Combinations of modal particles ja and doch in german

Abstract

The object of research of this article is the modal particles in German ja and doch, the subject of research is the semantics of combinations of the particles ja and doch with the particles auch, schon, eben, mal, ruhig, wohl. The purpose of the work is to compare the types of contexts which can include the following combinations ja auch, ja schon, ja eben, ja mal, ja ruhig, ja wohl as well as doch auch, doch schon, doch eben, doch mal, doch ruhig, doch wohl and to describe the connection between the semantics of the combination from those of their first element. The study materials were the corps DECOW 16A and DeWAC. The descriptive method and the method of comparative analysis have been used as research methods. It has been shown that the semantic component "evidence, awareness of the information for communication partners" is typical of all cases of their use. Each combination has its own connotation and brings additional meanings to the sentence. The main difference is that in combinations with the particle doch, there is an indication of a contradiction between the speaker's expectations and reality. The combinations with the particle ja are more common to express the speaker's conviction and gently assert their position. Overall, it has been found that the differences result from specifications of semantics of the particles ja and doch which can be identified in the context: the particle doch is peculiar to an indication of a certain contradiction while utterances with the particle ja do have not a touch of discontent. The connective properties of combinations with the particle ja are also more clearly shown. This explains the fact that combinations with ja participate in the transfer of causal and concessive relations, which is not always typical of combinations with the particle doch.