IRREALIS AND EPISTEMIC MODALITY: CROSS-LINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVES ON TENSE, MOOD, AND NEGATION IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK

Аннотация

This research contributes to the broader understanding of how irrealis functions cross-linguistically, especially its role in shaping narrative structure, temporal relations, and modal expressions, revealing the complexity of grammatical indicators in both Uzbek and English. Further analysis highlights asymmetries between participial and non-participial constructions, emphasizing that irrealis often generalizes multiple semantic features within a verb. In English, imperfective forms in negative sentences frequently denote events of secondary importance, aligning with irrealis usage. The study underscores that irrealis forms, especially in Uzbek conditional sentences, convey a nuanced interplay of incomplete actions, modality, and negation.