THE SYSTEM OF POLARITY WITHIN FUNCTIONAL FRAMEWORK
THE SYSTEM OF POLARITY WITHIN FUNCTIONAL FRAMEWORK

Summary/Abstract: In this paper we are concerned with the interpersonal metafunction which analyses the communicative exchange. We have to mention that we follow Halliday‘s systemic model, using the metalanguage set up by him. We discuss the concepts of Modality, Mood and Polarity, by taking into account their defining characteristics: Modality as the ―speaker‘s judgment, or request of the judgment of the listener, on the status of what is being said‖, Mood as the grammaticalized expression of modality and Polarity as the opposite between positive and negative. First of all, we must point out that speakers have basically two options to express their attitude towards what they are saying: modal auxiliaries and modal adjuncts. The domain of modality encompasses a wide range of semantic shades: obligatory, necessary, hypothetically, jussive etc., which have the purpose to add a supplementary sense to the most neutral semantic value of a sentence. The paper is divided into two parts. In the first part, we point out that mood and modality are often discussed together, as they seem intimately connected. The second part analyses the most important means of expressing the concepts of polarity, namely positive and negative polarity items, their distribution and their licenses. The examples provided in this paper and their negation raises a number of questions that are in need for explanation. We propose in this paper a brief overview of different possibilities for expressing polarity, discussing their values and degrees of commitment and responsibility.

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