The Syntactic and Semantiс Properties of Modal Words in German
https://doi.org/10.24833/2410-2423-2021-1-25-5-14
Abstract
The aim of the article is to examine the semantic and syntactic properties of modal words in German. The paper analyzes the types of modal semantics which are encoded in modal words; the peculiarities of the syntactic use of modal words are shown; the relationship between the type of modal semantics and their syntactic use is revealed, and the question which words with evaluative semantics can be classified as modal is considered. The relevance of this kind of work is determined by the following circumstances: firstly, it is necessary to describe the syntax and the semantics of modal words and their grammar features; secondly, it is important to reveal the relationship between modality and evaluativity and, thirdly, to define the conditions under which modal words can encode not one but several modal meanings. By using the transformation method and the method of component analysis the following groups of modal words were identified: modal words with alethic semantics; modal words with epistemic semantics; modal words with evidential semantics. Some modal words build separate groups: The modal word angeblich has evidential semantics, because it indicates the third person as a source of information; the modal word wahrscheinlich can have epistemic or evidential or alethic and evidential semantics; the modal word leider is able to express an emotional attitude of the speaker. The identification of different types of modal words is possible through the research of their syntactic properties, namely: the usage in dependent object clauses with the epistemic and factive predicate in the matrix clause; in conditional sentences as well as the ability to have independent usage as an answer to a question without a question word.
About the Author
A. Averina
Moscow State Region University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Anna V. Averina – Doctor in Philological Sciences, Professor at the Department of German philology
ul. Radio 10A, 105005, Moscow
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Review
For citations:
Averina A. The Syntactic and Semantiс Properties of Modal Words in German. Linguistics & Polyglot Studies. 2021;7(1):5-17. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24833/2410-2423-2021-1-25-5-14
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