Epistemički modalni prilozi i gradijentnost u engleskom i srpskom jeziku
Epistemic Modal Adverbs and Gradability in the English and Serbian Language

Summary/Abstract: This paper discusses the importance of modal adverbs and its implications for researching modality in general on examples from the English and Serbian languages and points to some theoretical lackings in Serbian literature on modality. The analysis of the corpus examples is based on the theory of modality as epistemic deixis with the aim of showing that epistemic modal adverbs express the notion of degree on an epistemic scale in a way that traditionally discussed modal verbs are unable to do. The semantic gradability of modal adverbs is discussed in epistemic contexts where they can occur on their own, or collocate with modal verbs. The paper also focuses on combinations of epistemic adverbs with other adverbs that have an effect on the degree of modality expressed, either a heightening or lowering effect.

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