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Abstract：Hedges as part of communication can achieve many purposes of communication. In the article， the author made comparisons between the use of hedges in the dialogs in the English workTessD’Urberville andChinese work The Moment in Pekingwithinthe framework of PolitenessPrinciple.
Key Words：Hedge; comparison; Politeness Principle
1.Introduction
The term Hedge was first put forward in 1972 by American semanticG Lakoffin Hedges： A study in Meaning Criteria and the Logic of Fuzzy Concepts（1972）. He Ziran pointed out that the hedges have two types， （1） approbatory， such as sort of， a lot etc. may change the truth-value condition of a proposition. （2） Shields， （like I think， I am afraid， etc.） would not change the truth-value condition of a proposition， but make the utterance more acceptable and appear polite.
It’s known to us that by obeying thePoliteness Principle， people can make communication effectively and smoothly. But sometimes people do not obey the principle， when this happens people want to achieve purpose of communication.
2.Pragmatic analysis of Hedges in English and Chinese literature
2.1 The functions of hedge under Politeness Principle
2.1.1Appearmodest and polite
1. （Tess） “It isn’t business-it is-I can hardly say what！”
“Pleasure？”
“Oh no. why， sir， if I tell you， it will seem—”
……
“It is so very foolish. “She stammered; “I fear I can’t tell you！”
“Nevermind; I like foolish things. Try again， my dear，” said he kindly.
“Mother asked me to come，”Tess continued; “and， indeed， I was in the mind to do so myself likewise. But I did not think it would be like this I came， sir， to tell you that we are of the same family as you.” （Tess D’Urberville， Hardy）
This happened when Tess met Alec for the first time to claim the kin. She applied the words “so very” to modify the “foolish”， and obeys the Modesty Maxim （Maximize dispraise of self） by which make her appear modest since it’s the first they have met.
2.“My husband often praises them at home，” said the physician wife. “I have heard that they are both accomplished in household arts and understand astronomy， geography， mathematics， and medicine， besides sewing， cooking， and embroidery.”
“It isn’t true，” said the girl’s mother modestly. “It is all because you and your husband love them and are indulgent toward them.”（LinYutang， “Moment in Peking”， 126） When the physician wife made compliment to Mrs. Yao. She used “often” to increase her compliment to Mrs. Yao， which obeys the Approbation Maxim， in order to appear more polite. When she was flattered by what the physician wife said， she answered back “it isn’t true”which obeyed ModestyMaxim （Minimizepraise of self）. By doing so， Mrs. Yao seemed to be modest and made the conversation run successfully. This way of communicating is oriented in Chinese traditional culture which place high on the virtues such as modest.
3. “Very kind of your mother， I’m sure. And I， for one， don’t regret her step.” Alec looked at Tess as he spoke， in a way that made her blush a little. “And so， my pretty girl， you’ve come on a friendly visit to us， as relations？”
“I suppose I have，” faltered Tess， looking uncomfortable again.（Tess D’Urberville， Hardy）
In this conversation， Alec also obeyed the Approbation Maxim （Maximize praise of others）. He used the “very”“I’m sure” to appear polite and make good impression on Tess.
2.1.2Save other’s face.
4. “Tess， why do you dislike my kissing you？”
“I suppose-because I don’t love you.” （Tess D’Urberville， Hardy， 66）
Tess and Alec were on the way home， after Alec rescue her from the fight with the dark queen. Though Tess doesn’t like Alec， but she applied “I suppose”“sometimes” to modify the tone， and thus to appear more polite which save the face of Alec， for she felt sort of grateful for the rescue.）
2.1.3Protect others
5. “The little ‘bad-goods’！” snorted Mr. Tseng.
Cassia was greatly concerned at what her child had said.
“Don’t listen entirely to what the child says. It may or may not be true.”（LinYutang， “Moment in Peking”， 54）
After Mulan fell off the tree， Sunya was asked to describe what had happened. Mr. Tseng was very angry to know that Chinya caused the accident and wanted to punish Chinya. In this conversation we could find that Cassia applied the hedges “not entirely”“May”“may not” in her utterance whichobeyed the Tact maxim （Minimize cost to others）. By doing so she wanted to protect Chinya from being punished.
Conclusion
The use of hedges in both Chinese and English works share many similarities as well as differences especially pragmatic functions produced by using hedges.People in China or west tend to use the Plausibility Shields such as “I suppose” which obey the Politeness Principle to make their words more convincing and conversationsmore smooth. However， in the west， people are more direct and are ready to take praise from others while Chinese people tend to cherish the virtueof modest， and often reject others’ praise. In example 3， when Alec praised Tess’s mother， she didn’t deny， while in example 2， when Mulan was praised， her mother used “it isn’t true” to deny the praise and thus appeared modest.
