Understatements and Hedges in English
Author: Axel Hübler
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Published: 1983-01-01
Total Pages: 203
ISBN-13: 9027225311
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe goal of this monograph is a comprehensive analysis of understatements and other forms of non-direct speech (hedges) in modern English. It is based on a multi-level approach, including philosophical, cultural, and socio-psychological arguments. The main part consists of an investigation of the linguistic restrictions for understatements and hedges to be formed by means of the following grammatical categories: negation of predicates, gradation of predicates, modalization of affirmative sentences by means of parenthetical verbs, modal adverbs, modal verbs, and questions.