美国总统和英国首相政治演讲中模糊限制语的对比研究

以美国总统和英国首相的政治演讲为语料依据,对模糊限制语在两个语料中的使用情况进行定量分析。研究显示：两国领导人都高频使用直接缓和语,情态动词的出现频率远远高于其他同类的直接缓和语。英国首相使用模糊限制语的频率要高于美国总统。英国首相更倾向于使用程度变动语和直接缓和语。两国领导人高频使用模糊限制语,不仅使语言更精确、可靠...

A comparative study on hedges in political speeches of American presidents and British prime ministers

Based on political speeches made by American presidents and British prime ministers,a quantitative analysis of the hedges use in these materials is made in this paper.Study shows that the frequency of plausibility shields in both speech datum is the highest,and the frequency of model verbs is significantly higher than any other plausibility shields.The contrastive study also demonstrates that British prime ministers tend to use hedges more often than American presidents,especially in the the aspects of adaptors and plausibilityshmlds. The highly use oI hedges by two nations＇leaders not only makes the language more accurate, credible and polite, but also har- monizes the relationship between orators and audiences, thus protecting both faces and achieving the communicative purposes.