Typological characteristics of modal words and phrases/modals

The lexical units belonging to this part of speech are characterized in both languages by their meaning of "modality". They are used to express the speaker's judgment concerning the action in the sentence. These words/phrases in English and Ukrainian are as follows: certain­ly, indeed, may be, perhaps, possibly, probably, of course, no doubt (певне, напевне, звичайно, може, можливо, безумовно, безсумнівно та ін.).

Modals are traditionally classified as follows:

1. Modal words/phrases expressing various shades of certainty: certainly, of course, surety, no doubt, assuredly, indeed, undoubtedly, really (певне, напевне, звичайно, безсумнівно, безперечно, безумов­но, зрозуміло, правда):

"Yes, certainly they (pigeons) will fly". (Hemingway) " Sure, he's a bum". (Caldwell)

Так, звичайно, вони (голуби) повилітають.   Безперечно, він волоцюга.

2. Modal words expressing various degrees of probability: maybe, perhaps, possibly, probably (може, можливо, мабуть, ймовірно, видно, ' здається).

"They'll probably come through it all right". (Hemingway) "Maybe it was all a lie...". (Steinbeck)

Ну, можливо вони якось переживуть артобстріл. Може, все це була неправда...

3. Modal words expressing various shades of desirability (happily,. fortunately, unfortunately), which have a restricted number of direct semantic equivalents in Ukrainian (на щастя, на жаль).

"You are wrong, unfortunately". "Fortunately, it didn't come true". (Jacobs)

На жаль, ти неправий. На щастя, це не здійснилося.

4. Modal words expressing doubt, uncertainty and coinciding in form with the modal words denoting probability (maybe, perhaps, probably — може, можливо, мабуть).

"Maybe it's not yet time...?" (Caldwell) "...perhaps you'd better take a little longer to consider". (Jacobs)

Може, ще не настав час? ... може б ти ще якийсь час noдумав.

The subjective and objective attitude of the speaker towards the action may often be expressed by several other parenthetic words and phrases which may point a) to the authorship of the idea/assertion expressed in the sentence, eg.: they say, as reported, in my view, to my mind, I think/кажуть, як повідомляють, на мою думку, як говориться тощо/; b) words and phrases expressing an estimation of the idea expressed in the sentence (shortly speaking, generally speaking, in a word,— коротко кажучи, відверто кажучи, одне слово, etc.); с) words pointing to the order or succession of ideas expressed in the sentence (firstly, secondly, on the contrary по-перше, no-друге, навпаки, etc.).

Modals, like statives, originate from different parts of speech/ phrases which acquire some modal meaning in the sentence. These parts of speech are: 1) adverbs (really, probably, fortunately — справді, очевидно, дійсно); 2) nouns with or without prepositions (only in Ukrainian); in one's view, in one's opinion, to one's judgement — сором, страх, на мою думку, на мій погляд; 3) verbal phrases and sentences (it seems, you see — здається, бачите, як бачите, кажуть); 4) statives (in Ukrainian): чутно, видно, etc.

One more common feature of modals in the contrasted languages is their position in the sentence. Most of them may occupy any position according to the emphasis they arc given by the author/speaker. Cf. Perhaps he will come. He will perhaps come. He will come perhaps. (Можливо, він прийде; він, можливо, прийде; він прийде, можливо).

Modals may also be used in both contrasted languages as elliptical answer sentences, eg:

"Maybe it was all a lie..."	«Мабуть, усе то була брехня...»
"Maybe". (Steinbeck)	«Можливо»

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