KONTRASTIVNA ANALIZA IMENICA SA DIREKTNIM EPISTEMIČKIM ZNAČENjEM U NOVINSKIM IZVJEŠTAJIMA NA SRPSKOM I NjEMAČKOM JEZIKU

Abstract

The subject matter of this paper is nouns with direct epistemic meaning in newspaper reports in German and Serbian. The journalist uses the mentioned nouns in both languages with two manipulative goals: a) to convince the recipient that the propositional content corre- sponds to the truth, and b) to distance himself from the propositional content. While nouns with direct epistemic meaning have a high frequency in both languages, nouns with semantic meaning of uncertainty about the truth of propositional content are far more widely used, given the function of newspaper reports and the frequent need to present subjective, unveri- fied information, about which no final position is given in terms of truthfulness and authen- ticity of propositional content. The journalist leaves it to the recipient to form a final opinion based on the information available to him or her and presents the propositional content as possible/probable. The biggest differences are noticeable in syntax and in the realization of the propositional content on which opinions are expressed. Unlike Serbian, where the propo- sitional content appears exclusively in the form of a da-sentence, the propositional content in German is realized in various forms, such as dass-/ob- sentences, zu+infinitive constructions, and unintroduced subordinate clauses.