Hedging and Boosting Strategies in Turkish Academic Law Discourse

Abstract

As interactional metadiscourse markers, hedges reduce the certainty of a statement, whereas boosters convey certainty in academic writing (Hyland, 2005). Although hedges and boosters have been extensively examined in Turkish research articles across various disciplines (e.g., Dağ Tarcan, 2020; Güçlü, 2024; Öztürk & İşeri, 2023; Şen & İşeri, 2023; Tarcan, 2020), legal discourse, which is widely perceived as prioritizing precision and clarity (Poscher, 2012), has not been sufficiently explored in Turkish academic writing in this respect. To this end, this study aims to investigate the use of hedges and boosters in Turkish research article abstracts in the field of law. A total of 100 Turkish legal research article abstracts published in peer-reviewed journals on DergiPark between 2019 and 2024 were collected through the document analysis method and analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods based on Hyland’s (2005) Interpersonal Metadiscourse Model. The findings indicate that hedges occurred most frequently in passives, followed by epistemic adjectives, pronouns, epistemic modal suffixes, epistemic adverbs, and epistemic nouns, while boosters were primarily realized through modal suffixes expressing certainty, emphatics, amplifiers, and universal pronouns. Additionally, log-likelihood analysis reveals that hedges are employed significantly more often than boosters in Turkish law research article abstracts. This finding supports Bhatia’s (1987) characterization of legal language as a multilayered structure shaped by varying social contexts. Moreover, the prominent hybrid metadiscursive structures not only convey normative knowledge but also reveal a writing practice oriented toward the construction of a cautious authoritative stance. In conclusion, this research is expected to enhance the understanding of metadiscourse use in Turkish by revealing both linguistic patterns and discourse strategies that are distinctive to the conventions of the legal genre.

Keywords

• hedges
• boosters
• Turkish research articles
• abstract
• law

Türkçe Akademik Hukuk Söyleminde Kaçınma ve Vurgulayıcı Stratejileri

Abstract

Alıcı odaklı etkileşimli üstsöylem belirleyicisi olarak, kaçınmalar bir ifadenin kesinliğini azaltırken; vurgulayıcılar akademik yazımda kesinliği ifade eder (Hyland, 2005). Kaçınma ve vurgulayıcılar, çeşitli bilim alanlarındaki Türkçe araştırma makalelerinde kapsamlı biçimde incelenmiş olsa da (Örn. Dağ Tarcan, 2020; Güçlü, 2024; Öztürk & İşeri, 2023; Şen & İşeri, 2023; Tarcan, 2020), kesinlik ve açıklığın ön planda tutulduğu yönünde genel bir kanaatin bulunduğu hukuk söylemi (Poscher, 2012), bu açıdan Türkçe araştırma makalelerinde yeterince incelenmemiştir. Bu çalışma, hukuk alanındaki Türkçe araştırma makalesi özetlerinde kaçınma ve vurgulayıcı kullanımını incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bu doğrultuda, belge tarama modeli kullanılarak, 2019 ve 2024 yılları arasında DergiPark’ta yayımlanan hakemli dergilerdeki 100 adet Türkçe hukuk makalesi özeti üzerinden veri toplanmış ve Hyland (2005)’in Kişilerarası Üstsöylem Modeline dayalı olarak nitel ve nicel yöntemlerle incelenmiştir. Elde edilen bulgular, en sık kullanılanlardan en aza doğru sıralanacak şekilde, kaçınmaların edilgen yapılar, bilgisel sıfatlar, adıllar, bilgisel kip sonekleri, bilgisel belirteçler ve bilgisel adlar aracılığıyla kullanıldığını; vurgulayıcıların ise kesinlik bildiren kip sonekleri, vurgulular, kuvvetlendiriciler ve evrensel adıllarla ifade edildiğini ortaya koymaktadır. Ayrıca, log-olasılık çözümlemesi, kaçınmaların vurgulayıcılara kıyasla anlamlı ölçüde daha sık kullanıldığını göstermektedir. Bu bulgu, Bhatia (1987)’nin, hukuki dili, farklı sosyal bağlamlara göre şekillenen çok katmanlı bir yapı olarak tanımlamasını desteklemektedir. Ayrıca, öne çıkan hibrit üstsöylem yapıları, yalnızca normatif bilgi sunmakla kalmayıp, aynı zamanda temkinli bir otorite inşa etmeyi de amaçlayan bir yazım biçimini sergilemektedir. Sonuç olarak, yalnızca dilsel eğilimleri değil, aynı zamanda hukuki yazıma özgü söylem stratejilerini de açığa çıkararak, Türkçede üstsöylem kullanımına dair daha derinlemesine bir anlayışa katkı sağlaması beklenmektedir.

Keywords

• kaçınmalar
• vurgulayıcılar
• Türkçe araştırma makaleleri
• özet
• hukuk

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