Particules/adverbes exprimant la modalité épistémique : Vers la comparaison des systèmes des langues tchèque et française // Articles/adverbs expressing epistemic modality : towards the comparison of Czech and French language systems

Abstract

Epistemic modality represents one of the linguistic modality expressing the speaker’s certainty evaluation of the proposition’s validity. The French and Czech approaches are compared to show the common bases for this linguistic matter. One way of expressing the epistemic modality, among others, are the little words that the French system calls epistemic modal adverbs, while the Czech terminology defines them as particles. These two systems (French epistemic adverbs and Czech epistemic particles) are compared from the point of view of their semantico-syntactic characteristics and their existing classifications based on the level of certainty the adverbs/particles express. To gain a better insight into the functioning of epistemic adverbs/particles the analysis of two French adverbs (vraisemblablement, apparemment) and two Czech particles (pravděpodobně, patrně) has been conducted and confirmed the important influence of context and subjectivity on their semantic interpretation.

Keywords

• epistemic modality
• adverbs
• particles
• degree of certainty
• modalité épistémique
• adverbes
• particules
• degré de certitude