INTERROGATIVE IN THE HUMANITIES AND LINGUISTICS: THE

EPISTEMOLOGY OF RESEARCH

INTERROGATIVA EM HUMANIDADES E LINGUÍSTICA: A EPISTEMOLOGIA DA

PESQUISA

INTERROGATIVO EN LAS HUMANIDADES Y LA LINGÜÍSTICA: LA

EPISTEMOLOGÍA DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN

Arkadiy Petrovich SEDYKH

Tatyana Alexandrovna SIDOROVA

Elvira Nikolajevna AKIMOVA

Galina Tigranovna BEZKOROVAYNAYA

Konstantin Viktorovich SKVORTSOV

ABSTRACT: The article discusses the epistemological foundations of the study of the

interrogative in linguistics and humanities. The purpose of the article is to identify semiotic

correlations between the interrogative and the language thinking of native speakers of national

languages: Russian and French. The forwarded hypothesis says that interrogative constructions

serve not only for the direct formation of interrogative statements but also perform a secondary

function of transmitting pragmatic information. Several semiotic correlates of the interrogative

and discourses of various types have been revealed. An important element of the found

correlations is the belonging of nonverbal and verbal discourses to the phenomenon of

interrogative creativity, in particular, the French semiotic tradition. The results of the conducted

research can be applied in further research in the field of synergetic correlation of the

interrogative and the linguistic picture of the world of national languages.

KEYWORDS: Interrogative. Language picture of the world. Semiotic code. Verbal. Non-

verbal. Discourse analysis. Semiotics of interrogative constructions.

RESUMO: O artigo discute os fundamentos epistemológicos do estudo do interrogativo em

linguística e humanidades. O objetivo do artigo é identificar correlações semióticas entre o

pensamento interrogativo e linguístico de falantes nativos de línguas nacionais: russo e

francês. A hipótese apresentada afirma que as construções interrogativas servem não apenas

para a formação direta de enunciados interrogativos, mas também desempenham uma função

Belgorod National Research University, Belgorod – Russia; Moscow International University, Moscow – Russia;

Belgorod State Technological University named after V.G. Shoukhov, Belgorod – Russia. ORCID:

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6604-3722. E-mail: sedykh@bsu.edu.ru

Northern (Arctic) Federal University, Arkhangelsk – Russia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3221-3428.

E-mail: t.sidorova@narfu.ru

Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, Moscow – Russia; Ogarev National Research Mordovian State

University, Saransk – Russia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0883-2173. E-mail: akimovaen@mail.ru

Moscow Polytechnical University, Moscow – Russia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0088-3619. E-mail:

Begati1@yandex.ru

Russian University of Transport, Moscow – Russia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8772-0056. E-mail:

skv-kv@mail.ru

secundária d e transmitir informações pragmáticas. Vários correlatos semióticos das

interrogativas e discursos de vários tipos foram revelados. Um elemento importante das

correlações encontradas é a pertença dos discursos não-verbais e verbais ao fenômeno da

criatividade interrogativa, em particular, à tradição semiótica francesa. Os resultados da

pesquisa realizada podem ser aplicados em pesquisas futuras no campo da correlação

sinergética do quadro interrogativo e linguístico do mundo das línguas nacionais.

PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Interrogativo. Imagem da linguagem do mundo. Código semiótico.

Verbal. Não-verbal. Análise do discurso. Semiótica das construções interrogativas.

RESUMEN: El artículo discute los fundamentos epistemológicos del estudio de lo

interrogativo en lingüística y humanidades. El propósito del artículo es identificar las

correlaciones semióticas entre el pensamiento interrogativo y el lenguaje de los hablantes

nativos de las lenguas nacionales: ruso y francés. Se presentó una hipótesis de que las

construcciones interrogativas sirven no solo para la formación directa de enunciados

interrogativos, sino que además cumplen una función secundaria de transmisión de

información pragmática. Se han revelado varios correlatos semióticos de los discursos

interrogativos y de varios tipos. Un elemento importante de las correlaciones encontradas es

la pertenencia de los discursos verbales y no verbales al fenómeno de la creatividad

interrogativa, en particular, a la tradición semiótica francesa. Los resultados de la

investigación realizada se pueden aplicar en futuras investigaciones en el campo de la

correlación sinérgica de la imagen interrogativa y lingüística del mundo de las lenguas

nacionales.

