I Might Could Create a Symposium Project: Hedged Assertions in Southern English

Josey Rhynes   

The American South has a distinctive dialect with grammatical characteristics divergent from Standardized English. One distinction of Southern English is called a “hedged assertion”. In English Grammar a hedge is a rhetorical device “used to express hesitation or uncertainty as well as to demonstrate politeness and indirectness” (Enago Academy). Therefore, a hedged assertion is used to express a level of uncertainness about a claim. Through examples of Southern dialects in short stories such as Mark Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”, we can see the how certain phrases such as ‘reckon’, ‘believe’, or ‘don’t believe’ acknowledge the level of certainty in the assertion, or how the information inquired about was obtained by the speaker while creating rhetorical and polite distance between the speaker and hearer. Paying attention to hedges such as these gives us interesting insight into Southern American culture.     

• Josey Rhynes is a secondary English education major from Chesterfield, South Carolina. She is a member of the South Carolina Army National Guard. Josey’s achievements include presenting at the Medieval Matters Conference at Spartanburg Methodist University.