Managing Crises: Hedging Strategies in Malaysian Diplomatic Press Releases

Diplomatic press releases play a significant role in presenting a nation’s position about global issues to the local and global communities. A nation’s stance and decisions communicated via press releases need to be mitigated and expressed tactfully and cautiously to avoid distress leading to confro...

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Published in:3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature
Main Author: Noor M.M.; Tarmizi M.L.M.; Suppiah P.C.; Suchithra S.; Nair K.S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2023
Online Access:https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85180598896&doi=10.17576%2f3L-2023-2904-06&partnerID=40&md5=dd4633a7830aa34d4b1f77d592f03ce8
id 2-s2.0-85180598896
spelling 2-s2.0-85180598896
Noor M.M.; Tarmizi M.L.M.; Suppiah P.C.; Suchithra S.; Nair K.S.
Managing Crises: Hedging Strategies in Malaysian Diplomatic Press Releases
2023
3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature
29
4
10.17576/3L-2023-2904-06
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85180598896&doi=10.17576%2f3L-2023-2904-06&partnerID=40&md5=dd4633a7830aa34d4b1f77d592f03ce8
Diplomatic press releases play a significant role in presenting a nation’s position about global issues to the local and global communities. A nation’s stance and decisions communicated via press releases need to be mitigated and expressed tactfully and cautiously to avoid distress leading to confrontations. As a mitigating device, hedging has been identified as an effective pragmatic strategy in reducing potentially damaging reactions, therefore encouraging effective diplomatic communication. This paper presents a content analysis of 27 press releases on world crises by the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs between May 2020 and May 2022. The identification and coding of hedging items were completed manually by considering context and co-text using a framework of Identification Criteria of Hedging Devices. The identified hedges were analysed pragmatically to determine their functions in diplomatic communication. The analysis reveals that hedges in diplomatic press releases by the Ministry of foreign affairs serve several functions which highlight the influence of culture on diplomatic stance-taking. It should be noted that the absence of hedges in some of the press releases confirms various writing guidelines that the genre values factual, direct, and accurate information. These findings are beneficial for successful intercultural diplomatic communication and accordingly global peace. © 2023 Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. All rights reserved.
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
01285157
English
Article
All Open Access; Gold Open Access
author Noor M.M.; Tarmizi M.L.M.; Suppiah P.C.; Suchithra S.; Nair K.S.
spellingShingle Noor M.M.; Tarmizi M.L.M.; Suppiah P.C.; Suchithra S.; Nair K.S.
Managing Crises: Hedging Strategies in Malaysian Diplomatic Press Releases
author_facet Noor M.M.; Tarmizi M.L.M.; Suppiah P.C.; Suchithra S.; Nair K.S.
author_sort Noor M.M.; Tarmizi M.L.M.; Suppiah P.C.; Suchithra S.; Nair K.S.
title Managing Crises: Hedging Strategies in Malaysian Diplomatic Press Releases
title_short Managing Crises: Hedging Strategies in Malaysian Diplomatic Press Releases
title_full Managing Crises: Hedging Strategies in Malaysian Diplomatic Press Releases
title_fullStr Managing Crises: Hedging Strategies in Malaysian Diplomatic Press Releases
title_full_unstemmed Managing Crises: Hedging Strategies in Malaysian Diplomatic Press Releases
title_sort Managing Crises: Hedging Strategies in Malaysian Diplomatic Press Releases
publishDate 2023
container_title 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature
container_volume 29
container_issue 4
doi_str_mv 10.17576/3L-2023-2904-06
url https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85180598896&doi=10.17576%2f3L-2023-2904-06&partnerID=40&md5=dd4633a7830aa34d4b1f77d592f03ce8
description Diplomatic press releases play a significant role in presenting a nation’s position about global issues to the local and global communities. A nation’s stance and decisions communicated via press releases need to be mitigated and expressed tactfully and cautiously to avoid distress leading to confrontations. As a mitigating device, hedging has been identified as an effective pragmatic strategy in reducing potentially damaging reactions, therefore encouraging effective diplomatic communication. This paper presents a content analysis of 27 press releases on world crises by the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs between May 2020 and May 2022. The identification and coding of hedging items were completed manually by considering context and co-text using a framework of Identification Criteria of Hedging Devices. The identified hedges were analysed pragmatically to determine their functions in diplomatic communication. The analysis reveals that hedges in diplomatic press releases by the Ministry of foreign affairs serve several functions which highlight the influence of culture on diplomatic stance-taking. It should be noted that the absence of hedges in some of the press releases confirms various writing guidelines that the genre values factual, direct, and accurate information. These findings are beneficial for successful intercultural diplomatic communication and accordingly global peace. © 2023 Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. All rights reserved.
publisher Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
issn 01285157
language English
format Article
accesstype All Open Access; Gold Open Access
record_format scopus
collection Scopus
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