SPECIFICS OF DEFINITENESS/INDEFINITENESS CATEGORY VERBALIZATION BY MEANS OF MODERN GERMAN

Abstract

The article is devoted to identifying the specifics of definiteness / indefiniteness category verbalization in the modern German language. The authors established that the issue of definiteness / indefiniteness category verbalization, to which a certain number of scientific studies are devoted, is not sufficiently developed on the material of this language and consequently requires further study. The contemporary linguistic research interprets the definiteness / indefiniteness category as a measure of the speakers’ awareness with the objects of speech or as a textual category. The definiteness / indefiniteness category can be classified as a linguistic universal as it is inherent in almost all languages. There are languages that have formal markers of their verbalization and those lacking them. In German, the definiteness / indefiniteness category is grammatically explicit. The means of its verbalization are, first of all, definite and indefinite articles. The use of definite articles allows us to specify the object under discussion, to present it as already known to the interlocutor by the situation or context. The use of indefinite articles by speakers or authors of works represents the depicted object as such that for the first time presents itself to the person and it is one among a number of similar ones. The semantic function of the definite and indefinite article is to identify the object (the definiteness category verbalization) or to classify it as homogeneous (the indefiniteness category verbalization). As a result of the study, it was established that in addition to the forms of the definite article, the definiteness category in the modern German language is verbalized by demonstrative pronouns, which are used to: specify objects under discussion, as well as the time of the planned action, a reminder of an already known person and the like. The means of the definiteness category verbalization also include possessive pronouns, indicating the object belonging to a certain person. On the other hand, the means of indefiniteness category verbalization are forms of the indefinite article and indefinite pronouns, which limit the scope of the concept expressed by the noun giving an imprecise indication of the attributes of objects. The indefinite-personal pronoun man, which serves to denote an unknown subject or group of unknown people, has great power in terms of indefiniteness category verbalization.