MODAL PARTICLES IN GERMAN DECLARATIVE SENTENCES AND THEIR SLOVENIAN COUNTERPARTS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4312/linguistica.59.1.235-251Keywords:
modal particle, indexical function, proposition, illocution, dialogue structureAbstract
German modal particles (MP) are language-specific indexical signs which refer back to a given proposition or speech act. A German MP marks the utterance as a reactive turn in an enacted or presupposed dialogic structure. A subset of German MPs in declarative sentences are compared with Slovenian particles sharing the same basic indexical function. The functional analysis is mainly based on examples from oral dialogues (child language and colloquial texts). Grammatically relevant oppositions result from the functional class meaning of all MPs combined with the abstract distinctive semantic components of the individual MP. The distinctive semantic components of German MPs in declarative sentences and the Slovenian particles with MP-function allow the division into several subclasses, of which the affirmative, corrective, simplificative and presumptive MPs mostly occur earlier in utterances of German children than iterative, augmentative, concessive and comparative MPs. A similar tendency is visible in the smaller language sample of Slovenian pre-school children.
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Copyright (c) 2019 Teodor Petrič

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