Classifications of means of expressing moality

Different scholars give their own classifications of means of expressing modality.Many authors such as V.V. Vinogradov, G.V. Kolshanskiy, I.B. Khlebnikova point out that modal content may be expressed with the help of different means of language, here belong: grammatical (Mood); lexical (modal words); lexico-grammatical (modal verbs)and intonation.The founder of the English study in Russia professor B.A. Ilyish gave the following characteristic of ways of expressing modality: ‖modality may be expressed in the sentence with the help of different means: modal words, modal verbs, sometimes just with the help of mere verbiage, intonation and finally with the help of

Mood. In English language modality is transferred first of all with the help of all meanings and shades,which are expressed with the help of synthetic and analytical forms of Moods of the verbs. Combinations of modal verbs with the infinitive render the attitude of the subjectof the action towards the action, capability, probability, permission, necessity of doingthe action by the subject.

B.A. Ilyish The theory of English Grammar, 1985.

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Different modal meanings are expressed with the help of intonation means. Practice of speech communication testifies to the infallible perception of different shades of modality at the perceptual level. But, in the special literature there is no sufficient determination, at the expense of which intonation means such differences are created.The question about the interaction of different verbal and non-verbal means of modal meanings expression is not learnt enough. According to A.V. Bondarko there are 6 types of meaning, which have different(grammatical, lexical, intonation) means of expressing.

Speaker‘s evaluation of the content of the utterance from the point of view of

reality/unreality, which is expressed with the help of forms of Mood and Tense of the

verb, and also some conjunctions, particles and other elements of the sentence structure. Expressing with the help of modal verbs and other modal words the evaluation of the situation in the utterance from the point of view of its possibility,necessity and desirability.

Speaker‘s evaluation of his certainty in the reliability of what is informed, which may be expressed with the help of modal adverbs, parenthetic words, and also with the help of compound sentences.The aim of the speaker or communicative function of the utterance. On this basis all sentences are subdivided into statements (which express information), interrogative sentences (which express a question), and optative sentences (which express desire).Means of expressing these meanings are different: morphological (Mood of the verb),syntactic (structure of the sentence), prosodic (intonation).Meanings of affirmation/denial, which reflect presence/absence of objective connection between the objects, features, events, about which the sentence informs. First member of the opposition (affirmation) isn‘t marked, the second – is marked with the help of grammatical, word-forming and lexical means Emotional and qualitative evaluation of

the content of the utterance, which is expressed exically, prosodically (with the help

of exclamatory sentences), and also with the help of interjections. Scholar I.P. Krylova thinks that the main means of expressing modality is the mood of the verb.Thus in English we find the Indicative Mood representing an action as a fact (it may be called the fact-mood), the Imperative Mood urging the person addressed to perform an action and different forms of expressing

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unreality (the Subjunctive Mood and the Oblique Moods). She also mentions in her book the other means of modality lexical means, namely modal verbs and modal words. According to G.V. Kolshanskiy modality is expressed with the help of grammatical means (morphological), lexical means (modal words, modal verbs) and intonation means.

Chapter 2:Means of expressing modality.

Which, due to their similarity to adverbs can be considerd as adverb of Modality (modal word) answers the question how do you (the author) feel about what you‘re saying?

(perhaps, maybe, fortunately, hopefully, surly, no doubt, indeed, probably,

certainly,maybe, perhaps, possibly, presumably, (im)probably, necessarily,actually, clearly,denitely, indeed, obviously, really, in fact, of course ; (un)fortunately,hopefully, luckily,naturally etc.). As is well known, some adverbials fall into the same semantic category and express a speaker‘s judgment about the certainty or probability of a proposition. In this paper, I will suggest that several adverbials have developed even in Present-day English and serve discourse functions.In order to explore the possibility of their development in English. The factors considered are whether they occur in an initial, medial, or final position in a clause,whether the subject in the clause where they appear is a pronoun, and what kind of pronouns fill the Subject slot. As a result, Biber et al. (1999, 872) shows a tendency for such an adverbial to be positioned in medial positions, while another research reveals that for example no doubt and surely are positioned in the initial and final position relatively frequently in Present-day English. In addition, we can observe the decline of no doubt in the medial position, which position indicates the status of a

modal adverb, just as certainly and probably appear in. This means that the two adverbs have

fulfilled other functions. A modal adverb positioned initially expresses the topic or theme of

modality. When they appear in the final position, they are considered to be a discourse marker; that is, they serve the communicative function at a discourse-pragmatic level. This is illustrated by the example brought, where no doubt isused as a contextual device to confirm information and understanding between the speaker and hearer.

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E.g.

He had, no doubt, been obliged to look into himself a good deal in the course of those fifteen years. (John Galsworthy, Man of property, chapter 2, pg 57)

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 2230