Modal potential of synthetic and analytical forms of the future tense in German and Russian

Abstract

The study aims to identify the modal potential of synthetic and analytical forms of the future tense in German and Russian. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the paper provides insight into the question of the functional equivalence of synthetic and analytical forms of the future tense. As a result, it has been shown that along with the future tense semantics, synthetic and analytical forms are able to convey modal complementary meanings under certain conditions. The peculiarity of the Russian language is that perfective verbs (Future Simple) can express core and non-core modal meanings. The inferential evidentiality as an additional complementary meaning is characteristic only of the analytical form Futur I in German and cannot be conveyed by the futural form Präsens. In German, synthetic forms express an alethic meaning if predicates in sentences of this type presuppose information already known to the interlocutor. Volitive and deontic meanings in German can be conveyed in sentences containing the Präsens form if there is an indication of the need to carry out an action in the context. The phenomenon of functional asymmetry is traced in the system of the future tense in German and Russian: the German analytical form Futur I can be considered the equivalent of the synthetic form capable of conveying evidential meanings (Future Simple) in the Russian language.