PALABRAS CLAVE: Interrogativa. Imagen del lenguaje del mundo, código semiótico.

Verbal. No verbal. Análisis del discurso. Semiótica de construcciones interrogativas.

Introduction

The national language and the interrogative discourse are in synergetic interaction. This

means that these semiotic substances, having their grammar, vocabulary, and syntactics specific

for each category, reflect the essential characteristics of the ethnocultural worldview and

mentality. The national picture of the world has different hypotheses of its existence, among

which language and interrogative forms are important in terms of generating and accumulating

the cultural experience of society.

Any natural language has several characteristics, primarily due to the implementation

of its main function – the communicative one. The essence of the communicative function, in

the most general terms, is to guarantee the transfer of information of various kinds to the

interlocutor, depending on the strategic and tactical goals of communication. In other words,

the main "task" of language is to ensure communication between people.

The relevance of the work lies in the need to study interrogative statements, since they,

being the basis of dialogical speech, can also be considered the basis of colloquial discourse.

To master a foreign spoken language, it is necessary to master the system of the interrogative

of the target language, that is, to correctly understand, translate, and use interrogative sentences

in the flow of speech.

Theoretical significance: the work contributes to the study of fragments of the

linguistic picture of the world and the national language personality, as well as to the further

development of the provisions of the theory of language, linguoculturology, linguistics related

to the idiolect and ethnocultural specifics of the methods of interrogative verbalization of the

national language personality.

The practical value of the research is seen in the fact that the results obtained in the work

can be used in the development of university lecture courses and seminars on the grammar and

phraseology of the French language, special courses on the problems of linguistic personality,

the theory of intercultural communication, the theory and practice of translation.

The interrogative, as a specific form of human contact with the surrounding world, has

existed for as long as the human race has existed. At the dawn of civilization, it is quite likely

that the cognizing subject, under the influence of the concept of "curiosity", worked only at the

level of linearity of consciousness; in other words, tried to know the external world in direct

forms of the interrogative, which was actively introduced into all spheres of life of homo

sapiens: hunting, fishing, agriculture, etc. Gradually, a "white crow" appears among the

members of the tribe (kinship unions, clans, and other "groupings"), who comes up with

analytical questions to the inner world, addressed to his/her consciousness, such as: Who am I?

Why do I need this? Why do they treat me like that? When will this end? The "white crows" turn

into priests, advisers, academics over time, and all this, in our opinion, is due to the presence of

an innate prerogative in the human mind.

Purpose and objectives of the study

The purpose of the study is to reveal the system of meanings and means of expression

of French interrogative statements in comparison with the system of Russian interrogative. The

set goal determines the solution of the following tasks:

1. To systematize the interrogative constructions in the modern national language.

2. To investigate and describe the lexical and semantic features of interrogative

sentences in French and Russian.

3. To compare, analyze, and reconstruct the pragmatics of the interrogative in the

languages under consideration.

The main purpose and objectives of the research are also the detection and description

of the dialectic of the interdependence of interrogative and non-interrogative statements,

sharing the opinion that any forms of the interrogative as sign systems represent an integral

material-ideal formation that includes the unity of the signified/signifier (KRISTEVA, 2015).

In most cases, the meaning of an utterance (interrogative or affirmative) – the spiritual-

ideal content – is considered as modeling, comprehension, generalization of the phenomena of

reality. However, we should not miss the fact that the interrogative meaning is not only the

development of existing values, but at the same time, it is a created "new" value that has not

existed before and does not exist outside of this speech work (GUILLAUME, 2004).

