THE PARTICLE ZAR/ZAREM IN MACEDONIAN
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37834//JCP2472019bKeywords:
biased question, rhetoric questions, persuasion, expressiveness, contextAbstract
In this article, we look into the semantics and pragmatics of the particle zar in the standard Macedonian language, which is used interchangeably with its variant zarem. We argue that zar or zarem is employed in biased polar questions, particularly in contexts where there exists a discrepancy between the speaker’s presupposition and contextual evidence that contradicts it. Our investigation aims to uncover the role of zar/zarem in biased polar questions and determine the discourse functions of zar- questions. To achieve this goal, we conducted an analysis using a sample of questions extracted from contemporary Macedonian prose. The results of our analysis indicate that the particle zar/zarem in biased questions is not obligatory but rather serves to enhance the assertive component at the expense of the inquisitive component in the semantic structure of such questions. This enhancement is reflected in the speaker’s disbelief and surprise regarding the truth of proposition encoded in the question, especially in contradiction contexts. Such semantics enable zar-questions to serve rhetorical purposes or perform indirect claims, thereby functioning as effective persuasion strategies.
References
Бужаровска, Е. и Митковска, Л. (2015). Негираните независни да-конструкции. Во З.
Тополињска (уред.). Субјунктив со посебен осврт на македонските да
конструкции, 23–46. Скопје: МАНУ. [Bužarovska, E. I Mitkovska, L. (2015).
Negiranite nezavisni da-konstukcii. Vo Z. Topolinjska (ured.). Subjunktiv so poseben
osvrt na makedonskite da-konstrukcii. Skopje: MANU.]
Влајић-Поповић, Ј. (2016). Речца зар – преко синтаксе и семантике до етимологије.
Јужнословенски филолог, LXXII/1–2: 65–83. [Vlajić-Popović, J. (2016). Rečca zar –
preko sintakse i semantike do etimologije. Južnoslosvenski filolog. LXXII/1–2: 65–83.]
Кусевска, М. и Бужаровска Е. (2020). Прагматика: Јазик и комуникација. Арс
Ламина: Скопје. [Kusevska, M. I Bužarovska, E. (2020). Pragmatika: Jazik i
komunikacija. Ars Lamina: Skopje.]
Левонтина, И. (2014). Дискурсивные слова в вопросительных предложениях. Die Welt
der Slaven: Internationale Halbjahresschrift für Slavistik. München: Sagner, 59/2, 201
[Levontina, I. (2014). Diskursivnye slova v voprositelnyh predloženijah. . Die Welt
der Slaven: Internationale Halbjahresschrift für Slavistik. München: Sagner, 59/2, 201
]
Минова-Ѓуркова, Л. (1994). Синтакса на македонскиот стандарден јазик. Скопје:
Радинг. [Minova- Ǵurkova, L. (1994). Sintaksa na makedonskiot standarden jazik.
Skopje: Rading.]
Тишева, Й. (2013). Прагматични аспекти на усната реч. Факултет по славянски
филологии, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“. [Tiševa, I. (1994).
Pragmatični aspekti na usnata reč. Fakultet po slavjanski filologii. Sofijski universitet
„Sv. Kliment Ohridski“.]
Тополињска, З. (2009). Полски-македонски: граматичка конфронтација. Негација (9).
Скопје: МАНУ. [Topolinjska, Z. (2009). Polski-makedonski: gramatička konfrontacija.
Negacija (9). Skopje: MANU.]
AnderBois, S. (2019). Negation, alternatives, and negative polar questions in American
English. In K. von Heusinger, E. Onea Gáspár and M. Zimmermann (eds.), Questions
in Discourse, 118–171. Leiden: Brill.
Asher, N. and Reese, B. (2007). Intonation and Discourse: Biased Questions.
Interdisciplinary Studies on Information Structure, 8, 1–38.
Berio, L., Latrouite A., Van Valin R. and Vosgerau G. (2017). Immediate and General
Common Ground. P. Brézillon, R. Turner and C. Penco C. (eds). Modelling and Using
Context, 633–646. Springer: Heidelberg.
Brown P. and Levinson S. C. (1987). Politeness: some universals in language use. New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Bowes A. and Katz A. (2011). When sarcasm stings. Discourse Processes, 48: 4, 215–236.
Büring, D. and Gunlogson, C. (2000). Aren’t Positive and Negative Polar Questions the
same? Manuscript, UCSC/UCLA. Accessed December 5, 2022.
https://semanticsarchive.net/Archive/mYwOGNhO/polar_questions.pdf.
Caponigro, I. and Sprouse, J. (2007) Рhetorical questions as questions. Puig-Waldmüller
(ed.), Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung, 11: 121–133. Barcelona: Universitat Pompeu
Fabra.
Celle, A. (2018) Questions as indirect speech acts in surprise contexts. In Tense, Aspect,
Modality, Evidentiality, Crosslinguistic Perspectives. D. Ayoun, A. Celle and L. Lansari
(eds.), 211–236. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Frank, J. (1990). You call that a rhetorical question?: Forms and functions of rhetorical
questions in conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 14 (5): 723–738.
Goodhue D. (2018) On Asking and Answering Biased Polar Questions, Doctoral
dissertation. McGill University, Montreal.
Mitkovska, L. and Bužarovska E. (2024). Negated biased questions in English and their
equivalents in Macedonian. In A. Stopar and I. Fabijanić (eds.), Exploring English by
means of contrast, 139-164. Ljubljana: University of Ljubljana Press.
Reese, B. (2007). Bias in Questions. 2007. Doctoral dissertation. University of Texas,
Austin.
Reimer, M. (2018). Rhetorical Questions as Indirect Assertions. In The Oxford Handbook
of Assertion, S. Goldberg (ed.), 220–243. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rhode, H. (2006). Rhetorical questions as redundant interrogatives. San Diego Linguistics
Papers 2, 134–168.
Romero, M. and Han, C. (2004). On Negative Yes/No Questions. Linguistics and
philosophy, 27 (5): 609–658.
Stalnaker, R. (2002). Common Ground. Linguistics and Philosophy, 25/5-6: 701–721.
Špago, Dž. (2016). Rhetorical questions or rhetorical uses of questions? Explorations in
English Language and Linguistics, 4/2: 102–115. https://doi.org/10.1515/ exell-2017
Špago, Dž. (2020). Rhetorical questions as aggressive, friendly or sarcastic/ironical
questions with imposed answers. Explorations in English Language and Linguistics,
/1: 68–82. DOI: 10.2478/exell-2020-0014.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright © 2014 Blaže Koneski Faculty of Philology, Skopje
Journal of Contemporary Philology (JCP)
Современа филологија
