Курсовая с практикой на тему The Means of Modality Expression in Arthur Conan Doyle collection stories «The adventures of Shrelock Holmes»

Содержание:

Introduction 3

Chapter I. Theoretical aspect of studying of modality category 5

1.1 The general concept of modality in linguistic 5

1.2 Means of Expressing Modality in English 10

Chapter I. – Summary of Results 18

Chapter 2. Features of the Representation of the Category of Modality 20

2.1 Means of Expressing Subjective Modality in Literary Texts 20

2.2 The Category of Modality in Conan Doyle’s Stories 29

Chapter II — Summary of Results 35

Conclusion 36

References 38

Введение:

The middle of the XX century is characterized by an active study of the category of modality, which is considered one of the most controversial problems of linguistics. Modality is a category of linguistic meaning related to the expression of possibility and necessity. A modalized sentence locates an underlying or prejacent proposition in the space of possibilities (the term prejacent was introduced by medieval logicians). It is the first voluminous work on the modality of Sh. Bally, which was published in 1942, gave impetus to further studies of the phenomenon of modality within linguistic science [4, с.119].

The following scientists made a significant contribution to the study of the category of modality: Sh. Bally (1955), O. I. Belyaeva (1988), M.Ya. Bloch (1994), V.V. Vinogradov. (1950), V.L. Kaushanskaya (2008), V. N.Yartseva (1990) and others. However, despite the presence of a significant number of works, this category is considered a multidimensional and completely unexplored phenomenon. The relevance of the research topic is due to the need for of all categories of theoretical painting by modality, means and others, the systematization of modal systems and their prerogative.

The purpose of this study is to determine the means of modality expression in Arthur Conan Doyle collection stories «The Adventures of Shrelock Holmes». To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the following objects:

to reveal the essence and semantic-communicative nature of the modality in the language;

to consider the means of expressing modality in English;

to trace the features of collection stories by Arthur Conan Doyle;

to show the essence and semantic-communicative nature of modality expression in Conan Doyle’s stories.

The object of the paper is Modality Expression in Arthur Conan Doyle collection stories «The adventures of Shrelock Holmes»

The subject of this work is the means of expressing modality of collection stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.

The material of linguistic analysis is the collection stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.

The scientific usage of the work is represented by a fundamental analysis of theoretical knowledge about the means of expressing modality of collection stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. This research contributes to the development of the theory of linguistics in general for the study of such a grammatical phenomenon as modality, as well as to the development of methods of analysis and semantics of modality in the English language.

The practical significance is due to the fact that the results of the work can be used for further study of the work of by Arthur Conan Doyle at seminars and special courses on Britain literature.

The structure of the paper is following:

Introduction, that shows the actuality of theme, sets the object, subject and tasks of the work, determines the structure of the paper.

The first Chapter describes the theoretical aspect of the grammatical category «modality».

The second chapter provides a detailed description of modal verbs using in English collection stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Conclusion draws a line under the investigation and shows the total results of the theoretical and practical research.

References represent the sources used during the investigation.

Заключение:

The category of modality, expressing the relationship of speech with reality, is one of the most important in linguistics. Modal meanings in the language are revealed in different ways and, first of all, in the grammatical category of mood, in the lexical composition and in the whole syntactic intonation-semantic unit. Modality is a characteristic of a grammatical unit expressing the relation of certainty, possibility or necessity. The main ways of expressing modality in English include grammatical, lexical and syntactic ways. Grammatical means of expressing modality include:

1) modal verbs (can, must, may, should, ought to, would);

2) multifunctional verbs that perform, among other things, the function of modal verbs (shall, should, will, would, need);

3) infinitive constructions (Complex Subject);

4) mood forms (Indicative Mood, Imperative Mood, Subjunctive Mood). Lexical means of expressing modality, in turn, include the following components: modal words and modal phrases (of course, surely, in fact, etc.); modal particles (yet, simply, just, etc It should be borne in mind that modality relations in Modality can be expressed by both grammatical and lexical means (mood forms, modal words and particles, intonation, etc.).English can be expressed not only with the help of so-called modal verbs:

for this purpose, modal adverbs can also be used: probably (probably),

modal adjectives: possible (possible),

ordinary verbs (want to, have to), etc.

Lexical means of modality realization express a subjective attitude to the thought expressed in the sentence. They can have the meaning of assumptions, doubts, probabilities, confidence in the statement.

Modal words perform the function of an introductory word and usually refer to the whole sentence as a whole, without being a member of it. These include the following:

regars, of course, surely, certainly, no doubt, in fact, in truth, etc.

as well as words with the suffix -ly that coincide in form with adverbs: possibly, probably, undoubtedly, naturally, evidently, happily, etc.

The lexical way of expressing modality is also represented by modal nouns. Modal nouns can be divided into three groups:

with the meaning of possibility (possibility, chance, opportunity, occasion, availability, capacity, ability), necessity (necessity, need, exigency, emergency, obligation, duty, responsibility, want, demand, volition, wish) and certainty (reality, truth, certainty, belief, faith, confidence, probability, hesitation, doubt, uncertainty, disbelief, distrust).

Grammatical means of expressing objective modality are the category of mood, the category of time, various types of intonation (intonation of a message or information, interrogative intonation), etc. The most common grammatical means of expressing modality in English are modal verbs. Modal verbs in English function as auxiliary verbs, they change the content of another verb that they control. Modal verbs do not express actions, but only the attitude towards them on the part of the speaker. With their help, the speaker shows that this or that action is possible or impossible, mandatory or unnecessary, etc.

