Article

Name: The modal word “(i) deystvitel’no”: semantics, textual potential

Authors: N. P. Perfilyeva

Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Linguistics

Abstract:

The subject of analysis is the modal word “(i) deystvitel’no” (“(and) really”) not only as a core marker of the modus category of consent but also as a syncretic marker of several modus categories (consent, authorization, reliability, perception, metatext). The paper focuses on the problem of interaction of these modus categories. The author identifies the components of modus semantics of the modal word concerned in the text fragments of different styles, combining a textocentric approach and distributive analysis. In scientific, memoir and publicist texts “(i) deystvitel’no” may be found in a dialogical or monological context on the boundaries of sentences: а) interrogative and non-interrogative; b) non-interrogative and nonnterrogative. Not only is the modus semantics of agreement explicit in dialogical unity, but also the “confidence in the information to be reported” is emphasized. In monological text fragments, due to its semantics as the core marker of the modus category of consent, “(i) deystvitel’no” explicates the text categories of connectivity and dialogicity. As a syncretic marker of several modus categories, the modal word “(i) deystvitel’no” often plays the role of the indicator of authorization modus key (seme “speaker”) and metatext and emphasizes “the confidence in the information to be reported.” The semantics of reaffirmation or consent, especially confident one, is due to the direct (visual) perception of the speaker.

In the novel by B. Okudzhava and the stories by K. Paustovsky, the modal word “(i) deystvitel’no,” in fact, is regularly found in the various combinations of monological and dialogical speech. It occupies an initial position in the final paragraph and expresses the result of the observer’s mental process.

Keywords: modal word, modus category of consent, authorization, reliability, perception, literary text, dialogicity, syncretism

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