MARKERS OF CONCLUSION: OPPORTUNITY OF INTERCHANGEABILITY

Abstract

The Russian language has a number of words and phrases which mark relationships of inference (итак, таким образом, следовательно, по-твоему, еtс). Dictionaries tend to interpret them similarly, however analysis have shown that they are not always interchangeable. This article tries to detect and describe characteristics which affect their interchangeability. These characteristics include semantics of markers of inference, their syntactic and functional features as well as characteristics of components of inference such as explicit/implicit and perceptive/informative rationale, relevant/irrelevant, reliable/unreliable conclusion, etc.