Literature review

Most scientific schools of our time put the study of a person at the forefront to improve

his/her potential. Anthropocentrism as a research principle occupies a leading place in modern

paradigms of humanitarian scientific knowledge. The correlations between natural language

and the interrogative have been investigated within the framework of this principle, which

implies an appeal not only to the cognitive and communicative characteristics of language and

thinking but also to several ideological and ethnocultural aspects of the linguistic-semiotic

space.

The theoretical basis of the study was the following works:

– In the field of general problems of the theory of language and communication: V.G.

Gak, J. Guillaume, Ferdinand de Saussure, S.G. Ter-Minasova;

– On the study of the problems of linguistic personality: Yu.N. Karaulov, A.P. Sedykh;

– On the study of discourses of various types: V.I. Karasik, Yu. Kristeva, Hofstede

(2011);

– On the study of the problems of correlations between the interrogative and language

thinking: G.F. Gavrilova, N.I. Golubeva-Monatkina, M.A. Gorte, S.S. Fomina, S. De Boer, L.

Foulet.

Methods

Speaking about the correlations of natural language and the interrogative, it is necessary

to determine the place of human language in the classification of semiotic systems. It has been

proposed to attribute the interrogative to a certain extent to the non-verbal semiotic continuum,

and the national language to the verbal one. Nevertheless, the interrogative itself can be

considered as a text consisting of non-verbal (interrogative sui generis) and verbal components.

Considering the specifics of interrogative and purely linguistic perception, it should be

noted that both categories are conditioned by the so-called "spirit of the nation" (SEDYKH,

2009; 2016). It can be said that each type of interrogative and dialogic product is to a certain

extent "generated" by the national language.

Dialogue is the main form of a person's linguistic existence within the framework of the

national linguistic and cultural community. Dialogic speech has repeatedly been the subject of

philological research, but any language is in the process of constant evolution, in particular, the

mobility of language units and speech structures within the framework of interpersonal

interaction of individuals.

To achieve adequate formats of analysis and epistemological description of

interrogative constructions, it is proposed to introduce the "dialog-interrogative" term, which,

in our opinion, is one of the actively developing forms of modern communication.

The methods and techniques used in the study: observation method, consisting of a

selection in the text of the relevant facts and phenomena, and the inclusion of them in the right

category; the encyclopedic method, including the study of the meaning of words in close

connection with objects and phenomena which they represent; the comparative-typological

method, revealing the similarities and differences of interrogative statements in different-

structured languages.

The methodological basis of the work was the provision on the semiotic approach to the

verbalization of interrogative constructions in language and speech and on the potential for

identifying characterological features of a linguistic personality in terminology and discourse.

The paper applies the principles of linguistic identification, as well as the provision on the

linguistic personality as an interrogative instance of discourse.

The methods and techniques of research have been predetermined by the set goal and

objectives of the study, as well as the specifics of the material. The following methods were

used in the work: descriptive and introspective, based on the techniques of reflexive observation

of live spoken speech; component analysis of language units and interpretive analysis of the

utterance; the method of identification projection, including techniques for establishing the

identity of linguistic and interrogative features; methods of rhetorical analysis. The

identification of the key features of the language personality's interrogative is based on the

symptomatic method of discourse processing. Elements of comparative and component-

connotative generalization of language material were also used.

Results

The history of the study of the issue and interrogative sentences in linguistics began in

the 16th century when this topic had been found in scattered scientific treatises. Global works

on interrogative sentences of the Russian language have been published since the 17th century.

This refers to the "Grammars" of V.E. Adodurov (1731) and M.V. Lomonosov (1756).

Further on, a whole galaxy of Russian scholars (a preferably phonetically-intonation

aspect of interrogative utterances) is engaged: A.M. Peshkovsky, E.M. Galkina-Fedoruk, V.V.

Babaytseva, etc.

