FUNCTIONING OF THE CATEGORY OF MODALITY IN ENGLISH- LANGUAGE DISCOURCE

Abstract

The category of modality in linguistics is considered to be not fully investigated phenomenon. Not all authors clearly distinguish between two types of modality, namely grammatical and logical ones. There is still no consensus on the question of whether the modality is assigned to the category of modality: whether modality is a category of morphology, syntax or semantics. The concept of modality (from Latin modus – measure, method), which was introduced in relation to the logic of judgment, in fact, yet by Aristotle and which was further developed in the works by I. Kant, further passed into classical philosophical systems, and later found its application in linguistics. The term “modality” is used to define a wide range of phenomena that are heterogeneous in their volume, grammatical properties and degree of decoration at different levels of linguistic structure. The modality sphere includes the following: opposition of statements by the nature of their communicative goal (statement–question– motivation); opposition with the sign of “statement–negation”; gradation of values in the range of “reality–irreality” (reality–hypothetical reality– irreality); different degrees of confidence of the speaker in the reliability of the content of the statement; various modifications of the relationship between the subject and the predicate, expressed by various lexical means (“wishes”, “can”, “should”, necessary”), etc. By modality, we mean the integral system of those aspects of meanings of expression that manifest the speaker’s attitude to the following: to the type of connection between the meaningful content of the utterance and the fragment displayed beyond linguistic reality; to the beyond linguistic reality fragment reflected in the statement; to the type of relationship between the subject and the subject of the propositional content of the utterance; to the listener (analyzing the interaction between the speaker and the listener), that is the relationship that emerges in the speaker’s desire to influence the listener in an informed aspect.