KOMMER (ATT) + INFINITIV КАО ПРОСПЕКТИВНА КОНСТРУКЦИЈА У САВРЕМЕНОМ ШВЕДСКОМ ЈЕЗИКУ

Abstract

In this paper, we deal with construction kommer (att) + infinitive as one of the periphrastic means of expressing future predications in Modern Swedish. Aiming to investigate the construction’s modal meanings, we analyze nearly three hundred Swedish sentences with kommer (att) + infinitive as a future construction, focusing in particular on their basic syntactic-semantic features such as animacy of the subject and speaker’s involvement in, and control over a predication. Our initial investigation confirms that predictability stands out as a predominant modal meaning of kommer (att) + infinitive. Further investigation shows that there are cases in which kommer (att) + infinitive indicates speaker’s plans and intentions, and brings out intentionality as the main modal feature of a statement. We conclude our investigation with cases where modal meanings of kommer (att) + infinitive can be regarded as tending toward non-existent (“zero” modality). Considering that the descriptions in general reference works more often than not lead to a conclusion that expressing predictions is the only modal feature of kommer (att) + infinitive as a future construction in Modern Swedish, we point out that more comprehensive descriptions of the construction’s modal meanings should be offered in the future.