Adverbial Time Indicators of Correlation of the Event with the Actual Moment: Structure, Semantics, Functions

Abstract

The paper aims to give a deep comprehensive analysis of the formal, notional and role characteristics of Ukrainian, Italian and English temporal adverbs, which express the time interrelation between a certain action and the actual moment and also identification of intertextual relations between these temporal adverbs. It is indicated that the adverbial lexical specificator, as an integral peripheral constituent of the functional-semantic field of temporality, is capable to reflect the coordination of the process relatively to such fundamental time orientation centers as the moment of speaking and the moment in the text. The author's strategy of classification of the relevant temporal adverbs is presented, the specificity of their functioning in three languages with different systems is amply illustrated with numerous examples from the national journalistic sources. During the process of systematization special attention was paid to the belonging of a certain linguistic unit to a definite timeline, the character of an adverbial temporal marker, the peculiarity of the correlation of the process with the actual moment as well as to the length of a distance between the event and the time orientation point. In order to clearly differentiate the classification components with greater and lesser specialization, the concept of the key and optional integrant of the distribution system was introduced. As a result of the multidimensional research of temporal adverbs in three languages with different grammatical organization, national-specific and common features of the adverbial expression of the correlation between the event and the real moment were identified.