Notre thèse s’intéresse aux processus de création des adverbes de modalité dubitative dans l’histoire de l’espagnol. À l’aide des corpus de la Real Academia Española, CORDE et CREA, nous étudions du point de vue diachronique les principaux adverbes et locutions adverbiales qui expriment le doute du locuteur par rapport au contenu propositionnel de l’énoncé : por (a)ventura, acaso, quizá(s), puede que, tal vez, a lo mejor, lo mismo et igual. Notre recherche comprend ainsi la quasi-totalité de l’histoire de la langue espagnole, depuis le XIIe siècle, où l’on retrouve déjà quizá, jusqu’au XXe avec le surgissement de lo mismo et igual. Ces expressions ont des origines diverses – constructions verbales, syntagmes prépositionnels, etc.–mais elles fonctionnent toutes initialement comme des éléments intégrés dans la structure syntaxique de la phrase, dans laquelle elles transmettent des notions qui relèvent du hasard, de la temporalité, de la comparaison, etc. Ce travail s’occupe donc, dans un premier temps, d’élucider les chemins que ces expressions ont empruntés pour parvenir à fonctionner comme des adverbes de modalité dubitative et, dans un deuxième temps, il rend compte des relations qu’entretiennent ces expressions adverbiales, puisque, malgré leur apparente synonymie et interchangeabilité, ces adverbes diffèrent sur certains aspects les uns des autres. À cet égard, l’étude diachronique des contextes d’apparition, des valeurs et des fonctions des éléments qui ont intégré le paradigme nous permet de comprendre les différentes nuances et possibilités d’emploi qui caractérisent ces expressions une fois qu’elles acquièrent leur rôle d’adverbes de modalité dubitative. / This thesis aims to study the creation processes of the modal probability adverbs in the history of Spanish. Thus, from the diachronic point of view, we study, with the help of the Real Academia Española corpora, CORDE and CREA, the main adverbs and adverbial locutions that express the speaker's doubt regarding the propositional content of the statement: por (a)ventura, acaso, quizá(s), puede que, tal vez, a lo mejor, lo mismo and igual. Our research covers practically the whole history of the Spanish language, from the twelfth century, in which quizá is documented, until the twentieth, when the most recent adverbs of probability, lo mismo and igual, arise. These expressions have different origins – verbal constructions, prepositional phrases, etc. – but all function initially as integrated elements in the syntactic structure of the sentence, in which they transmit notions related to chance, temporality, comparison, etc. This work, therefore, is concerned firstly with elucidating the paths followed by these expressions in order to function as probability adverbs and, secondly, it gives account of the relations that lie between these adverbial expressions. Despite their apparent synonymy and interchangeability, these adverbs differ from one another in some respects. In this sense, the diachronic study of the contexts of appearance, the meanings and the functions of the elements that have integrated the paradigm allow us to understand the different nuances and possibilities of use that characterize these expressions once they acquire their role of modal probability adverbs. / Esta tesis se ocupa del estudio de los procesos de creación de los adverbios de modalidad dubitativa en la historia del español. Con la ayuda de los corpus de la Real Academia Española, CORDE y CREA, estudiamos desde el punto de vista diacrónico los principales adverbios y locuciones adverbiales que expresan la duda del hablante con respecto al contenido proposicional del enunciado: por (a)ventura, acaso, quizá(s), puede que, tal vez, a lo mejor, lo mismo e igual. Nuestra investigación abarca así prácticamente toda la historia de la lengua española, desde el siglo XII, en el que ya se documenta quizá, hasta el XX, en el que surgen los adverbios de duda más recientes lo mismo e igual. Las expresiones estudiadas tienen orígenes diversos –construcciones verbales, sintagmas preposicionales, etc.–, pero todas funcionan inicialmente como elementos integrados en la estructura sintáctica de la frase, en la que transmiten nociones relativas al azar, a la temporalidad, a la comparación, etc. Este trabajo se ocupa, pues, en primer lugar, de elucidar los caminos que han seguido estas expresiones para llegar a funcionar como adverbios de modalidad dubitativa y, en segundo lugar, de dar cuenta de las relaciones que mantienen estas expresiones adverbiales, ya que, a pesar de su aparente sinonimia e intercambiabilidad, estos adverbios difieren unos de otros en algunos aspectos. En este sentido, el estudio diacrónico de los contextos de aparición, valores y funciones de los elementos que han integrado el paradigma nos permite comprender los diferentes matices y posibilidades de uso que caracterizan a estas expresiones una vez que adquieren su papel de adverbios de modalidad dubitativa.

