Politeness Function of adaptor Hedges in Tell It Like It Is

王俊

【Abstract】Hedges are prevalent in all kinds of languages. This paper， chosen tell it like it is as the data， mainly discusses the relationship between adaptor hedges and politeness function in TV interview.

【Key words】adaptor hedges； politeness function； TV interview

1.1 Introduction

As a part of fuzzy language， hedges exist prevalently in all kinds of languages. Hedges are also widely employed in TV interview. Therefore， one typical program Tell It Like It Is， is chosen as the data in the present study to find out how hedges help to realize politeness. In the following part， adaptor hedges will be mainly analyzed and discussed from three perspectives， that is， maintaining the hearers face， ones own face and the third partys face.

1.2 Realizing Politeness by Maintaining the Hearers Face

Maintaining the hearers face is mainly concerned with your comments on hearers or what hears do. No matter how positive or negative ones opinion is， one should constantly attend to the hearers face and not have the hearers face humiliated. Please see the following example：

（1）崔永元：（對高明）您今天坐在這里我稍微有點替您擔心，因為我知道您在北京大學讀書的時候，聽過肖灼基先生的課，如果今天我們的話題發生爭論的話，您怎么能跟老師爭呢？

高明：有這么一句話：吾愛吾師，吾更愛真理。

（《實話實說》之“誰來保護消費者？”）

In example （1）， Gao Ming is a distinguished guest as well as a famous lawyer in Beijing Jing Tian Law Firm. Cui， as the host， undoubtedly， should show his respect to the distinguished guests of his program. However， in this dialogue， Cui is worried that Gao Ming might quarrel with Gaos former teacher because of their different opinions. Such a kind of worries is Cuis suspicion of Gaos ability as to whether Gao could properly deal with teacher-student relationship when there is conflict between them. If he does not use hedges and says directly： 您今天坐在這里我替您擔心， his statement will seem too rude and therefore he tends to make his viewpoints hardly accepted by his counterpart. So， he adopts two adaptor hedges 稍微， 有點 to decrease the degree of threatening Gaos positive face as well as to realize politeness.

1.3 Realizing Politeness by Maintaining Ones Own Face

In our communication， if one gives a high comment of oneself， it will be against the traditionally appreciated virtue of being modest in China； but if one rates oneself too low， one is likely to lose ones own face. The use of hedges can help the communicator to solve the face problem to some extent. Please see the example：

（2） 崔永元：跟首都沒有關系，觀眾也是天南海北，哪兒的都有。

劉淑芬：我覺得我今天有點激動，掉眼淚了。按照他們的觀點，我這個母親做得不夠，有點慚愧。再一個，他們還是有點不理解我的心情，我有點委屈，所以掉眼淚了。

（《實話實說》之“我的兒子太瀟灑”）

In example （2）， Liu Shufen expresses her feeling in a proper way by employing 有點 （a little bit）. On the one hand， Mrs. Liu accepts other peoples opinion to a certain degree and admits she， as a mother， does not induct his son in a more appropriate way， and thus realizes politeness by adapting to modesty maxim. On the other hand， Mrs. Liu， as a mother， also has certain authority in the face of her son. Thus， the mother accepts others opinion properly by using adaptor hedges 有點 which help to achieve politeness function by means of adhering to modesty maxim and maintaining her own face in verbal interaction.

1.4 Realizing Politeness by Maintaining the Third Partys Face

Politeness can also been embodied by considering the third partys face， that is， people mentioned in the dialogue but may or may not be present. For example：

（3） 觀眾一：何老師，您的這些做法在我們常人看來很令人敬佩，要是我們一般的人做起來，會覺得很困難。您這么多年這樣艱苦的、無私的奉獻，您的學生、同事是受到了感化，還是說受到了壓力？

何家慶：周圍的人肯定是要議論，肯定要有感覺，從一定程度上說，這個事情有點兒刺激人。那么從主觀上說，我不希望我周圍的人都像我這樣采取這樣一種方式。

（《實話實說》之“教授何家慶”）

In this example， Professor He does not answer directly whether his students or colleagues are moved to change themselves or feel under pressure， but instead touches on slightly that this matter （his acts） is a little bit stimulating in a sense. Here， the two adaptor hedges 從一定程度上說， 有點兒 help to lessen his personal merits and achievements and thus his influence on other people is reduced， which reflects the professors modest and exemplary conduct as well as nobility of character and shows his consideration of other people and cautiousness while making remarks. These virtues， with the help of the verbal realization of hedges， protect the audiences face and realize politeness successfully.

1.5 Summary

To sum up， according to our analysis and discussion， adaptor hedges account for a large percentage in terms of realizing politeness and maintaining face. It bears a strong correlation between hedges and the Politeness Principle transmitted in the program.

References：

[1]Kasper，G.（1990）.Linguistic politeness：Current research issues.Journal of Pragmatics，14.

*本文得到西南交通大學青年教師百人計劃項目“電視訪談節目中模糊限制語的禮貌功能研究”（代碼：2682014BR011EM）的資助。