AN ANALYSIS OF LEXICAL HEDGES AND TAG QUESTIONS FUNCTIONS FOUND IN THE HILLARY CLINTON’S SPEECHES

Abstract

The research aims to find the functions of lexical hedges and tag questions in the Hillary Clinton's speeches. In analyzing the data the writer uses the theories stated by Holmes (1992,2001), and Lakoff (2001). The data were taken from the speeches spoken by Hillary Clinton and it has been formatted into scripts. After analyzing the data, the results show that there are nineteen lexical hedges and six tag questions in the speeches. And, the results have also shown that all the functions of lexical hedges and tag questions also appear through the speeches. The lexical hedges are well, I think, like, you know, so. And, the functions of pause fillers or meaningless particles have also shown up like actually, seriously, you know, and you see. And the tag questions are isn’t it?, doesn’t it?, right?,
don't we?, didn't he?, and hasn't it?. The research of the lexical hedges and tag questions through Hillary's speeches has proved that there are some of women language features that show up.
Keywords: lexical hedges, tag questions, pause fillers, meaningless particles.