The famous "Grammar of the Russian language" was published in the middle of the

twentieth century (1952-1954), which belongs to the representatives of the philological school

(Vinogradov's School of Russian Studies) under the direction of Academician Vinogradov

Viktor Vladimirovich. The historical and philological method of Viktor Vladimirovich was the

basis for the innovative systematization of subsections of Russian linguistics, in particular,

syntactics and syntagmatics of interrogative statements (according to the purpose of the

statement), which are interpreted as sentences, “[…] in which the speaker expresses his/her

desire to learn something from the interlocutor through intonation, as well as through special

words or word arrangement” (Russian grammar, 1980). As we can see, the interrogative is

considered not only from the point of view of the presence of special pronouns but also through

the prism of the intonation contour and the order of words in the utterance.

Considering Russian and several foreign philological directions, the scholars create

universal concepts of linguistics, the key element of which is the lexeme (word) and the stylistic

aspect of the language unit in combination with the system-socio-historical reality. V.V.

Vinogradov focuses on the synergy of word-formation, grammatical, and lexicological

mechanisms in the process of the evolution of the national (Russian) language. Therewith, the

scholar identifies "word formation" as a special linguistic discipline, and also lays the

foundations for the development of independent disciplines, such as "The History of the

Russian Literary Language" and "The Science of the Language of Fiction".

One of the authors of the "Grammar of the Russian Language", Evdokia Mikhailovna

Galkina-Fedoruk, differentiates interrogative sentences according to the principle of goal

setting and distinguishes them into three groups of statements: actually-interrogative,

rhetorical, interrogative-motivational. Evdokia Mikhailovna not only classifies interrogative

sentences but also gives them a detailed description, supporting the scientific argumentation

with interesting examples of works by the classics of Russian literature, describes in detail the

connector elements of the question: pronouns, adverbs, particles.

With the advent of the structuralist approach in linguistics, the structural and

organizational section of the description of interrogative syntactics was developed in the

seventies of the last century. The most popular is the description of Professor Natalia Yuryevna

Shvedova, who considers the structural schemes of interrogative sentences from the point of

view of the presence/absence of a pronominal interrogative word in its composition. The

scholar also writes about the existence of free and phraseologized interrogative statements in

the Russian language (Is he joking? How can I disagree? Isn't this happiness?). An innovative

aspect of Natalia Yurievna's concept is the selection of interrogative sentences characterized by

the presence of unchangeable forms (really, unless, what if).

An important element of the description of interrogative sentences can be considered

the classification of their functions (primary and secondary). The secondary functions of

sentences of this type are of the greatest interest since they include: rhetorical questions

(internal negation), a question-confirmation of an order or question, a question-clarification, an

emotional-reactive question (Russian grammar, 1980).

The secondary functions of interrogative sentences are most clearly realized in the texts

of fiction. The grammar lists the main cases when a question has an expressive coloring: a

confident expressively colored statement, a confident expressively colored denial (the so-called

rhetorical question), a question-clarification, a question/an incentive to something, a question

expressing the emotional reaction of the speaker.

Let us present some features of interrogative means in several languages. In all cases,

the general language rules of the interrogative can include the presence of a question involving

the search for an answer (the primary function of the interrogative). Interrogative statements

are formed in the Russian language using the interrogative pronoun (who, what, how much,

etc.), adverbs (where, why, etc.), particles (unless, whether, but, etc.). This also includes

grammaticalized combinations (isn't it, could be, etc.). Therewith, the Russian interrogative is

based on three interrogative categories: intonation, word order, and interrogative words

(particles, pronouns, and adverbs). Sometimes the question, according to G.F. Gavrilova, can

be formed in whole phrases. She introduces the term "communicative" and implies whole

phrases under it: What is it about?; But how is it so? (GAVRILOVA; KOZHINA, 2002).

Meanwhile, the formal means of the interrogative (pronouns, adverbs, particles) are not

always a categorical imperative of interrogatives, since only the intonation contour can generate

the format of the question (FOMINA, 2001).

