Differentiation of Particles in the German Language

Abstract

The study aims to present the differentiation of particles in the German language according to the degree of manifestation of their grammatical and pragmatic properties. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the differentiation of particles of the German language has been developed according to the degree of expression of their grammatical and pragmatic properties and a definition of pragmaticalization has been proposed. As a result, it has been shown that grammaticalized units that determine the type of speech act and its form can also have pragmatic properties, participating in the creation of coherence of a text/discourse. According to the degree of manifestation of grammatical and pragmatic properties, the following groups of particles have been identified: (1) particles with a low degree of grammaticalization the lexical meaning of which manifests itself out of context; (2) grammaticalized particles (a high degree of grammaticalization) that perform an exclusively structuring function in a phrase and a sentence; (3) particles as grammatical indicators (a high degree of grammaticalization) that also possess pragmatic potential, which is manifested in the management of speech acts; and (4) pragmaticalized particles used to mark the transition from one micro-theme to another or serving to attract the attention of the interlocutor to the specified problem.