THE CATEGORY OF MODALITY IN SLOVAK CARPATHIAN ROMANI

The modality, that is the indispensability, possibility and intentionality of carrying out the content of the predicate, is expressed within the predicational component of the illocutionary act. The Slovak Carpathian Romani does not have any modal verbs of its own to express indispensability (must, to have to) and possibility (can, be able to). These modal relations are most often expressed either by borrowed modal verbs ('musinel' - must, to have to), by particles ('musaj' - must, 'saj/nasti' - can/cannot), or with the help of other lexical means ('kampel' - it is necessary, 'jel' - to be). The possibility to carry out some action is expressed in various ways depending on the further specification of the possibility. When expressing indispensability and possibility the subject is usually the one carrying out the process expressed by the autosemantic verb and at the same time the bearer of modal disposition for carrying it out expressed by the modal verb. When expressing intentionality (to want), we also frequently find cases where the subject carrying out the action expressed by a particular verb form is not identical with the bearer of modal disposition.