The main verb that follows the modal is used in the form of an infinitive without the particle to. With the exception of the modal verb ought, which is used with the particle to.

Modal verbs do not change in persons and numbers, i.e. in the third person singular they do not have the ending -s (-es).

As for the works of K. Doyle, such actions as confidence, assumption, possibility, assertion, are used as modal verbs, and the forms Subjunctive I and II. Subjunctive II is an action contrary to reality, which can be attributed to:

a) the present,

b) the past,

c) the future.

Usually the forms of the subjunctive I are used in subordinate clauses with the conjunctions that and if. The main thing in the meaning of the forms of subjunctive II is the idea of the direct opposite of the reported reality.

The paper considers the cases of the use of modal verbs, modal words in the stories of K. Doyle. As a result, 41 examples expressing the category of modality were identified in the stories. With them, they help to identify the characteristic features of the characters, their thoughts and attitude to others. At the same time, the author uses all means to express modality: both grammatical and lexical. Among the grammatical means, the most popular are modal verbs, interrogative and inverse sentences.

Фрагмент текста работы:

Chapter I. Theoretical aspect of studying of modality category

1.1 The general concept of modality in linguistic

The phenomenon of modality is extremely complex and multidimensional. As Y.I. Retsker notes, «there is no other lexical and grammatical category in English that would present more difficulties in the translation process than the category of modality» [22, p. 170]. That is why this problem is the subject of controversy in linguistics, and therefore belongs to the «eternal» issues of linguistic studies, because there is still no single view on the nature of this category.

The category of modality belongs to the main, central language categories. Modality is a category expressing the speaker’s attitude to the content of the utterance, the latter’s attitude to reality. A modality can have the meaning of a statement, an order, a wish, and so on. Modal meanings in a language can be conveyed in such ways as intonation, lexical (different modal words and expressions), grammatical (moods) and lexico-grammatical, to which modal words belong. Each message or statement, made in the form of a sentence, is addressed to someone: the listener, the interlocutor, sometimes to himself. The speaker or writer always has the listener or reader in mind and expounds his thoughts for him. At the same time, he constantly strives to ensure that others understand him, react to his words, exchange their opinions with him. However, modern English linguists do not define this category at all, and limit themselves to pointing out its varieties: deontic, epistemic [24, p. 100-103]. «The study of the category of modality is complicated by the ambiguity or even homonymy of the term,» O. P. Vorobyova believes [11, pp.22-30]. Modality is a multidimensional phenomenon, and therefore different opinions are expressed in the linguistic literature about the essence of this phenomenon. However, E.I. Belyaeva notes that the various definitions of modality do not exclude, but complement each other, reflecting the complexity and diversity of the concept of «modality» itself [6, p.13].

Thus, according to V. N. Yartseva, «modality (modalis — modal; modus — measure, method) is a functional and semantic category expressing various types of relations to reality and various types of subjective qualification of the reported » [25, p.303]. A.A. Selivanova defines the category of modality as «the representation of various emotive-evaluative signals modeled by the author’s consciousness; the reality/unreality of the simulated reference, which plays an essential role in the actualization of the content-continuum organization of the text» [23, p.10].

According to Poutsma’s definition, «modality is the personal form of a verb, a verbal phrase or a modal adverb, with which the speaker expresses his point of view about the degree of performance of an action or state indicated by a predicate» [22, p.170]. On the other hand, Charles Bally states: «Modality is the soul of a sentence. There are no statements without modality» [4, p.44]. Sh. Bally defines modality how he thinks the operation performed by the speaking subject on the representation contained in the dictum. According to Sh. Bally, the main content can be distinguished in any statement. Charles Bally noted that two elements can be distinguished in the statement: the main content is the dictum and the individual assessment of the facts presented is the modus. The scientist used these two terms (dictum and modus) to denote the objective and subjective parts of the judgment. In language, modality acts as an assessment of the correlation of the entire utterance with real reality from the point of view of the speaker. This opinion is also shared by the outstanding academician V.V. Vinogradov [10, pp. 53-87] and O.A. Bun [7, pp. 141- 148]. He attributes modality to communicative-grammatical categories and even more to modal-communicative ones, which are based on the speaker’s internal relations to the content of speech. Characterizing communicative-grammatical categories in general and the category of modality in particular, he especially emphasizes their ability to generalize and formalize the speaker’s attitude to the content of his message and all that inextricable and complex connection that exists between the content of speech and the process of speech communication between people. V.V. Vinogradov defined modality as a conceptual category that «is not described with the help of language, but is revealed in itself, in its vocabulary and grammatical structure»[10, pp. 53-87].

At the heart of any semantic language construction are aspects of modality, including the question of the attitude of the organizer of speech activity to what he reports, how he reports, to whom he reports, what he reports and how this message expresses his attitude to reality. An important unifying factor is the general idea of the author, within which the modal system is formed relationships in the text.

According to O.S. Akhmanova, the category of modality expresses the speaker’s attitude to the connection that he establishes between the content of a given utterance and reality, that is, attitude to attitude. From this position, the category of modality is seen as a reflection of complex interactions between four communication factors: the speaker, the interlocutor, the content of the utterance and reality [2]. Modality can be expressed by various lexical and grammatical means, such as form and mood, modal verbs, etc. The modality of the text is the expression in the text of the author’s attitude to the reported, the point of view, his concept, the position of his value orientations formulated for the purpose of communicating them to the reader.