Syntactic And Pragmatic Markers Of Subjectively Charged English Complex Conditional Sentences

Abstract

The paper focuses on the urgent problem of functioning of complex conditional sentences in the English discourse. Complex conditional sentences are regarded as a variant of the prolonged syntactical form with the conditional meaning that reveals the relation between a protasis and an apodosis either explicitly or implicitly through various syntactical structures. The purpose of the research is to specify the markers of subjectivity on syntactic and pragmatic levels which influence a superstructure of complex conditional sentences in contact communication represented in fictional texts by characters' speech. The research method applied is a discursive-stylistic analysis which implies taking into consideration discursive and stylistic properties of a text that determine the choice of conditional constructions and their modal-pragmatic superstructure. The results of the research demonstrate that the subjective character of English complex conditional sentences in contact communication is created by the repetition of dependent clauses in complex conditional sentences within an utterance, parts of dependent clauses and conditional elementary sentences (ES) as a part of separated ES with conditional conjunction. On the pragmatic level a speaker's attitude towards an utterance content is shown through restrictive particles such as only, ever, just and intensifying particles such as really, too, so, still, very.

Keywords: Complex conditional sentencesconditional relationmodalityparticlesrepetitionsubjectively charged

Introduction

There is a tradition in descriptive grammar to define complex conditional sentences as the main grammatical means of expressing conditional situation, when a speaker first assumes some idea or some event that can happen and then concludes what will happen or what would happen (would have happened) as the result of his assumption realization or non-realization. Linguists distinguish three main semantic types of complex conditional sentences: indicative, counterfactual ( Edgington, 2014) and relevance ( Douven, Elqayam, Singmann, & Wijnbergen-Huitink, 2018).

The last one does not specify the circumstances which help a speaker make such a conclusion but determines a kind of relevance between two parts of conditional situation. In other words if your assumption is true the information supplied in the main clause is relevant for you to know.

Problem Statement

Prototypical complex conditional sentences (indicative, counterfactual and relevance) have been studied from various aspects in different languages. Thus linguists focused on their syntactical structure, conditional conjunctions as the markers that connect two possible events( Weisser, 2015)and means of translation into other languages ( Evstafiadi, 2018).Moreover, pragmatic aspect of incomplete conditionalswas studied by Elder and Savva ( 2018).However, the problem of complex conditional sentences functioning in different texts and speech types has not been elaborated and is still of current interest.

Basing on Olga Kostrova's approach to analysis of complex conditional sentences, we regard them as a kind of metalinguistic construct that unites all syntactical structures able to express conditional relation between the events and is termed prolonged syntactical form (PSF) with conditional meaning ( as cited in Evstafiadi, Inozemtseva, Sapuh, Andreeva, & Verzhinskaya, 2017). Besides complex conditional sentences PSF with conditional meaning embraces:

• compound conditional sentences;

• two elementary sentences (ES) with one used in a compressed form: as a preposition-noun combination, participle, gerund or infinitive;

• a chain of semantically connected elementary sentences one following the other by a full stop, an exclamatory mark or a question mark;

• contexts which unite a part of a complex or a compound sentence and anindependent sentence following it ( Evstafiadi et al., 2017).

PSF with conditional meaning is marked with modality, i.e. being a modal-pragmatic unit it contains a modal-pragmatic superstructure created as a result of the interaction of different language means which determine modality of a speech type and text type.

Research Questions

We are interested in the peculiar structure of English complex conditional sentences functioning in contact or instant communication. Another question that demands our special consideration is a set of syntacticand pragmatic means that reveal subjective character of English complex conditional sentences in fictional texts.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to determine specific makers on the syntactic and pragmatic levels that make English complex conditional sentences subjectively charged in contact communication.

