Answer: The word "hedging" makes reference to vague language.
Explanation: The term "hedging" is used to refer to cautious language. Hedging is an strategy that academic writers resort to in order to sound hesitant and uncertain and, in that way, avoid the possibility of having someone else arguing against their claims. Moreover, hedging is also used to show politeness. Modal verbs, modal adjectives, certain lexical verbs such as believe and think and "that" clauses are some of the words/phrases that can be used to express vague language.
