Specificity of modality representation in the comic text of the Russian Germans' schwank

This article is devoted to the peculiarities of the realization of the category of modality based on the analysis of the comic text of the schwank of Russian Germans. The text of the schwank is considered as a form of a comic text. The schwank is a small-format comic genre. The peculiarity of this genre is a more comprehensive content than in other comic genres, e.g., in a joke. The comic reflection of reality in the schwank draws directly on the linguistic resources, as well as on comic situations and characters. The specificity of the schwank as a comic genre is that the comic permeates the structure of the text, its images, situations. The modality of the text is a category that contains a variety of qualifications of the delivered information. These qualifications include both subjective (emotional, positive, negative) and objective (logical, intellectual) evaluation of the content of the text. Based on this property of modality, objective and subjective modalities are defined. Thus, the text category of modality has a bilateral nature. Subjective modality plays a crucial role in comic texts as the semantic basis of modality is the concept of evaluation in a broad sense. The comic is based on a contradiction which is the opposition of the ridiculed phenomenon to certain ideals. Conformance of the object with the standard is the basis of evaluation. This is due to the fact that different types of evaluation, as well as the author's attitude to the world and to the information reported in the comic text, are reflected most vividly. Subjective modality is considered as a specific category of the comic text that expresses a value judgment with a view to create a comic effect. The specificity of expressing a value judgment in the comic text of the schwank consists in the means of value judgment verbalization. For instance, not only different linguistic means (modal verbs, subjunctive mood, words with modal meaning), but also the creation of comic images are involved in the expression of value judgments. A value judgment involved in creating a comic effect in the text of the schwank is not formed at the level of a single sentence, but goes beyond it to the level of the text and permeates it entire structure. The modality in the text of the schwank is not just a set of modal attributes of single sentences, but a comprehensive reflection of the speaker's position shown in its completeness only in the framework of the whole text.

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