TY - JOUR
T1 - 'We expect to report on significant progress in our product pipeline in the coming year'
T2 - Hedging forward-looking statements in corporate press releases
AU - McLaren-Hankin, Yvonne
PY - 2008/10
Y1 - 2008/10
N2 - This article reports on the findings of a study of so-called 'forward-looking statements' in a corpus of corporate press releases, focusing in particular on the mechanisms of hedging involved. Forward-looking statements are an important characteristic of corporate press releases in which companies make predictions about the future in an attempt to demonstrate to stakeholders that the company is making progress and that its prospects are good. Such statements are explicitly mentioned in a disclaimer which often accompanies corporate press releases and are noted to involve risks and uncertainties. This article aims to identify those lexicogrammatical forms which are typically used in forward-looking statements in press releases, including those used for the purpose of hedging, and also to try to identify the function(s) of hedging in the selected data. The data analysis points to a range of forms which function as hedges in the data. These are discussed and exemplified and, drawing on Hyland's (1998a) model in particular, an attempt is made to consider what function(s) the hedges serve. Copyright © 2008 SAGE Publications.
AB - This article reports on the findings of a study of so-called 'forward-looking statements' in a corpus of corporate press releases, focusing in particular on the mechanisms of hedging involved. Forward-looking statements are an important characteristic of corporate press releases in which companies make predictions about the future in an attempt to demonstrate to stakeholders that the company is making progress and that its prospects are good. Such statements are explicitly mentioned in a disclaimer which often accompanies corporate press releases and are noted to involve risks and uncertainties. This article aims to identify those lexicogrammatical forms which are typically used in forward-looking statements in press releases, including those used for the purpose of hedging, and also to try to identify the function(s) of hedging in the selected data. The data analysis points to a range of forms which function as hedges in the data. These are discussed and exemplified and, drawing on Hyland's (1998a) model in particular, an attempt is made to consider what function(s) the hedges serve. Copyright © 2008 SAGE Publications.
KW - Disclaimers
KW - Forward-looking statements
KW - Hedging
KW - Predictions
KW - Press releases
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=51849087829&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1461445608094216
DO - 10.1177/1461445608094216
M3 - Article
SN - 1461-4456
VL - 10
SP - 635
EP - 654
JO - Discourse Studies
JF - Discourse Studies
IS - 5
ER -