The modal arsenal of the Russian infinitive sentence

The position of the infinitive sentence in the system of single-component sentences of the modern Russian language is exceptional: in all other verbal single-component categories pre-dicativity finds its expression in the morphological forms of mood, time and person. The infinitive form cannot convey these predicative meanings. However, the independent position of the infinitive as the main member of a one-member sentence makes it responsible for expressing predicativity. The infinitive potentially contains a relation to a person. This relation is expressed by the dative form or its significant absence. The timelessness of the infinitive form casts doubt on the ability to express the relation of action to a specific time. Modal and modal-evaluative meanings are expressed in the infinitive sentence due to intonation and particles. This is how the modal paradigm of infinitive sentences is formed. Firstly, modal paradigmatics of infinitive sentences is described. The initial form should be an independent infinitive which has an obligatory expander, a dative component. This form of the infinitive sentence has a modal meaning of necessity, inevitability. The most productive dative is a personal name or a personal pronoun. With the participation of particles, the modality of infinitive sentences is detailed, fractured, amplified. One of the most productive and popular forms of the infinitive sentence is the negative one, in which the particle "not" determines the modality of the impossibility of action, and the dative specifies this meaning: a) indicates a person; b) indicates an event, a position. In such forms, a modal shade of the meaning of unattainability is captured. The unsubsti-tuted position of the dative makes the meaning of impossibility categorical. Another productive form of the infinitive sentence includes the particle by [would] and represents the modal meaning of desirability. Desirability is most clearly expressed with the participation of the first person dative. Desirability is further strengthened by the repetition of the infinitive, and is supplemented by the subjective shade of the meaning of hope and dream. The unsubstituted position of the dative broadens the modal meaning of desirability, and the particles "color" this meaning. An important aspect of the modality of the infinitive sentence is the use of "double" ("pair") particles or, more accurately, of analytic particles. One of the most productive and most commonly used modal particles is by - ne [would -not]. It formalizes the undesirability of the action in the infinitive sentence. This modal meaning can be complicated or amplified by additional meanings or shades in the presence of other particles, and also with the participation of details of intonation. This way, for example, a definitive undesirability, inadmissibility is expressed. The meaning of undesirability can be secondary when expressing fear, anxiety, yet it does not completely lose its negative meaning. The modal meaning of fear, avoidance is supplemented by a touch of reminder with the participation of the particle kak [like].

Keywords

Authors

References