Discursive realization of the verb «would» as a marker of epistemic modality in English publicistic text

Abstract

The article presents the results of the empirical study aimed at revealing epistemic modality realization in utterances with the verb would in English publicistic texts of analytical political articles. The relevance of the research is determined by the fact that discursive characteristics of modal syntagms with epistemic meaning in speech act are one of the least studied aspects of text modality. The basis of the research is the idea of epistemic modality being different from «root» modality expressed by the «material» meaning of the verb. Epistemic modality is expressed in lexico-syntactic mode which implies its study in terms of speech act syntagmatics. The results of the analysis demonstrate low frequency of the verb would as a lexical means. At the same time instances of its functioning in syntagms as a lexico-syntactic means of expressing modality are numerous. Discursive realization of the verb would is characterized by the category of polarity which is reflected in the opposition of the expected and the real. Illocutionary markers of the opposition are syntagms which contain lexical units with epistemic meaning or modal verbs with functions contrastive to those of the verb would. The main rhetorical model of speech acts organization is symmetry backed up by syntactically, lexically and phonologically similar text units. This principle of text organization is most clearly manifested in parallel word-combinations with the verbs would, «could», «should», and paronymic attraction.