Semantic Potential of the Speech Pattern <i>not exactly...</i>,<i> but</i> in the Context of Expressing Opinion

Abstract

The article deals with the logical analysis of a syntactic Russian pattern ‘ne to chtoby..., no’ (“not exactly..., but”, “I would say … a sort of”), the turn widely used in the practical reasoning. Its usage is underpinned by two major reasons - dialogical nature of the speech activity as well as one’s desire to accentuate his or her position in the debate. But it is also related to one’s aspiration to rectify the assessment, to uncertainty in choosing adequate words, and sometimes the need to increase the expressiveness of the message. In its essence, the relationship between the two parts of the pattern separated by conjunction “no” (“but”) is dialogically polemical. The first conjunct signals an approximate character of the chosen nomination or qualification, it represents a kind of preliminary assessment marked by semantics of doubt, while the second makes the necessary adjustments so as to better characterize the subject of speech. This alternative, albeit not always exhaustive definition may belong to categories of knowledge, opinion or belief. Whatever were the subject of evaluation - object, property, state or action, - the “rectifying” description / nomination / qualification placed in the second part of the construction after the conjunction ‘no” (“but”) can be identified in all cases of use as the attitude for understanding a relative accuracy of its expression. Moreover, it is possible to establish how adequate the object’s qualification is in a given context of expressing opinion only within the framework of a given opinion setting, including what the subject of opinion thinks, what he is convinced of, or believes in. It is impossible to know in advance whether such an opinion is reliable or not from the objective point of view, but it is possible to assert its unconditional credibility within the accepted framework of a certain system of ideas, e.g. what should be in an “acceptable situation” properties, activities or states of the object of judgment to be assessed. In this context, it is not the denotatum that is actually brought into focus of attention, but rather its qualifications or characteristics (they is the meaning of the item) within the scope of the propositional attitude of opinion.