ADJECTIVES IN THE EXPRESSION OF EPISTEMIC MODALITY IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS RESEARCH ARTICLES

Research in academic writing has shown that writers have a strong tendency to communicate their ideas interactively with readers. This study examines how professional writers use adjectives as part of interactional metadiscourse when writing research articles. A total of 255 research articles published in distinguished journals in the field of applied linguistics between 2015 and 2020 were systematically compiled and quantitatively and qualitatively analysed. The extent to which epistemic adjectives and typical phraseological patterns are used in research articles was investigated with the help of corpus linguistics methods, as was their epistemic strength indicated by writers. The interpersonal model of metadiscourse was used as the theoretical framework for the study. The findings suggest that the academic writing corpus, in essence, is interactionally oriented, while the use of adjectives as an epistemic modality reflects a methodical approach by article writers when presenting propositions and discussing their knowledge claims. This study provides a deeper understanding of these linguistic features to impact the reader. Pedagogically, the study can be useful for teaching academic writing to postgraduate students and help them and novice writers develop writing competency through epistemic devices, especially in research articles intended for publication.

On the origins of the epistemic, evidential, and subjectivity meanings in the mental state predicates

This paper aims to contribute to the debates about the nature of the speaker-related meanings of the mental state predicates, on the basis of a diachronic corpus study into the semantic evolution of five such verbs in Dutch. The analyses show that each of these verbs develops its own spe-cific profile in terms of a limited set of clearly distinguishable speaker-related meanings, viz. epistemic modality, evidentiality, and ‘subjectivi-ty’. Each of these meanings is moreover characterized by a distinctive di-achronic path. The study thus also demonstrates the independent status of ‘subjectivity’ as a meaning category.

Two traditions of studying modality: plan of expression

This article advances a hypothesis on the existence of two linguistic traditions of studying modality from the perspective of the plan of expression. The first tradition – the national one – stems from the works of V. V. Vinogradov. The second tradition – the foreign one – harks back to the studies of the philosophers and logicians. The author explores the views of the scholars of both traditions, concluding on their ways of expressing modality. It is noted that researchers use different principles of grouping the modal means; divide them into the markers of objective and subjective modality, epistemic and non-epistemic modality, grammatical and lexical, as well as implicit and explicit. At the same time, there is no uniform systemic representation on the ways of expressing modality in different languages or in a particular language (in this context – Russian). Solution to this problem requires demarcating modality and subjectivity as the different categories of modus. Modality is a way of expressing irreality of events with regards to semantics (current status of a sentence) and pragmatics (illocutive function of a statement). Subjectivity is a method of conveying emotional and mental attitudes of the speaker in relation to the content of his utterance, reality, as well as other parties to communication. Therefore, modal means should include the linguistic units, which introduce the irreal plan of the possibility and necessity. Leaning on such interpretation of the category, the author lists the means of expressing modality in the Russian language.

Reconsidering the shi…(de) construction in spoken Mandarin

This paper revisits the use of the shi…de construction, based on the analysis of structures with predicative adjectives in a 500,000-character corpus of spoken Mandarin assembled from transcripts of a popular Chinese chat show. Overall, de was omitted more than 40% of the time with a predicative adjective, a significantly higher rate than that found in previous studies. The data reveal a number of factors that may all play a role in determining the likelihood of de omission or retention: the time dependency of the adjective, the particular intensifier chosen to modify the adjective, the discourse function of the utterance and the presence of certain markers of epistemic modality. The findings also lend support to the hypothesis that shi is grammaticalizing to a bound morpheme in some so-called ‘conventionalised forms’ involving epistemic and evidentiality markers.