The presented diploma thesis deals with the description of verbal epistemic parentheses such as (ich) glaub(e) or (ich) mein(e) in German and myslím in Czech. These types usually do not belong among the means of expressing epistemic modality and are often neglected in current dictionaries and grammars, although they have a different meaning than the verb they originated from. The diploma thesis analyzes parentheses (ich) glaub(e) in German and myslím in Czech via spoken language corpora. The German data were acquired from FOLK (Forschungs- und Lehrkorpus gesprochenes Deutsch) which is a part of IDS Mannheim corpora. The Czech data come from ORAL v1 (Český národní korpus). The overall aim was to describe their syntactic behaviour, their semantics, and in some cases their prosodic features. The theoretical part focuses on distinguishing between discourse markers and particles. Such distinction forms a foundation for the analysis. The differentiation between grammaticalization and pragmaticalization is also commented on. Both parentheses were examined with relation to their syntactic position, syntactic integration, and their potential function as fillers. Based on the analysis, both constructions evince an advanced level of particularization and have features of particles and/or discourse markers....

The thesis deals with the epistemic modality, its types and modes of expression in specialized Spanish and Czech texts. The aim of this thesis is to perform a comparative analysis which is based on a statistical analysis of linguistic texts. The introduction primarily concentrates on the different typologies of Czech and foreign authors, the classification of modal attitudes, and the lexical and grammatical means of expressing modality. The result of this thesis is the comparison of the frequency that can be observed between the aforementioned languages.

Esta tesina trata las varias maneras de traducir el verbo modal deber (de) al sueco en la novela La Sombra del Viento de Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Compara los resultados con la descripción de los verbos modales suecos en Svenska Akademiens Grammatik. La investigación revela que el uso de los verbos en la traducción en cuestión generalmente corresponde a la descripción de SAG, pero hay excepciones. Las muchas ocurrencias de måste deóntico señala que el sentido de necesidad que expresa no es tan fuerte como sostiene SAG, y además no solo se usa en presente sino también mucho como forma de pasado. En cuanto a deber (de) epistémico, los resultados indican que su significado tiene un campo de aplicación tan grande que los modales suecos no son suficientes como traducciones. No aparece ningún ejemplo de lär en todo el corpus. Además el estudio enfoca la división entre deber y deber de, en la que parece que está en marcha un cambio lingüístico.

This study investigates the expression of epistemic modality in a corpus of Ghanaian Pidgin English (GhaPE). The epistemic expressions are manually identified and thereafter distinguished from each other in terms of grammatical status and their indication of different epistemic and evidential notions. 7 different elements are found, ranging from 1 pre-verbal marker, 1 adverb, 2 particles and 3 complement-taking predicates. The results indicate, in line with existing research, that to differentiate between usage properties of individual modal expressions it may be necessary to subdivide them in terms of not only epistemic but also evidential meanings. Moreover, a functional parallel between the GhaPE particle abi, the Swedish modal particle väl and the Spanish adverbs a lo mejor and igual is demonstrated, with respect to their simultaneous function of expressing epistemic probability and asking the hearer for confirmation. Finally, the results suggest, contrary to previous accounts, that the pre-verbal marker fit may indicate epistemic possibility without the addition of a preceding irrealis marker go. It is proposed that future researchers should make use of bigger corpora in order to arrive at a more ample conception of both individual modal categories and their interrelations.

While it certainly can be argued that translation is a quite demanding discipline in general, some areas within this field are, naturally, more challenging than others. One of these is hedging, which serves a broad variety of purposes both with regard to the author and to the intended readership, and hence must be translated accordingly. This paper investigates hedges in scientific research articles, the types and frequency of hedges in the analysed Swedish sourcetext (ST) compared to the English target text (TT), and the methods used for translating these hedges and their distribution by means of a short study conducted on two Swedish runology articles. The study’s quantitative analysis shows that the Swedish ST has a clear preference for adverbial hedges, and to an extent, also for modal verb hedges, whereas the English TT – while yielding an even higher preference for adverbials and also for lexical verbs – uses modal verbs much less frequently. It becomes evident that adverbials may feature so strongly in translations because they are easier to recall and to use than more complex structures, especially for L2 speakers. This practice does, however, result in a somewhat less flexible translation. The by far most frequently used translation strategy is faithful translation, particularly for content-oriented hedges. However, a fair number of adaptations (both in modal strength and word class change) and omissions – mostly of modal verbs – as well as numerous additions occurred, initiated by influential factors such as cultural differences regarding natural sounding text, L2 speaker perception of equivalence and/or lack of suitable linguistic equivalents. Thereby, the English translation showed a tendency toward adapting weaker modals compared to their Swedish ST equivalents, confirming the greater reader-orientation of English research articles.

The present diploma thesis examines the English translation equivalents of Czech expressions containing the postfix -pak. This postfix occurs in pronouns, pronominal adverbs, particles and interjections. It is employed as an element of the 'third syntactical plan' (Poldauf, 1963), i.e. the repertory of linguistic means which relate an utterance to the individual, expressing his concern with the content of an utterance, his stance towards its content or form. The thesis identifies and describes the English means equivalent to the postfix and uses them as markers of individual discourse functions fulfilled by the -pak expressions, thereby specifying the description of these Czech expressions. Attention is also given to the conversion of -pak expressions as well as their occurrence in idiomatic constructions. The major functions include expressing epistemic modality, voicing appeal, establishing/maintaining contact, and emotional expressivity.