Traditionally, three types of intonation of interrogative sentences are described, in

particular, the Russian language, depending on the place of the interrogative word in its

composition:

The intonation of interrogative sentences can be as follows:

a) Ascending if the word on which the stress falls is at the very end of the sentence.

b) Ascending-descending, if this word is located in the middle of the sentence.

c) Descending if this word is at the beginning of the sentence.

In our opinion, the ascending intonation can be attributed to the typical features of

interrogatives. The peripheral interrogative means should include the ascending and ascending-

descending melody of the phrase when additional emotional and expressive "notes" are added

to the latter (GOLUBEVA-MONATKINA, 2013). For a Russian general question, it is

characteristic to raise the tone on the question word, and then sharply lower it.

We will focus on the formal signs of the interrogative in various languages for the

contrastive accentuation of the main research topic. It should immediately be said that there are

rare languages in which there is no formal interrogative marking. In this case, the question can

only be generated using the context (TER-MINASOVA, 2000). The question is accompanied

by a special prosodic intonation in most languages. In some cases, intonation can act as the only

marker of the interrogative, this applies, for example, to Italian and Romanian. In French, a

similar phenomenon exists, but it limits its functioning in the colloquial register: Tu manges?

(Will you eat?); On ira au magasin ce matin? (Are we going to the store in the morning?).

Numerous languages include those in which the interrogative is transmitted using

special particles (unchangeable parts of speech):

(Japanese) = the ka particle is placed at the end of the interrogative phrase;

(Polish) = the czy particle is placed at the beginning of the question phrase;

(Finnish) = the enclitic-ko or –kö is used (following the laws of vocalism), which is

placed after the language unit to which the question is asked, and which is placed at the

beginning of the interrogative phrase;

(French) = the si particle introduces an interrogative subordinate clause;

(Quebec French) = vernacular French of the Canadian province uses (in oral speech) the

particle tu after the verb of the interrogative phrase, nevertheless retaining the personal

pronoun-subject. It should be noted that this pronoun-subject does not move to the postposition

with the verb (inversion + hyphen), as required by standard French: On en achète tu, ou on

n'en achète tu pas? (Are we buying or not buying?) In such cases, since the pronoun tu, placed

after the verb, is desemanticized, performing the function of an interrogative particle, then the

inversion hyphen is not put (Tu mandes tu?, and not Tu manges-tu?).

(Arabic) = several interrogative pronouns are used in this language, depending on which

pronoun acts in the function of the subject. Therewith, the phrase can remain purely nominal,

without losing its basic meaning.

(Turkish) = the mu/mu/mi particles are used here following the vocal consonance of the

preceding word. The particle is placed after the verb base, then verb suffixes (personal and

temporary) are put.

As we can see, different languages use specific formal elements of the interrogative,

which correspond to both the phonetic mechanisms of phrase construction and the logical

structures of each of the languages.

Returning to the degree of study of the interrogative, we note that French philology

begins a systematic study of the interrogative constructions of the national language, starting

from the New Age (for France, this is the period from the end of the 16th to the end of the 19th

centuries). French grammarians note the difficulties of describing and defining interrogative

utterances already in this period, even though intuitively all researchers identify them as such

(VAUGELAS, 1970). One of the reasons for these difficulties is the polyvalence of

interrogative markers, which can be found not only in interrogative statements but also in other

types of speeches (affirmative, motivational, stating, etc.). On the other hand, the interrogative

system of the modern French language is characterized mainly by an abundance of interrogative

constructions that provide the user with an effective tool for transmitting a significant number

of semantic nuances (SEDYKH; ALBERT, 2020).

The arsenal of interrogative means of the French language is a complex semiotic device

and it is necessary to consider three levels of functional and stylistic properties when analyzing

it: literary language, colloquial discourse, and vernacular. This complexity of the interrogative

is compounded by the inevitability of interference of the three above-mentioned registers.

Recall that the markers of the French interrogative are: intonation contour, an interrogative

morpheme (adjective, adverb, or particle), word order (inversion).

