Though seemingly well-known and hardly debatable, the
term hedging seems to be interpreted in different ways.
Traditionally, it refers to the fuzziness of notions; however,
in linguistic literature the term remains no less fuzzy. An
array of definitions focus on different linguistic and
pragmatic features of communication; many identify the
textual and social function of hedging (Aijmer 1984;
Holmes 1995; Hyland 1996). The social function mainly
consists in helping achieve distance between a speaker and
what is said (Hyland 1996). In writing, according to
Hyland (1996: p435), it “helps support or establish the
personal reputation of the writer”. Other investigators
enumerate such functions of hedging as down-toning and
mitigating the argument. They relate it to the speaker’s
intentions, listener/ reader involvement, situation and
context (see Kreutz and Harres 1997), the protection of the
speaker’s and the hearer’s face and modification of the
illocutionary force of an utterance (Namsarayev 1997).