Hedging vs tolerance in presenting the scientific result in research articles (based on English research articles of the humanities field)

The present paper aims at analyzing the genre of the English research article which presents the findings of the investigation conducted by the writer(s) of the research and published in the peer-reviewed journal. Key notions applied to the English research article were discussed: hedging and tolerance.Tolerance is regarded as a property of a dialogue interaction oriented towards cooperation, mutual respect and understanding. A key function that hedging performs is to make the statements sound less categorical in order to protect the writer against possible criticism from the reader as well as to be polite and modest in relation to the addressee. Both devices are of communicative character and bear etiquette meanings. The results indicate that new scientific knowledge in the English research article is associated with tolerant expression of claims. Tolerance demonstrates a relationship between the writer and the reader and accomplishes a more receptive reader attitude to claims. Key linguistic choices used to bear the meaning of tolerance include: 1) nomination of the reader, 2) collective pronoun we, 3) imperative structures, 4) interrogative structures.