Adverbial hedges in scientific papers in English and Serbian

Abstract

This paper studies the adverbial hedges in scientific discourse in the English and Serbian languages which the authors use so as to avoid expressing the full commitment to a particular proposition or to diminish the strength of the statement. The literature lists various reasons for the use of hedges in scientific papers. The aim of this paper is to investigate the use and frequency of adverbial hedges in academic discourse in the English and Serbian languages based on the material of two genres in the field of agriculture. Analysis of the results indicates the differences between the two genres of academic discourse as well as the differences between the two languages in terms of the use of adverbial hedges. In addition, we discuss the implications that can serve as a starting point for future research as well as guidelines for implementing the obtained results in practice.

Ovaj rad se bavi proučavanjem priloških ograda u akademskom diskursu engleskog i srpskog jezika, koje autori koriste kako bi izbegli iskazivanje potpunog opredeljenja prema određenoj propoziciji ili donekle smanjili snagu iskaza. U literaturi se navode različiti razlozi zbog kojih autori koriste ograde u svojim radovima. Cilj ovoga rada jeste da se ispita upotreba i frekvencija priloških ograda u akademskom diskursu engleskog i srpskog jezika na materijalu dva žanra iz oblasti poljoprivrede. Analiza rezultata ukazaće na razlike koje postoje između dva žanra akademskog diskursa kao i na razlike koje postoje između dva jezika u pogledu upotrebe i frekvencije priloških ograda. Takođe, navešćemo i implikacije koje mogu poslužiti kao polazna osnova za neka buduća istraživanja.