanation, however, is provided rather seldom and if given often either incomplete or not up-to-date (cf. Bußmann 2002), who only quotes the definition of the Lakoff model described below). When looking for more details, one is likely to encounter a great deal of different, sometimes even contradictory definitions, leading to a rather torn picture of the topic. This paper will investigate some of the basic concepts and definitions and try to hint in the direction of a feasible working-solution. It will conclude by giving an account of the practical usability of the concept of hedges. All explanations will necessarily be very brief, owing to the scope of the paper. For a more detailed discussion see the excellent work by Clemen (1998), which mainly contributed to this paper.