Lexical hedges used by women characters in the Birds of Prey movie

This study investigates the use of hedges in women characters utterances in The Birds of Prey movie. This study aims to identify the types and function of hedges in women characters utterances in the movie. This study applied Namsaraev’s theory (1997) taxonomy of hedges and Lakoff’s theory (1975) to investigate the function. This study applied a descriptive qualitative approach. The researcher collected the data by watching the movie and downloading the movie transcription of The Birds of Prey movie from the internet. Then, the researcher analyzed the types and function of hedges. The data analysis was taken by giving codes to identify the types and functions of hedges. Furthermore, the researcher classified and discussed the identified data to determine the types and function of hedges uttered by the female characters in the movie.This study found seven from nine types of hedges proposed by Namsaraev (1997) (modal auxiliary verbs, lexical verbs, adverbs of frequency, if clause, nouns, adverb, probability adjectives, compound hedges, and filler) and all four functions of hedges (the expression of uncertainty, the expression to maintain politeness, the expression to weaken or strengthen a statement, and the expression to start a conversation) are found in female character's utterances in the movie. The most dominant type is filler. Furthermore, the most dominant function is the expression of uncertainty and lack of confidence. To conclude, the use of hedges in female characters' utterances soften their conversation to deliver appropriate ideas and prevents them to convey exaggerated information during the conversation. Moreover, it also helps them maintain politeness and avoid the possibility of misunderstandings between participants, which can lead to conflict.