Language Learning, Discourse and Cognition

The focus of this chapter is to determine the conceptual profile of the rhetorical phenomenon of hedging and to investigate how hedging devices are represented in legal memos produced by L2 writers of English. Because it addresses negotiation of various poles on the reality spectrum, hedging is crucial for the construction of an effective legal memo. A sample of 14 memos is analyzed utilizing a mixed method approach. The analysis demonstrates that the differences in the objective “success” of me