Hedges and Its Pragmatic Impact in Ted Talks on Environmental Issues

The present study explored about Hedges and its Pragmatic Impact in Ted Talks on Environmental Issues. The use of hedges in speeches not only helps speakers to express their views more flexibly but also moderates the tone to a certain extent and enhances the persuasiveness and acceptability of the speech. As a language strategy, hedges play an important role in speech. In TED talks, speakers often resort to hedges to enhance the flexibility, accuracy and acceptability of the message, so as to achieve effective pragmatic cooperation. The study also investigates hedges used in environmental TED talks, aiming to reveal the frequency of hedges in the speeches, the cooperation principles behind them, and the pragmatic functions of hedges. The use of hedges in TED talks on environmental topics can fulfill discourse functions in several ways, helping to protect information accuracy, improve expressive flexibility, maintain linguistic politeness, as well as convey a cautious attitude. The realization of these functions is guided by the cooperative principle, which enables speakers to be more flexible and comfortable in dealing with various complex situations in communication. It is hoped to enrich the pragmatics research perspective of hedges and provide new ideas for understanding the linguistic strategies in environmental-themed TED talks.