Выражение модальности в русских и английских народных приметах

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Выражение модальности в русских и английских народных приметах

Expression of modality in Russian and English folk superstitions

The aim of this work is to find out the means used to express modality in Russian and English folk superstitions; to identify the general, universal ways and particular, distinctive features of expression of category of modality in both studied languages.

Folk superstitions as a special micro-genre of the folklore are of particular interest in modern philology. Folk superstitions differ from other micro-genres by its predictive function as a dominant function. Such features as cumulative, reflecting the process of accumulation of previous generations' experience, and translational, transmitting centuries-old experience of the older generations of the new generations, are commonly found in all micro-genres of folklore. There are many definitions of folk superstitions. So, modern paremiology defines a folk superstition as a clichйd saying with a dominant predictive function, the essence of which is to predict the future [1, с. 9].

In one of the first works devoted to folk superstitions, folk superstitions are characterized as permanent but incomprehensible relationship between some phenomena or event in every-day life, moral or physical world [4, с. 4]. Folk superstitions in the works of scholars of language in 1860s were described as follows: folk superstitions always point to any interrelationship, mostly incomprehensible for people, between the two phenomena of physical or moral world, in which one serves as an omen of another, which directly follows it, and meant to become true in the near future.

In the «Dictionary of Russian language» the following definition of folk superstition is given: folk superstition - is a distinctive feature, characteristic, token, a sign by which you can discover something or somebody [5, с. 594]. Dictionaries of V.I. Dahl, D.N. Ushakov and N.Y. Shvedova characterize folk superstition as an omen, a sign, a phenomenon, an event that foreshows something. According to the definition of N. N Ivanova, the folk superstitions are stable folk sayings with the structure of sentences, containing the prediction of some events, events in the future on the basis of available information [3, с. 5].

The folk superstition, in the understanding of T.S. Sadova is a structure, which describes two situations, implemented the semantic category of conditionality on the text level, since shows the connection of objects, phenomena, entities in various aspects of hierarchical subordination and dependency [8, с. 333]. T.S. Sadova indicates that in the lexical meaning of the word, lies its essence - sign; folk superstition - from the verb «to notice», «to observe», that is a kind of result of observation for the withdrawal or repetitive characteristic phenomena, situations and relationships; and these links can have both a real character, and mythological, superstitious source. T.S. Sadova says that a folk superstition is a kind of oral activity, including the outcome of observing the relations of characters found in a variety of areas of human life and designed to present the world as a kind of conglobation of relationships and connection [Там же, с. 117].

Under the folk superstitions we understand recurring situations in nature, social interaction of people with one another and with the objects of animate and inanimate nature and in human life, on the basis of which people try to predict the future course of events in nature, the destiny of a person or entire nation [1, с. 11].

The question of the modality is one of the most difficult and problematic issues in the science of language. Modality is a significant and constructive feature of the sentence. Modality can be interpreted broadly; it can be not only the language category, a voice category, a text category, but also a logical category, a philosophical category. Moreover, in this sense modality connects the world of external phenomena and the inner world of a person: a person defines the relationship to the statement of real life (the reality / unreality), a person evaluates the validity, expresses his attitude to that what he reports. Thus, this category is one of the personalization of the voice of the author in the text [6]. To the means of the modal meaning formation belong intonation, word order, special constructions, repetition, particles, interjections, introductory (modal) words and phrases, etc.

Modality is a conceptual category, which expresses the attitude of a speaker to the content of his utterance. The speaker's attitude to the reality denoted in a sentence is expressed by various means - morphological, syntactic, and lexical. On this basis, the category of modality should be considered as a linguistic universal. To the morphological means of expression of modality belong the forms of the verb mood, which can transmit a variety of modal meanings. Syntax means of expressing modality are, above all, different types of introductory words and structures (phrases and sentences). Various meanings of modality is a characteristic feature of narrative (affirmative and negative) sentences, interrogative sentences, imperative sentence, and exclamatory sentences. Many words relating to different parts of speech, have modal meanings in their semantic structure. However, modal words and modal verbs are in the center of the field of lexical modality.

In the language of English folk superstitions the most frequent is the usage of the modal verb «can», which is the part of the predicate in the main sentence. And, as a rule, the main part is in a pre-position. For example: You can expect rain when goats bawl, leave the high ground, and seek shelter; You can expect rain when mules shake their harnesses; You can expect rain when sheep leap and frisk about; You can expect rain when deer and elk come down from the mountain; You can expect rain when cows do not give milk; You can expect rain when the bull leads the herd to pasture [10, p. 205].

The usage of the predicate in the form of the passive voice with modal verb «may», expressing the probability is also rather frequent for the folk superstitions. For example: When pigs carry straw to their sties, bad weather may be expected; When birds of long flight - rooks, swallows, or others - hang about home, and fly up and down or low, rain or wind may be expected; When sea-birds fly out early and far to seaward, moderate winds and fair weather may be expected; If bats abound and are vivacious, fine weather may be expected [12, p. 130, 131, 140].

Much less commonly used in the main part of the conditional sentences is modal verb «should», combined with the infinitive form. For example: If moles throw up fresh earth during a frost in winter, it should thaw within forty-eight hours; If cattle or sheep spread out, feed on high ground, the weather should remain at least moderately settled [9, p. 56, 59].

Modality is often expressed lexically by modal words. Adverbs «probably», «certainly», «surely» are the most frequently used adverbs for expression of the probability, certainty, and uncertainty. For example: If cows slap their sides with their tails during the spring and summer months, this will probably be a sign of rainfall and possibly of thunder; If cattle crowd together, keeping their backs to the wind, there will almost certainly be greater storms to come [Ibidem, p. 56]; When the ass begins to bray, surely rain will come that day [11, p. 37]; If ants are more than ordinarily active, it will surely rain [12, p. 146].

In Russian folk superstitions modality is also expressed lexically - with the help of modal words. But, in contrast to the English language, it is less common. For example: Если крот делает высокие кучи, надо ждать плохой погоды [7, c. 108]. / If the mole makes high pile, you may wait for bad weather; Если грачи сели в гнезда, то через три недели можно выходить на посев [2, с. 267]. / If rooks sat in the nest, then in three weeks, you can go to seed; Если журавли раскричались вечером на своих оседлых местах, то на другой день нужно ожидать хорошей погоды [Там же, c. 98]. / If cranes cry noisily on their settled places in the evening, the next day you should expect good weather; Если цыплята не скоро успокаиваются перед ночлегом, то на другой день следует ожидать ненастья [Там же, с. 367]. / If the chicks settle down to overnight not very quickly, then the next day we should expect bad weather.

After studying Russian and English folk superstitions, we can conclude that both in the Russian and in English languages the attitude of a speaker to the content of his statement is recorded by using modal words. The category of modality in both studied languages is often expressed lexically - with the help of modal verbs and modal words.

Besides, for the language of the English folk superstitions, the category of modality is more frequent than for the Russian folk superstitions.

References

verb modality lexical еnglish

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