Epistemic adverbs as means of expressing the credibility of the contents (in English language)

Abstract

The interest in the study of the category of epistemic modality is associated with the allocation of their new classification and consideration of the means of their linguistic objectification. Among the little-studied problems are linguistic means of expressing epistemic modality of credibility, actualizing the denotative correlation with parts of speech and receiving an equivalent representation of their lexical meaning. The article deals with the semantic analysis of epistemic adverbs in the framework of logical analysis. The aim of the article is to study the semantics of epistemic adverbs in terms of the realization of the credibility of the contents in English. These lexemes are considered in the contexts of their functioning. The scientific innovativeness of the article is at the heart that this article examines the correlation of epistemic adverbs and verbs of mental activity: know, think, suppose, doubt, etc. The objectives of the study are to describe the classification of epistemic adverbs according to the degree of expression of credibility of the contents; to analyze epistemic adverbs of credibility of the contents in the texts of fiction; to identify the correlation of epistemic adverbs and verbs of mental activity: know, think, suppose, doubt, etc. The contexts where epistemic adverbs function in texts of fiction are identified and described. The article argues that epistemic adverbs have a denotative correlation with mental verbs and receive an equivalent representation of their lexical meaning. The author concludes that according to the contexts of their functioning, their lexical meanings inherent in epistemic verbs, namely mental verbs, are manifested.

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