Taxis and Evidentiality in Prepositional-Deverbative Constructions of the German Language: Dictum-Mode Opposition and Mechanisms of Semantic Integration

The problem of delimiting adjacent functional-semantic categories remains a key one in modern linguistics, particularly with regard to taxis and evidentiality. The categories of taxis and evidentiality, although distinct in nature, interact in real linguistic structures, creating zones of syncretism. This interaction becomes most noticeable precisely in cases where their distinction is required, which constitutes the main scientific problem. Contemporary research tends to interpret taxis broadly, thereby incorporating constructions with deverbatives from modal verbs (speech, thought, perception), which semantically tend toward evidentiality. This leads to a blurring of the boundaries between categories and complicates their correct identification. The goal of this study is to identify the nature of the semantic integration of taxis and evidentiality in prepositional-deverbative constructions of the German language and to propose operational criteria for their demarcation, necessary for the correct description of both «pure» and syncretic cases. The novelty of this study lies in constructing a three-level hierarchical model of the interaction between taxis and evidentiality, describing the mechanism for «objectifying» a modus situation, and identifying the syncretism of these categories in prepositional-deverbative constructions of the German language. The material consists of 11,000 utterances with prepositional deverbatives, extracted using a continuous sample from the Leipzig National Corpus. For a detailed analysis, 320 contexts representing all the identified construction types were selected from this volume. The methodological basis is an integrative approach combining functional-semantic, logical-semantic, and contextual analysis. The study takes into account different types of evidentiality: direct (sensory), reportative, and inferential. It has been established that deverbatives of verbs of speech, thought, and perception undergo a process of «objectification,» through which the initially modal situation acquires the status of a dictum event and becomes available for participation in taxis relations. The key criterion for demarcation is the nature of the semantic interaction of propositions. Three types of constructions are identified: with deverbatives of verbs of speech, thought, and perception. The thesis on propositional attitude is clarified: evidentiality does not always imply attitude; it can be reduced to indicating the source of information. The findings allow for a refinement of the criteria for delimiting adjacent categories in functional grammar, can be used in teaching German as a foreign language, and opens up prospects for comparative typological research.

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