Die Modalpartikel „ja“ und ihre Serbischen Äquivalente
The Modal Particle „ja“ and Its Serbian Equivalents

Summary/Abstract: The subject of this paper is the German modal particle ja and its possible equivalents in Serbian. The German language is characterized by a differentiated and extensive inventory of modal particles, which cannot be found in comparable form in many other languages. Helbig (1994) refers to this as a particularly dense and differentiated system of modal particles, which does not exist in this form in many other languages, while Thurmair (1989) describes German modal particles as a phenomenon that is largely language-specific in terms of both density and systematicity. The aim of this study is, based on a literary corpus ((Der Zauberberg I; Der Zauberberg II von Thomas Mann und Professor Unrat oder Das Ende eines Tyrannen; Der Untertan von Heinrich Mann) and their translations into Serbian or Serbo-Croatian, to examine how the German particle ja is realized in Serbian, with a focus on those examples that express irony in the German original using ja. In Serbian, the translation requires the use of various Serbian particles, as well as other word classes and lexical adjustments.

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