A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF HEDGING IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH ARCHITECTURE PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS

Abstract

This paper offers an approach to the contrastive study of the linguistic realization and communicative goals of the type of discourse modulation devices known as hedges in the genre of English and Spanish architecture project descriptions. The analysis of the texts in the corpus seems to indicate that there is a wide range of lexico- grammatical features which signal diverse hedging strategies. Several cognitive aspects referring to the context and conventions of the discourse community of architects will be taken into account in order to suggest that these strategies fulfil three main rhetorical functions or communicative goals. First, they can express the authors' wish to show deference and politeness towards their audience; secondly, they seem to be an indication of the authors' need to protect themselves against the possible negative consequences of being proved wrong; and lastly, they are evidence of the authors' consideration of the required degree of precision in their texts.

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