| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 第3-4页 |
| 英文摘要 | 第4页 |
| Chapter 1 Introduction | 第7-11页 |
| 1．1 Significance of study of fuzzy linguistics | 第7页 |
| 1．2 Fuzziness/vagueness | 第7-9页 |
| 1．3 Hedging | 第9-10页 |
| 1．4 Motivation of this thesis | 第10-11页 |
| Chapter 2 A brief literature review of hedging research | 第11-18页 |
| 2．1 Hedging research from the point of view of logics | 第11-12页 |
| 2．2 Hedging research from the point of view of semantics | 第12页 |
| 2．3 Hedging research from the point of view of rhetoric and stylistics | 第12-13页 |
| 2．4 Hedging research from the point of view of pragmatics | 第13-18页 |
| 2．4．1 Hedging in general language texts | 第14页 |
| 2．4．2 Hedging in scientific/academic writing | 第14-16页 |
| 2．4．3 Hedging in inter-language or contrastive studies | 第16-18页 |
| Chapter 3 On hedge and hedging | 第18-27页 |
| 3．1 The Development of the Concepts Hedge and Hedging | 第18-22页 |
| 3．2 The taxonomies of hedge or hedging | 第22-24页 |
| 3．3 Related concepts | 第24-27页 |
| Chapter 4 Communicative functions of hedging | 第27-31页 |
| 4．1 The textual functions of hedging | 第27页 |
| 4．2 The interpersonal functions of hedging | 第27-30页 |
| 4．2．1 Hedging as a politeness strategy | 第28-29页 |
| 4．2．2 Hedging as a strategy of self-protection | 第29页 |
| 4．2．3 Hedging as a strategy to appeal to the audience | 第29-30页 |
| 4．3 Summary | 第30-31页 |
| Chapter 5 A proposed definition and taxonomy of hedging | 第31-37页 |
| 5．1 Comments on the concepts hedge and hedging | 第31-32页 |
| 5．2 A proposed definition of hedging | 第32-33页 |
| 5．3 A proposed taxonomy of hedging | 第33-35页 |
| 5．4 Examples of hedging devices | 第35-37页 |
| Chapter 6 Design of the research | 第37-39页 |
| 6．1 Data selection | 第37页 |
| 6．2 Method of analysis | 第37-39页 |
| Chapter 7 Hedging devices in review articles | 第39-57页 |
| 7．1 Features of review articles | 第39页 |
| 7．2 Lexical and non-lexical hedges | 第39-40页 |
| 7．3 Lexical hedges | 第40-47页 |
| 7．4 Non-lexical hedges | 第47-55页 |
| 7．5 Summary | 第55-57页 |
| Chapter 8 Examining hedging in review articles | 第57-61页 |
| 8．1 Extract 1: Hedging in an introduction | 第57-58页 |
| 8．2 Extract 2: Hedging evaluative language | 第58-61页 |
| Chapter 9 Implication for review writing in China | 第61-68页 |
| 9．1 Hedging in Chinese review articles | 第61-65页 |
| 9．2 Implication for Chinese review writing | 第65-68页 |
| Chapter 10 Conclusion and Suggestion for Further Research | 第68-70页 |
| 10．1 Summary of the research | 第68页 |
| 10．2 Limitations of the present study and suggestion for further research | 第68-70页 |
| Bibliography | 第70-75页 |
| Appendix Ⅰ | 第75-77页 |
| Appendix Ⅱ | 第77-78页 |
