Combinations of probability qualifiers in Russian

• Autores: Boris Iomdin, Alexander Berdichevsky
• Localización: Meaning-Text Theory 2007 [Recurso electrónico]: proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Meaning-Text Theory : Klagenfurt, May 20 - 24, 2007 / Kim Gerdes (ed. lit.), Tilmann Reuther (ed. lit.), Leo Wanner (ed. lit.), 2007, ISBN 978-3-86688-017-7, págs. 189-198
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The object of the paper is the class of Russian sentences that have more than one probability qualifier (PQ) with intersecting scopes. As it appears, modern Russian texts abound with such phenomena. Our goal is to identify meanings and uses of such utterances. We analyze the most typical cases and proceed to more controversial issues. The analysis shows that even though the language has plenty of tools for fine differentiation of probability estimations, speakers often avoid straightforward statements, resorting to a variety of means to emphasize the approximate and subjective character of their estimates and thus declining the responsibility for the statements they make.