Hedging as Interpersonal Design in Women’s Instructive Writing: The Case of Mrs Johnston’s Receipts (1740)

Abstract

Drawing on a diplomatic transcription of Mrs Johnston’s Receipts (1740), this article examines explicit hedging as interpersonal design in women’s instructive writing. I operationalise Hyland’s model (1996, 1998, 2005) through an SFL/Appraisal lens and confine analysis to overt markers, epistemic modals, if-frames, approximators, and reader-judgement phrases. A rule-based regex inventory yields normalised counts and micro-examples. Results point to an accuracy-plus-engagement profile: approximators (e.g., a little, about) dominate to encode tolerances of measure, time and doneness, while if-frames and permission/optative modals (may, would) license options and manage contingency. Tokens of can mostly express ability/ availability rather than epistemic caution. Writer-protective and attributional hedges are scarce; credibility is enacted through procedural plausibility paired with courteous flexibility. Methodologically, the study offers a replicable baseline for diachronic and cross-domain
comparison. Substantively, it reframes hedging in domestic-technical prose as a pragmatic technology for trustworthy guidance under material variability, rather than evasiveness.