Model of Translation of International Legal Discourse: to the Problem of Applying the Transformation Model and the Model of the Reference Set of Features

The article focuses on analyzes of the translation of international legal discourse applying the transformational model of translation analysis and the model involving tertium comparacionis - the language-mediator as a standard for comparing the original and target texts. The aim of the article is to highlight the peculiarities of the application of the transformation model and the model of the reference set of features for translation analysis of international legal discourse. The article used a complex research methodology involving methods of translation analysis, componential analysis, structural transformational analysis, as well as the elements of comparative method and text-interpretive analysis. The study reached the following conclusions. First, the transformation of nuclear structures of the English original text into surface text structures of the Ukrainian translation, carried out in accordance with the three-stage model of transformational analysis, shows the need to reproduce in Ukrainian translation conditional relations implied in the form of explanatory or attributive meanings. It is found that none of the obtained transformational structures completely coincides with the official translation into Ukrainian. In addition, the Ukrainian translation omits the modal verb of obligation shall, which is present in the English original text, so that the fragment of the translation loses the connotations of imperative modality, which does not correspond to the style of the translated text. The application of the translation analysis model related to the identification of the reference set of features for the original and target texts showed the presence of both common and different features from the reference set. The difference in the text of the translation is revealed by such allomorphic features as (a) "object of action in the singular", in contrast to the original fragment with the object of action in the plural, (b) change from modality of possibility to epistemic modality with verb in the present tense, as well as (c) implicated condition relations in the target Ukrainian text, in contrast to the explicit expression of the condition of the text of the original.

Constraining the identification of epistemic judges across different syntactic categories

As observed at various occasions, the usage of epistemic adverbs in information seeking questions is by far more restricted than the usage of epistemic adjectives. Starting from Lyons (1977) this contrast was motivated assuming that different types of epistemic operators come with different semantics and scope positions in the utterance, namely objective vs. subjective epistemic modality. However it is not possible to define clear classes of objective epistemic modal operators in terms of clear diagnostics. It will be shown here that the contrast of acceptability is more accurately explained in terms of locality and binding properties of the variable for the attitude holder rendering the epistemic judgement. If locally bound, epistemic modal operators can be embedded, if not, they are subject to much stricter conditions in order to be interpretable.

La vaguedad y la precisión: Ejercicios de elasticidad lingüística

La vaguedad es una propiedad inherente de las lenguas naturales y, también, una estrategia discursiva eficaz. En este trabajo se presta atención a los rasgos de la vaguedad lingüística, a los motivos que justifican su existencia, a los tipos de vaguedad y a la relación que se establece con otros procesos semánticos como la polisemia, la homonimia o la modalidad epistémica. La vaguedad intencional (la que persigue un fin comunicativo) ha de enmarcarse dentro del contínuum precisión-imprecisión. En el ámbito de la vaguedad intencional ha de distinguirse una vaguedad pragmática (generada por el contexto) y otra vaguedad lingüística, consistente en el empleo de elementos lingüísticos que estrechan el margen de precisión o amplían el espectro de la vaguedad. La posibilidad de que el emisor pueda intervenir en el grado de precisión o imprecisión de una expresión lingüística pone de manifiesto la elasticidad del idioma. Vagueness is an inherent property of natural languages ​​and also an effective discursive strategy. In this work attention to features of linguistic vagueness, the reasons for their existence, the types of vagueness and the relationship established with other semantic processes such as polysemy, homonyms or epistemic modality is provided. The intentional vagueness (which pursues a communicative purpose) must fit within the continuum of precision-vagueness. In the field of intentional vagueness we have to distinguish a pragmatic vagueness (generated by the context) and other linguistic vagueness, consisting of the use of linguistic elements that narrow the margin of precision or broaden the spectrum of vagueness. The possibility that the speaker may select the degree of accuracy or inaccuracy of a linguistic expression shows the elasticity of language.

Contextual features for implementing epistemic modality in a common sense and in terms of gender

The subject of this research is epistemic modality, which is referred to a subjective type of modality in a common sense and in terms of gender; it is considered as the connection between a subject and an attribute. The purpose of this research is to study epistemic modality and its contextual features in a common sense and in terms of gender. The objectives of this article require application of several methods such as comparative analysis and text analysis. The methods favour the fact that the conclusions concerning the means of epistemic modality expression are maximally reliable. The method of continuous sampling was used to accumulate actual materials in terms of the gender approach. In the course of this study, the different types of epistemic modality such as epistemic modality of certainty / uncertainty, epistemic modality expressing the meaning of opinion – assumption, doubtful evaluation.

