AN INTERROGATIVE SENTENCE AS A MEANS OF EXPRESSING SEEMINGNESS

Abstract

Aim. We identify the role of an interrogative sentence in the expression of the semantics of seemingness and determine the general semantic variant, which makes it possible to assert that an interrogative statement is one of the syntactic means of expressing the mode of seemingness.

Methodology. The research relies on the component analysis, which includes various aspects of the study of the language system: functional, semantic, pragmatic, and structural. In addition, use is made of the method of continuous sampling of the illustrative material.

Results. A related case for seemingness and interrogativity is the uncertainty and lack of information. Any interrogative sentence requires clarification of uncertainty. The very fact of raising a question indicates that the addressee doubts the knowledge of this or that moment of reality. Interrogative sentences belong to the far periphery of the category of seemingness and are located in the segment of the intersection of the field of interrogativity with the field of seemingness. The area of intersection of these fields is wide and depends on the contextual environment and the choice of lexical and syntactic means expressing the semantics of seemingness. The periphery can shift either towards the center of the field of interrogativity, or towards the center of the field of seemingness.

Research implications. The theoretical and practical significance is explained by the expansion of understanding of the role of interrogative sentences in the formation of functional and semantic categories and is determined by the possibility of using the obtained results in such courses as “Functional Grammar”, “Stylistics”, and “Modern Russian Language”.