AN IDIOM AS A MEANS OF REPRESENTING THE CATEGORY OF MODALITY IN THE CHINESE LANGUAGE

Abstract

The article observes such a linguistic phenomenon as phraseological units in the Chinese language. The focus of the research is on a special kind of phraseological units – an idiom or chengyu. Despite the fact that the scientific and methodological base of research concerning the issues of this problem is represented by various works, the author attempts to analyze chengyu as a means of representing the category of modality, which is being done for the first time in both Russian and foreign sinology. This task is relevant, as it allows to take a fresh look at the semantic and syntactic features of the idioms of the Chinese language. The theoretical significance of the article lies in the fact that the author, analyzing numerous works devoted to the description of phraseological units of the Chinese language, forms such a concept as modal chengyu, and also gives it a definition in order to further establish the final volume of the studied lexical units. The practical significance of the research lies in the fact that knowledge and understanding of the various types of modal relations characteristic of a particular idiom will allow the best way to decode the information code inherent in the reported, as well as analyze the national and cultural specifics of the Chinese language. The author draws the conclusion about the functioning of modal chengyu or modal idioms in the field of the modality category of the Chinese language, which translate the meanings of necessity, expression of will, assessment, possibility, etc.