An analysis of the semantic field of the German particles "Überhaupt" and "Eigentlich"

Abstract

The main objective of this thesis is to show that the methods of structural semantics, that is forming oppositions and thereby eliciting distinctive features, are applicable to lexemes without any proper lexical meaning, such as German modal particles. German modal particles have, as is shown, played a very unimportant role in grammar. This was due to various reasons: firstly, there always was (and still is to a certain extent) the problem of homonymy; in other words particles, more than other words, have homonyms with different functions, a fact which complicated a proper classification. Secondly, particles were supposed to be negligeable entities because of their lack of any proper syntactic function. Thirdly, particles were regarded stylistically 'bad'precisely because they were devoid both of lexical meaning and of syntactic functions. Despite that fact, they occur frequently both in written and spoken language, a phenomenon which in recent years has attracted the attention of a number of scholars. The most important results of their investigations were that particles express the speaker's attitude towards the propositional contents of an utterance and towards the participants likewise. In written texts they serve to bring out nuances in the meaning which cannot be expressed by intonation. Thus particles have a very important function in both written and spoken language. They have however no proper lexical meaning; on the other hand they have a meaning which in this thesis is called ‘instrumental meaning', following COSERIU's distinction. To elicit this instrumental meaning the techniques of field theory and structural semantics were employed. Field theory, however, has been a much-questioned approach so much so that a short discussion of its essentials as well as criticisms of it is indispensable. The development of field theory by COSERIU and the theoretical and terminological background are discussed and a largely successful attempt is made to construct a field for ‘überhaupt' and ‘eigentlich’ by employing structural methods.