Comparative analysis of the functional field of futurality in English colloquial speech

Grammatical forms express the relationship between the phenomena of objective reality in the most general and therefore indefinite form. Lexico-grammatical means are less generalized, but due to the partial rethinking of the components, they are closer to the grammatical form. Lexical means, usually performing a nominative function, name phenomena of objective reality or relations between phenomena, concretizing them to a greater or lesser extent.

The category of time plays a very important role in the language, since all objects of the surrounding reality, including a person, exist in time and space. The conceptual area correlated with the concept of time is one of the essential components of the conceptual picture of the world. The functioning of the language is also associated with temporal representations.

Temporality in a broad sense is usually understood as a conceptual category, which is based on the temporal characteristic of an action or state, which is based on various morphological, syntactic, lexical and other means of linguistic expression of time. “Being a vector category, temporality reflects the specifics of temporal deixis, which denotes both an extralinguistic moment of speech and other possible points of reference, for example, points of space, which are secondary modifications of temporal relations” [7, 10].

Temporality is a category correlated, on the one hand, with objective (real) time, on the other hand, with the reflection of temporal characteristics and relations of reality in people's minds. It must be emphasized that this category does not exist outside the linguistic means of its expression.

All temporal vocabulary can be combined under one name “lexical indicators” or “lexical concretizes of the verb tense” [5, 57]. Lexical indicators of time are used in a sentence to clarify temporal relationships.

In English, one can distinguish:

• •    direct lexical temporal indicators,

• •    indirect lexical temporal indicators.

The first group includes lexical units that have a pronounced temporal semantics. The lexical units that make up the second group acquire it only in context. Indirect lexical temporal indicators include the names of various scientific realities, discoveries, inventions, scientists or periods of action, as well as nouns, which, when used in a sentence with a temporary preposition, acquire procedural semantics.

The following groups of nouns with prepositions as indirect lexical indicators of time:

• 1)    verbal nouns that have an abstract meaning of action, process: after shopping;

• 2)    names of meal times: before lunch;

• 3)    names of dishes and drinks: talk over tea;

• 4)    names of persons and proper names: is great with Ann?

Within the direct lexical indicators of time, one can distinguish:

• •    adverbs as components of the time field,

• •    nouns as components of the time field,

• •    adjectives as components of the time field.

The most general is the temporary meaning of such adverbs as now - then and their synonyms (today, now, present - earlier, formerly, once).

The information of pronominal adverbs today - yesterday - tomorrow is more definite than that of now - then.

The adverbs of each field accompany the corresponding verb forms and create a context typical for these forms as typical accompaniments. With the help of adverbs, present and forms of the past tense, transferred to the context of the future tense, acquire the meaning of the future tense.

Many adverbs of time are not assigned to any one field, they can belong to all three micro fields. To achieve greater accuracy, adverbs are combined into phrases (tonight). Adverbs can be joined with numerals denoting time.

The main purpose of adverbs is that they clarify those relationships that are expressed in the most general form by tense forms of the verb. The adverbs attached to the micro field create a context typical of the tense form. But adverbs cannot inform about the exact measurement of time and the exact temporal localization. To further clarify the time coordinates, nouns are used.

Temporal relations are transmitted primarily by the thematic group of nouns with the meaning of time: the time, the present, the past, the future, the year, the month, the week, the day, the hour, the minute, the second, January, Sunday, morning, night, the clock.

A noun can carry various prepositions and adjectives: in the night, before the night, after the night; a beautiful quiet night in August. This shows that the noun has more combinational possibilities than the adverb. The basis for classifying a set of means of expression belonging to different levels, but serving to convey the same relations, meanings or meanings to the field is the presence of a common semantic feature, which can be both grammatical and lexical in nature, since it is found in phenomena related to different levels.

The presence of an inventory of funds at different levels, interconnected by system relations:

Morphological - temporary forms of the verb;

Morphological-syntactic - nominal forms of the verb;

Lexical - adverbs, nouns, adjectives.

The presence of a common meaning (meaning of temporality), which, to one degree or another, is inherent in its constituents. A grammatical meaning, for which a special grammatical form exists in the language system, can be repeated at other levels of the language.

The most closely related constituents are grouped around the dominant, forming the core of the field. On the periphery of the field, there are constituents that are far from the core. Due to its ambiguity, one constituent can participate in several fields as a dominant of one micro field and be on the periphery of another. The ambiguity of constituents creates the prerequisites for the connection of micro fields within one field, as well as different fields among themselves.

In most works devoted to the study of the functional-semantic field of temporality, the main attention is paid to the description of the central segment. In this regard, there is a need to clarify the concept of peripheral means of expressing temporal values and the main criteria by which the unit belongs to the periphery of the functional-semantic field.

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