Features of modus-dictum relationships in the structure of the sentence

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Features of modus-dictum relationships in the structure of the sentence

Journal Title: Scientific journal «International Journal of Philology» - Year 2015, Vol 1, Issue 225

Abstract

The article is a comprehensive study of the modus and dictum categories, that are viewed as two main levels in the content organisation of a sentence: 1) subjective, that reflects the speaker’s attitude to the utterance, that is the way in which he perceives, names, evaluates or qualifies a certain micro-situation, reflected by a sentence (modus level), and 2) objective, that represents actual reality (dictum level). Modus and dictum are investigated in the aspect of nominative derivation,that is nomination of an event, fact or situation of reality in its close relation to the process of grammatical structuring. Analysis of modus and dictum in a sentence structure from the point of view of the communicative activity of the speakers is closely connected with the theory of syntactical nomination. While elucidating the informative and referential content of a sentence, the role of subjective and pragmatic factors, related to the speaker’s personality was taken into account. The criteria of differentiating modus and dictum and their correlation in the semantic and syntactical structure of a sentence have been defined, the content of notions that are directly connected with them is verified, the hierarchy of means of modus and dictum expression in a sentence structure has been established. The correlation between lexical, morphological, syntactical means of modus and dictum meanings in a sentence structure has been substantiated, the content and scope of invariant modal meanings of reality, potentiality and irreality have been defined. Different means of modal meaning presentation (discreet and non-discreet; explicit and implicit) are differentiated and described. Two classes of predicatives have been defined and substantiated: M-predicatives, that contain interpretations of objective content of a sentence, different evaluations of the speaker, his feelings and volition, and D-predicatives, that express objective information. Dictum predicatives present a «stretch» of extra-linguistic existence, while modus predicatives unlike D-predicatives are not independent, they function as a frame of objective information, provide information about speech situation, interpret dictum. M-predicatives have been differentiated into six semantic varieties: thought, speech, sensation, mental state, imagination, existence. A notion of modus-dictum syntactical structure (MD-structure) has been introduced into scientific use and classification of MD-structures, built with consideration of special functional features and sentence internal analytical features has been created. MD-structures with modus-dictum relations of clarification, cause, clarification-cause, clarification-condition, condition-result, concession, purpose have been singled out. Modus and dictum are investigated in the aspect of nominative derivation,that is nomination of an event, fact or situation of reality in its close relation to the process of grammatical structuring. Analysis of modus and dictum in a sentence structure from the point of view of the communicative activity of the speakers is closely connected with the theory of syntactical nomination. Means of explication of actualised connective syntactical ties have been traced and modus-dictum relations in the aspect of communicative status of sentence units and their components have been analysed. The understanding of MD-correlation with consideration of presentations that exist in the theory of reference and semantic syntax has been formed.

Authors and Affiliations

V Shynkaruk

Keywords

modus dictum categories of modus categories of dictum modus-dictum structure modus-dictum correlation modus-dictum relation dictum meaning modal meaning dictum-predicative modus-predicative proposition valency

EP ID EP394810
DOI -
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