Identification of Hedging Strategies in Business Negotiations

Abstract

The way people conduct business negotiations has altered immensely over the past decades to adapt to the ongoing changes in business environment. Innovative strategies have been orchestrated to overcome the challenges as well as meet the prerequisite requirements of contemporary businesses. The ultimate goal of such effective strategies is the maintenance of courteous relations among the negotiators and the achievement of a mutually beneficial outcome. In this respect, vague language or fussy language is regarded as a sui generis negotiation strategy that is prevalently exploited by negotiators with the intention to make the communication process smooth, polite and cooperative. Vagueness in a language is expressed through hedges, the semantic and pragmatic features of which are inextricably linked. The scope of this research shapes a profound pragmalinguistic analysis of hedges, which engender divergent negotiation strategies (detachment, agreement, complimenting, vagueness, etc.), its functions and roles in business negotiations. In addition to its linguistic significance, hedging is a widespread practice in a risk management strategy to offset losses against the risk and protect the investments. Obviously, on both occasions, business people pursue the following goals: at least reduce the chances of failure or minimize further complications, and, at most, obtain the desired result.