Naslov
Frequency and type of hedging devices in medical research articles in English: a corpus-based study

Autori
Krišković, Arijana ; Tominac Coslovich, Sandra

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, ostalo

Skup
29. međunarodni znanstveni skup HDPL-a: Metodologija i primjena lingvističkih istraživanja

Mjesto i datum
Zadar, Hrvatska, 24.04.2015. - 26.04.2015

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Domaća recenzija

Ključne riječi
Hedging devices; tentativeness; pragmatic function; medical research articles in English

Sažetak
Scientific language is considered to be objective and explicit. However, many sentences in scientific research articles are not categorical propositions. Scientific authors prefer to avoid being exact about a scientific claim because of possible inaccuracy of their knowledge. They present their research results and conclusions cautiously and with uncertainty. In doing so, they use tentative language or hedging devices to express their commitment to the proposition. The definition and taxonomy of hedging in academic writing are not clearly determined. Among others linguists, Salager-Meyer (1994), Hyland (1998) and Crompton (1997) offer their definitions and taxonomy of hedges. In this paper we explore the frequency and types of hedging devices in medical research articles. For that purpose, 10 medical research articles in English were selected and the Results and Discussion sections were analyzed. The analysis was based on Crompton's (1997) functional definition and proposed taxonomy of hedges in academic writing. In order to evaluate the role of hedging devices in medical research articles, we applied a combination of methodological approaches, i.e. methodology borrowed from the field of corpus linguistics, manual analysis and introspection-driven research. The results of the analysis regarding the frequency of hedging devices show that hedging is an essential feature of academic writing and a convention in successful communication in medicine. All types of hedged propositions, as characterized by Crompton (1997), were present in our corpus but with different occurrence. Furthermore, the authors also attempted to reveal a pragmatic function of specific types of hedges. Based on Hyland's (1995, 2005) classification of the three main functions that hedges serve, three types of hedges were also distinguished in our corpus: 1. types which express possibility rather than certainty (modals used epistemically, clauses relating to the probability, sentence adverbials relating to the probability), 2. types of hedges which are related to the attenuation of facts rather than a categorical proposition (sentences with copulas other than be), and 3. hedges used to show deference or scientific modesty rather than confidence (author's responsibility for the hypothesis). We can conclude that hedging is a common feature of academic writing and mastering its use contributes to successful scientific communication particularly to non-native speakers of English.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija

POVEZANOST RADA