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Die Modalverben im Deutschen und ihre thailändischen Entsprechungen. Eine kontrastive Analyse

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Published/Copyright: September 28, 2011
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Zeitschrift für Angewandte Linguistik
From the journal Volume 2011 Issue 55

Abstract

This study compares the use of modal verbs in German with their equivalents in Thai by analyzing a bidirectional parallel corpus consisting of 4 Thai and 4 German contemporary short stories and their translation into the other language. The purpose is to identify similarities and differences in the modal verb system of these two typologically different languages. German has six modal verbs which have developed into a very symmetrical system by expressing deontic modality on the one hand and epistemic modality on the other hand. In Thai, there is a set of pre- and postverbal modal markers which can be regarded as equivalents to the German modal verbs. However, their polyfunctionality in terms of deontic and epistemic modality is different compared to their German counterparts. The Thai modal system shows a tendency to grammaticalize two different sets of markers as expressing only either deontic or epistemic modality.

Online erschienen: 2011-09-28
Erschienen im Druck: 2011-September

© Walter de Gruyter

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