Филологические науки /
теоретические и методологические
проблемы исследования языка
Пітик В.В.
Чернівецький Національний університет ім. Ю.Федьковича
The Positional Characteristics of Epistemic Aaverbials in Chat-Sessions
Even a brief look at the syntax of adverbials cannot ignore the ensuing impression of having received a very mixed message. While adverbials sometimes seem to enjoy considerable freedom with respect to syntactic position, in other cases they display rather tight syntactic restrictions. The following data, which we take to constitute the core phenomena a theory of adverbials has to explain, serve to illustrate this consideration.
The objective of our article
is to give a positional classification of epistemic adverbials, which requires a brief analysis of positional
characteristics of epistemic adverbials in the sentence in modern
English.
Adverbials often show a stable order in relation to other adverbials in the sentence: Since then, he doesn’t any longer always
accept our invitations [1, p. 68].
In many other cases the relative adverbial order is variable.
Actually
mark raven has an excellent point there [6, 521].
According to their position in relation to other elements in the clause that occur
in a fixed order, some adverbials allow a wide range of possible positions,
while others display more restricted behaviour:
Evidently Horatio lost his mind [5, p. 128].
Horatio evidently lost his mind [5, p. 129].
Horatio lost his mind evidently [5, p. 129].
In some cases different possible positions do not affect the
interpretation, in other cases they do. On the other hand, it means that it was
clever of John to answer the question if the adverbial occurs
sentence-initially or proverbially and that John answered the question in a
clever way if the adverbial occurs proverbially or post verbally, but not when
in initial position in sentence:
Cleverly John answered the question [3, p. 155].
John cleverly answered the question [3, p. 155].
John
answered the question cleverly [3, p. 155].
The epistemic adverbials are those,
which underline some shades of meaning of the utterance. They are: really, truly, actually, genuinely, indeed,
surely, certainly, definitely, quite, frankly, exactly, just, even, for sure,
of course [4, p. 457].
Our research is based on the material of chat-sessions, which totals 1000 pages in Microsoft Word Format.
If we talk about the position of the
epistemic adverbials in the sentence we have to say, that they may appear in
different positions: at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the
sentence (see Table №1).
Table 1
The Positional Analysis of Epistemic Adverbials
|
Position |
just |
even |
really |
actually |
quite |
of course |
exactly |
for sure |
surely |
precisely |
truly |
definitely |
indeed |
certainly |
literally |
|
At the beginning of the utterance |
41 / 14% |
11 / 8% |
11 / 10% |
11 / 28% |
2 / 13% |
7 / 47% |
3 / 30% |
- |
- |
1 / 20% |
- |
- |
1 / 50% |
- |
- |
|
In the middle of the verb phrase |
261 / 86% |
125 / 89% |
97 / 87% |
4 / 10% |
14 / 87% |
5 / 33% |
7 / 70% |
3 / 43% |
6 / 100% |
3 / 60% |
3 / 100% |
2 / 100% |
- |
1 / 100% |
1 / 100% |
|
At the end of the utterance |
- |
5 / 3% |
3 / 3% |
24 / 6% |
- |
3 / 20% |
- |
4 / 57% |
- |
1 / 20% |
- |
- |
1 / 50% |
- |
- |
|
Total number (100%) |
302 |
141 |
111 |
39 |
16 |
15 |
10 |
7 |
6 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
The most frequently used epistemic
adverbial, which occurs at the
beginning of the utterance, is “just”. Then go “even”, “really”, “actually”.
Less frequently used is such an
epistemic adverbial as “of
course”. The least frequently used are “exactly”, “quite”, “precisely”,
“indeed”. Among the adverbials, which are not used in the preposition at all
are: “for sure”, “surely”, “truly”, “definitely”, “certainly”, “literally”.
From
the point of view of their semantic meaning epistemic adverbials may indicate
any degree of truthfulness, a real or unreal condition. We can divide epistemic
adverbials into such micro groups as:
1) weak epistemic adverbials (perhaps, maybe, possibly);
2) intermediate epistemic adverbials (probably);
3) strong epistemic adverbials (really, truly, actually, genuinely, indeed,
surely, quite, exactly, definitely, for sure, of course) [4, p. 458].
While doing this research we counted the frequency of usage of the
epistemic adverbials in different positions in chat-sessions (Table №2.)
Table 2
Group Positional Analysis of Epistemic Adverbials
|
Position |
At the beginning of the utterance |
In the middle of the utterance |
At the end of the utterance |
Total number |
||||
|
Groups |
||||||||
|
Weak epistemic adverbials |
18 |
12% |
130 |
83% |
8 |
5% |
156 |
100% |
|
Intermediate epistemic adverbials |
2 |
12% |
15 |
88% |
- |
- |
17 |
100% |
|
Strong epistemic adverbials |
68 |
14% |
388 |
80% |
32 |
6% |
488 |
100% |
Weak epistemic adverbials are most
frequently used in the middle of the verb phrase (130 samples or 83%), then
goes the middle position (18 samples or 12%) and the least frequently used are
the weak epistemic adverbials at the end of the utterance (8 samples or 5%).
As for the intermediate epistemic
adverbials, they are mostly frequently used in the middle of the verb phrase
(15 samples 88%), less frequently used are they at the pre position (2 samples
12%). They are not used at the end of the utterance.
Strong epistemic adverbials are mostly used in the middle of the verb phrase (388 samples or 80%), then goes the preposition, where such adverbials are less used (68 samples or 14%). As for their position at the end of the utterance, they are least frequently used (32 samples or 6%).
In the course of our future
investigations we will look through the main reasons of the frequency of the usage of the epistemic adverbials in the mentioned
positions in chat-sessions.
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