If intonation and inversion retain their relevance not only in the Gallo-Romance

language but also in the modern French interrogative utterance, then the interrogative

morpheme, since the sixteenth century, has been having specific parameters of functioning

(SEDYKH; ALBERT, 2020). The interrogative phrase est-ce que (which in this period is called

"particle" as an unchangeable part of speech and is often referred to as a colloquial phrase)

becomes the most frequent, especially in the "total question": Est-ce que tu viendras demain?

Est-ce que tu aimes ce livre? This phrase is less frequent in the "partial question" and serves to

strengthen the interrogative term: Où est-ce que tu vas? (Pourquoi est-ce que...? Comment est-

ce que ...? Quand est-ce que … ?)

Colloquial phrases (est-ce que; qu'est-ce que) become "overactive" in French discourse

in the classical period (the seventeenth century). Academician Claude Favre de Vaugelas writes

about this, preferring new forms of the question to established interrogative constructions

("Pourquoy est-ce que les Romains firent telle chose? (est) beaucoup mieux que si nous disons

Pourquoy fut ce que les Romains " = ("Why exactly did the Romans do it?", sounds better

than "Why were it the Romans who did it?")) (VAUGELAS, 1970, p. 309).

We find many interrogative constructions with est-ce que in the works of the classic of

French literature – Moliere: (Imaginary patient) "Qu'est-ce que cela? vous riez?"(What is it?

Are you laughing?); (Les Precieuses ridicules) "Qu'est-ce donc que ceci? Qui nous payera,

nous autres?" (What is it? Who will pay us?) "Qu'est-ce qui nous donnera de l'argent?"(Who

will give us money?); (Bourgeois gentilhomme, Le) "Qu'est-ce que c'est donc que cela?"(What

is it?) "Quelle figure!... Parlez donc, qu'est-ce que c'est que ceci?" (What a go! ... Tell me, what

is it?). In modern French, such utterances are not uncommon in colloquial discourse: "Qui est-

ce qui partira le premier?"(Who will leave first?), "Qu'est-ce que tu as vu?"(What did you

see?), "Où est-ce que nous allons? "(Where are we going?), "Quand est-ce que vous

partirez?"(When will you leave?), "Pourquoi est-ce que tu es là?"(Why are you here?)

(GREVISSE; GOOSSE, 2007).

Many French scholars, both past and present, are interested in the general problems of

the evolution of the forms of the French language's interrogative. Thus, the linguist Lucien

Foulet poses the following questions:

1. What is the origin of the "picturesque" variety of forms of interrogative in the French

language?

2. What is the percentage of randomness or "capriciousness" of this phenomenon?

3. Is it possible to identify the laws and mechanisms of such a variety of interrogatives

behind the variability of forms (FOULET, 1921)?

Discussions

Ferdinand de Saussure formulated the main provisions of semiotics in the Course of

General Linguistics based on a synthetic approach to language (langue) and speech (parole),

where language is represented as "a common set of means used for all speakers in constructing

phrases in a given language" and "a system of differentiated signs corresponding to

differentiated concepts" (SAUSSURE, 2011, p. 25), and speech is represented as an individual

implementation of a language system. Here it is appropriate to cite the well-known words of a

linguist, bringing together the interrogative and everyday discourse, that a sign is a "two-sided

psychic entity" that combines "a concept and an acoustic image" (SAUSSURE, 2011, p. 18).

The acoustic image is understood as the material appearance of the sign (the signifier in the

language, the sound form of the interrogative), and the concept is the content side of the sign

(the signified, the image of the question).

In our opinion, the initial (historically formed) point of searching for an explication of

the phenomenon of the French interrogative is to understand how the national language

gradually "abandoned" the Latin form of the question based on the use of special particles (-ne,

-num, -nonne). Therewith, the verb was used in the form of subjunctive in the Latin language.

