Hedging in the Reports of the Director General of WHO ON THE Covid-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

This study examined the use of hedges in the reports of the Director General of World Health Organization on the COVID-19 pandemic as a way of managing myriad of information and crises occasioned by the conspiracies and contradictions  communicated all over the world. It also looks at how the DG uses hedges in these reports to show non-commitment to propositions, inexactitude, imprecision of data before him; and to mitigate the impact of fear and panic that gripped the whole world during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 pandemic is a health crisis. The novelty of the virus  has become some sort of mystery with  many conspiracies and contradictions all over the world, hence, being an atypical strain of virus, the world looks up to WHO  for reliable information to help demystify its trajectories.

The methodology employed in this research is qualitative.  Data (50 reports) were purposively selected from 110 reports because these were mainly centred on the COVID-19 pandemic.  Hedges seen in the data were classified using the classificatory frameworks of Pedro Martin-Martin, Salager-meyer and Vasili Namsaraev. The hedges found were made bold within the context. The hedges were further analyzed using the Pragmatic Act Theory of Jacob Mey and TimothyCoombs Situational Crisis Response Theory.                                                                                                                              

Findings showed that strategy of indetermination such as approximators especially rounders  and epistemic modals were used in the COVID-19 reports to show unwillingness to make an exact statement or to show inexactitude to evade responsibility to future claims and to also show his commitment to the pandemic course. It was also found that  the strategy of  depersonalization was used to distance one’s presence in making some vital claims in order not to be held responsible to the claims. The strategy of subjectivization was also found in the reports. These were used to show personal opinions and solidarity, also, strategy of camouflage was found in the reports and it was used to redirect the attention of the masses to the   COVID-19 vaccines. It was also found that all these strategy of hedging were used as crisis response strategies to mitigate the impact of the pandemic all over the world.