Research Methods

The most suitable research method that reveals the functioning of complex conditional sentences is discursive-stylistic analysis which implies taking into consideration discursive and stylistic text properties ( Andreeva, 2006). On the one hand, a text is regarded as a kind of communication between two interlocutors - an author and a reader, on the other hand, a text is considered as the product of an author's speech and the basis of a reader's discourse.

Communication can take place in various circumstances. If interlocutors are distanced we deal with a distant type of communication. If they are in close vicinity to each other we speak about an instant or contact communication. Thus the discursive-stylistic analysis of a text is interested in interlocutors, their time and space location, their intentions and their attitude to the reality and their messages. It reveals a connection of a text as a kind of communication with specific circumstances termed communicative registers which are considered as speech types ( Evstafiadi & Baimuratova, 2015).

Our recent research has proved that speech types and text types differ in modality ( Evstafiadi et al., 2017). The author's speech which corresponds to distant communication is objectively charged where a scharacter's speech (in fictional texts as an example) is subjectively coloured. We consider that only omniscient narration in fictional texts can be regarded as distant communication in its pure form, while personified narration (carried out in the 1 ^st or 3 ^d person singular) reveals the author's intention to make a reader the witness of the situation. Thus, such types of narration provide correlation of the author's and the reader's time and space systems and can be considered as a variety of contact communication. The last in its pure form corresponds in fictional texts to character's speech that is abundant in all kinds of conditional structures united by the term prolonged syntactical form with conditional meaning.

Moreover, contrastive types of modality are created due to conditional structures used in these speechtypes and text types ( Kostrova, 2018). We have demonstrated which specific conditional structures are prevalent in scientific and fictional texts making them objectively charged ( Evstafiadi et al., 2017).In distant communication represented in scientific texts authors tend to use elementary sentences with a preposition-noun combination, participle, gerund or infinitive and complex conditional sentences, while the other types of the prolonged syntactical form with conditional meaning are not observed. In fiction one can notice a variety of conditional structures due to a complex nature of afictional text itself.

However, some constructions which can be found in both types of communication are differently charged. Their modal-pragmatic superstructure is created due to the set of linguistic means found on various levels of the language. The principle marker of objective and subjective modality is the category of person: in distant communication the author prefers to tell about other people and objects in the 3 ^d person referring to them by their proper names or 3 ^d person pronouns whereas in contact communication 1 ^st and 2 ^nd person pronouns are used in complex conditional sentences. The impersonal character of English conditional sentences in distant communication is also due to predicate tense forms (Present Simple Indicative and in some cases Past Simple) and passive forms ( Evstafiadi et al., 2017).

The data of the present research include 688utterances containing complex conditional sentences selected from the characters' speech of English fictional texts. Characters' speech in its variation (uttered, inner or represented) is regarded as a contact or instant interpersonal communication or interlocution that occurs in a character's mind.

Findings

Discursive-stylistic analysis of the data reveals syntactic and pragmatic means which create subjectively charged superstructure of complex conditional sentences. They are different types of repetition and particles.

Conclusion

Complex conditional sentences as a variant of prolonged syntactical form with conditional meaning can be charged with modality. In other words they function differently in various texts and speech types. Contact communication represented by characters' speech in fictional discourse provides opportunities for interlocutors to express their feelings and emotions both explicitly and implicitly. Thus complex conditional sentences become subjectively charged as they implicitly reveal speakers' emotional state, their attitude to their addressees and to a communicative situation at large. The research has shown that besides morphological means (the category of person, predicate tense forms) and lexical ones such as modal verbs and modal words the subjective character of English complex conditional sentences is created by syntactic and pragmatic means. On the syntactic level we have specified peculiar repeated elements of English complex conditional clauses. We have studied their stylistic potential to convey speakers' feelings and emotions. On the pragmatic level we have determined a set of restrictive and intensifying particles which serve to express a speaker's desire to draw his interlocutor's attention to a particular element of an utterance or his evaluation of an utterance content. Thus, on both levels such markers demonstrate that English complex conditional sentences are subjectively coloured in contact communication.

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