Since the 16th century, French has begun to use subject and verb inversion to formulate

interrogative statements. According to grammarians, this is due to the objective necessity of

"getting rid of declensions" (FOULET, 1921). In fairness, it should be added that there is a

partial rejection of inverse constructions in modern French (especially in colloquial form).

Lucien Foulet calls the initial tendency to use inversion in interrogative statements the

term "chasse à l'inversion" (lit. 'hunting for inversion’). According to the scholar, the French

language got rid of the system of declensions of vulgar Latin in this way: from the Latin

"version" of the question Vobis relinquens filius est? (part votre fils = ‘is your son leaving’), to

the French interrogative of modern times (votre fils part-il / est-ce que votre fils part? = 'your

son, is he leaving/isn't your son leaving') (FOULET, 1921).

There is also a somewhat differentiated point of view for the explication of the "hunt for

inversion", which comes down to three reasons-factors:

1. Phonetic and morphological factors. The decay of the case system (declension).

French did not adopt the case forms of the Latin language, becoming mainly an analytical

language.

2. The logical factor. The general tendency is to use a progressive construction with the

subject in the first place.

3. The psychological reason. Stress on the last syllable of the lexeme (syntagmatic

accentuation) (DE BOER, 1926)

Let us focus on the purely logical origin of the interrogative construction of the type

"Votre amie danse-t-elle?", which has stylistic " roots" (the format of a stylistic device).

Various linguists call this phenomenon differently: "disjunction selection" (HAVET, 2000),

"pathetic construction" (WEIL, 1978), "prolepsis" (GORTE, 2007), "emphatic word order"

(FOULET, 1921). It should be noted that this construction is preserved in many languages and

various types of phrases. For example, such a structure retains its stylistic "charge" in Dutch

and Italian. The inverse interrogative loses its stylistic coloring only in the French language,

that is, it neutralizes its affective function (grammaticalized, crystallized), taking on the name

of the "complex issue" (FOULET, 1921). The sacramental question of why this construction

retained only its grammatical function only in French and nowhere else (not in any modern

language), having lost its emotive-expressive charge, has remained open since the 15th century.

In contrast to the above opinion of respected linguists, we believe that phrases with

inverse constructions of the French interrogative can be attributed to the sublime (refined)

inversion. The complex inversion is used only in written literary discourse, part of which (along

with the neutrality of the written-business register, for example) refers to high style.

Conclusion

Thus, the epistemological paradigm of the study of the interrogative, both in Russia and

other countries, is at the forefront of the research interests of linguists. Therewith, each national

school puts forward original priorities and places its accents in terms of highlighting the

essential features of the subject of research. The degree of knowledge of the interrogative is

also determined by the degree of frequency of the usage and the general communicative task of

the national language.

The theoretical calculations of this article can be interpreted as motivational guidelines

for future research of discourse, in particular, an interrogative discourse based on the synergetic

principle of selecting empirical material. Within the framework of this approach, it is proposed

to use a cognitive-communicative analysis of the discourse formats of the language means of

the national language and the interrogative. This will help not only to identify additional

semiotic correlates of the interrogative and everyday discourse but also to identify and

categorize typological features of the national mentality and the linguistic personality of the

creator of the speech work with their help.

REFERENCES

DE BOER, C. L'évolution des formes de l'interrogation en français // Romania, T 52 n°207,

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How to reference this article

SEDYKH, A. P.; SIDOROVA, T. A.; AKIMOVA, E. N.; BEZKOROVAYNAYA, G. T.;

SKVORTSOV, K. V. Interrogative in the humanities and linguistics: the epistemology of

research. Rev. EntreLínguas, Araraquara, v. 7, n. esp. 4, e021083, Nov. 2021. e-ISSN: 2447-

3529. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.4.15630

Submitted: 09/02/2021

Required revisions: 20/05/2021

Approved: 05/09/2021

Published: 20/12/2021

INTERROGATIVA EM HUMANIDADES E LINGUÍSTICA: A EPISTEMOLOGIA

DA PESQUISA