References
[1]Lakoff， G. 1972， “A Study in Meaning Criteria and Logic of Fuzzy Concepts”. Journal of Pragmatics
[2]Prince， e. et al. 1982. On Hedging in Physician Discourse. Linguistics and Professions， 6
[3]He Ziran.2003， Notes on pragmatics. Nanjing： Nanjing Normal University Press
[4]楊淑君，2002模糊限制语与言语交际，外语教学， 4
[5]朱美慧，2002，模糊限制语在会话礼貌中的语用功能，《对外经济贸易大学学报》，5：50-5
Key Words：Hedge; comparison; Politeness Principle
1.Introduction
The term Hedge was first put forward in 1972 by American semanticG Lakoffin Hedges： A study in Meaning Criteria and the Logic of Fuzzy Concepts（1972）. He Ziran pointed out that the hedges have two types， （1） approbatory， such as sort of， a lot etc. may change the truth-value condition of a proposition. （2） Shields， （like I think， I am afraid， etc.） would not change the truth-value condition of a proposition， but make the utterance more acceptable and appear polite.
It’s known to us that by obeying thePoliteness Principle， people can make communication effectively and smoothly. But sometimes people do not obey the principle， when this happens people want to achieve purpose of communication.
2.Pragmatic analysis of Hedges in English and Chinese literature
2.1 The functions of hedge under Politeness Principle
2.1.1Appearmodest and polite
1. （Tess） “It isn’t business-it is-I can hardly say what！”
“Pleasure？”
“Oh no. why， sir， if I tell you， it will seem—”
……
“It is so very foolish. “She stammered; “I fear I can’t tell you！”
“Nevermind; I like foolish things. Try again， my dear，” said he kindly.
“Mother asked me to come，”Tess continued; “and， indeed， I was in the mind to do so myself likewise. But I did not think it would be like this I came， sir， to tell you that we are of the same family as you.” （Tess D’Urberville， Hardy）
This happened when Tess met Alec for the first time to claim the kin. She applied the words “so very” to modify the “foolish”， and obeys the Modesty Maxim （Maximize dispraise of self） by which make her appear modest since it’s the first they have met.
2.“My husband often praises them at home，” said the physician wife. “I have heard that they are both accomplished in household arts and understand astronomy， geography， mathematics， and medicine， besides sewing， cooking， and embroidery.”
“It isn’t true，” said the girl’s mother modestly. “It is all because you and your husband love them and are indulgent toward them.”（LinYutang， “Moment in Peking”， 126） When the physician wife made compliment to Mrs. Yao. She used “often” to increase her compliment to Mrs. Yao， which obeys the Approbation Maxim， in order to appear more polite. When she was flattered by what the physician wife said， she answered back “it isn’t true”which obeyed ModestyMaxim （Minimizepraise of self）. By doing so， Mrs. Yao seemed to be modest and made the conversation run successfully. This way of communicating is oriented in Chinese traditional culture which place high on the virtues such as modest.
3. “Very kind of your mother， I’m sure. And I， for one， don’t regret her step.” Alec looked at Tess as he spoke， in a way that made her blush a little. “And so， my pretty girl， you’ve come on a friendly visit to us， as relations？”
“I suppose I have，” faltered Tess， looking uncomfortable again.（Tess D’Urberville， Hardy）
In this conversation， Alec also obeyed the Approbation Maxim （Maximize praise of others）. He used the “very”“I’m sure” to appear polite and make good impression on Tess.
2.1.2Save other’s face.
4. “Tess， why do you dislike my kissing you？”
“I suppose-because I don’t love you.” （Tess D’Urberville， Hardy， 66）
Tess and Alec were on the way home， after Alec rescue her from the fight with the dark queen. Though Tess doesn’t like Alec， but she applied “I suppose”“sometimes” to modify the tone， and thus to appear more polite which save the face of Alec， for she felt sort of grateful for the rescue.）
2.1.3Protect others
5. “The little ‘bad-goods’！” snorted Mr. Tseng.
Cassia was greatly concerned at what her child had said.
“Don’t listen entirely to what the child says. It may or may not be true.”（LinYutang， “Moment in Peking”， 54）
After Mulan fell off the tree， Sunya was asked to describe what had happened. Mr. Tseng was very angry to know that Chinya caused the accident and wanted to punish Chinya. In this conversation we could find that Cassia applied the hedges “not entirely”“May”“may not” in her utterance whichobeyed the Tact maxim （Minimize cost to others）. By doing so she wanted to protect Chinya from being punished.
Conclusion
The use of hedges in both Chinese and English works share many similarities as well as differences especially pragmatic functions produced by using hedges.People in China or west tend to use the Plausibility Shields such as “I suppose” which obey the Politeness Principle to make their words more convincing and conversationsmore smooth. However， in the west， people are more direct and are ready to take praise from others while Chinese people tend to cherish the virtueof modest， and often reject others’ praise. In example 3， when Alec praised Tess’s mother， she didn’t deny， while in example 2， when Mulan was praised， her mother used “it isn’t true” to deny the praise and thus appeared modest.
References
[1]Lakoff， G. 1972， “A Study in Meaning Criteria and Logic of Fuzzy Concepts”. Journal of Pragmatics
[2]Prince， e. et al. 1982. On Hedging in Physician Discourse. Linguistics and Professions， 6
[3]He Ziran.2003， Notes on pragmatics. Nanjing： Nanjing Normal University Press
[4]楊淑君，2002模糊限制语与言语交际，外语教学， 4
[5]朱美慧，2002，模糊限制语在会话礼貌中的语用功能，《对外经济贸易大学学报》，5：50-5