Evidentiality In Romance Languages. Explanatory Potential of a Concept and Its Applications In Pragmatics

Defined narrowly, evidentiality pertains to the sources of knowledge or evidence whereby the speaker feels entitled to make a factual claim. But evidentiality may also be conceived more broadly as both providing epistemic justification and reflecting speaker’s attitude towards the validity of the communicated information, and hearer’s potential acceptability of the information, derived from the degree of reliability of the source and mode of access to the information. Evidentiality and epistemic modality are subcategories of the same superordinate category, namely a category of epistemicity. Since the first seminal works on evidentiality (Chafe and Nichols 1986), studies have for the most part centred on languages where the grammatical marking of the information source is obligatory (for example Willett 1988; Aikhenvald 2004). Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the study of the domain of evidentiality in European languages, which rely on strategies along the lexico‐grammatical continuum. Assuming a broad conception of evidentiality and defining it as a functional category, we study linguistic means that fulfil the function of indicating the source of information for the transmitted content of a certain proposition in Romance languages.

LINGUISTIC DEVICES OF EVASION STRATEGIES (BASED ON RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH SOURCES)

В статье предпринята попытка на материале художественной литературы конкретизировать и сопоставить совокупность русскоязычных и англоязычных лингвистических средств и приемов намека, уклонения, дистанцирования, направленных на достижение коммуникативных намерений говорящего. В работе применен прагматический подход к анализу техник маневрирования. Теория стратегий речевого поведения в англоязычной среде Ю. Б. Кузьменковой служит основой нашего исследования. Оно выполнено на материале, отобранном из литературно-художественных источников. В работе использованы описательный метод, сравнительно-сопоставительный анализ, метод сплошной выборки. Исследование позволило выявить сходство и различие языковых средств и прагматических установок, на речевом уровне отражающих особенности стратегий поведения представителей англоязычной и русскоязычной культур в неформальных коммуникативных ситуациях. Исследование показало, что в обоих языках дополнительному смягчению побуждающих речевых актов содействует яркая эпистемическая модальность, заключенная в форме модальных глаголов, наречий меры и степени, вопросительных предложений, вводно-модальных слов, глаголов в сослагательном наклонении. Кроме перечисленных языковых средств, в русском языке различная степень модальной градации и высокая степень вежливости и неопределенности передается с помощью частиц (не, ли, бы), специфичных эмоционально-экспрессивных языковых средств и приемов. В отличие от русского языка, способы оформления англоязычных побуждающих речевых актов свидетельствуют о регулярном расхождении между семантическим значением и прагматической установкой. The article makes an attempt to specify and compare the complex of Russian and English linguistic devices of understatement, softening, distancing aimed at achieving communicative purposes of the speaker as exemplified in fiction works. Pragmatic approach to the analysis of evasion techniques is applied in the study. The theory of speech behavior strategies in the English environment by Yu. Kuzmenkova serves the basis for the current study. The study is based on the material taken from literary works. It employed the methods of description, comparative analysis, continuous sampling. The work enables to identify some similarities and differences of linguistic devices and pragmatic purposes at the speech level reflecting strategies of behavior of the English and Russian cultures’ representatives in informal communication. The study suggests that in both languages epistemic modality presented by modal verbs, degree adverbs, interrogative sentences, introductory phrases, verbs in the subjunctive mood contribute to additional mitigation of incentive speech acts. Besides the listed linguistic devices, specific particles and emotionally expressive means and techniques are used to convey different degrees of modality, politeness, indirectness in the Russian language. As opposed to Russian, the techniques of building English incentive speech acts are indicative of regular discrepancy between semantic meaning and pragmatic purpose.