The Swedish modal particle nog . A contrastive analysis

The article investigates the meaning and functions of the Swedish modal particle nog on the basis of its cross-linguistic correspondences in the English-Swedish Parallel Corpus (ESPC). Nog was more frequent in original texts than in sources reflecting the fact that modal particles are used abundantly in Swedish conversations. Nog does not have an obvious correspondence in English as indicated by the fact that it has been rendered by many different lexical items and constructions. Moreover omission is a frequent strategy. The translations show that nog has two different core uses depending on position and stress. In medial position nog means both probability and (almost) certainty. When nog corresponds to an expression of certainty it can come to imply an element of selfassurance. Medial nog is also used to modify mental verbs (jag vet nog ‘I know nog’) especially in response utterances. An important function of the uses of nog in medial position is downtoning an opinion or an utterance which might be offensive to the hearer unless mitigated. Nog is also used deontically with reference to what ought to be done. The deontic meaning is particularly clear when nog is used with a modal auxiliary to give advice. Nog, when initial, involves emphasis or contradictory assumptions (contrastive nog). Contrasting opinions account for example for the translations of a sentence with initial nog by a negative interrogative sentence (or a declarative sentence with a tag question). Another function of the initial nog is to prepare the hearer for an objection in a following but-clause.


Introduction
Modal particles are found only in a few languages.They are notoriously difficult to analyse because of their multifunctionality and contextboundness.The angle chosen in the present study is a contrastive approach to the study of modal particles.The aim is to study the meaning and functions of the Swedish modal particle nog on the basis of its crosslinguistic correspondences in the English-Swedish Parallel Corpus (ESPC).Translations have probably always been used informally by the linguist to establish what a lexical element means in a context.In the present study this approach is generalized to large amounts of translation texts in two languages.We can therefore test hypotheses about what these meanings are based on the linguist's own intuitions or bilingual corpus data.The translations provide a 'rich' picture of the variability of the modal particles which can be the basis for describing their polysemy and multifunctionality.
The paper is structured as follows.Section 2 defines modal particles (in general) and describes how they differ from modal adverbs and discourse markers.Section 3 deals with previous work on nog, and Section 4 describes the design of the English-Swedish Parallel Corpus and the contrastive method.Section 5 presents some quantitative results of the contrastive analysis.Section 6 discusses the functions of nog and how we should describe the lexical meaning of the particle.Section 7 provides a summary and conclusion.
As a group of words they have certain formal and functional characteristics distinguishing them both from modal adverbs and from discourse particles (see e.g.Diewald 2006, 2013, Waltereit 2001).Let us consider what (some of) these features are:

Formal features
Morphologically modal particles are 'particles'; they are 'non-inflected monosyllabic units that have segmental status and can be isolated as such' (Diewald 2007: 409).This distinguishes them from modal adverbs such as probably.Modal particles (unlike modal adverbs) are integrated in the sentence and have a fixed position in the so-called middle position after the finite verb.
The prototypical position of nog after the finite verb is illustrated in example (1): (1) Men det var nog bara prat.
'But that was 'nog' only talk Nog can also be found in initial position.However, it is still integrated in the utterance and it has a different function from the medial nog: (2) Nog är jag starkare än du 'Nog' am I stronger than you.

Prosodic features
Modal particles are generally unstressed unlike modal adverbs (e.g.Diewald 2013).Nog presents special problems since it can also be sentence-initial and stressed.

Functional features
Generally speaking, modal particles express pragmatic meaning related to the attitude of the speaker and the hearer (Cuenca 2013: 195).However, depending on the context and their lexical meaning they have extended their meanings in different directions.

Stylistic features
Modal particles are found in spoken language rather than in writing which suggests that they have interactional functions in speech (Lindström 2008: 96).
Modal particles are difficult to distinguish from discourse markers.Both modal particles and discourse markers are for example used by the speaker to take up different positionings or stances in the interaction.A topical area in linguistics over the years has therefore been the intersection between modal particles and discourse markers and whether it is possible to draw a line between the two types (see Degand et al. 2013:1).This issue has been discussed from both formal and functional perspectives.Syntactically modal particles are defined by their position inside the utterance.However, there is little agreement about the functional definition of modal particles.Vaskó and Fretheim (1997), for example, define modal particles with regard to their context-adjusting function.In the typical case an illocutionary act modified by a particle 'contains information which the speaker feels that the hearer will not access easily without the speaker's intervention ' (p. 253).… 'Regardless of the speech act performed, the speaker's purpose is to make the hearer aware of a particular assumption, or set of assumptions, entertained by the speaker, which the speaker wishes the hearer to accept and to avail himself (sic) of during the conversation ' (p. 254).With nog the speaker's idea is for example to tell the hearer to base his/her interpretation on what is likely or probable.Another reason may be to hedge or soften an assertion which may be experienced as brusque.
Discourse markers such as actually, well, and in fact are distinguished from modal particles both formally and functionally.They may appear utterance-initially (outside the clause).They typically have functions relating to the sequential organization of discourse for example to mark frames and boundaries in the discourse.

Previous research on nog
According to the Swedish Academy Grammar (SAG) (Teleman et al. 1999: 117), the Swedish modal particle nog (referred to as a modal sentence adverbial in their terminology) has two 'relatively clearly distinct' senses.In the first sense nog indicates that the speaker judges the contents of the declarative sentence to be probable (the speaker assumes that…).1 (4) Dom vill nog hellre ha Tant Grön, Tant Brun eller något spännande.
They prefer 'nog' Aunt Green, Aunt Brown or something exciting.
Unlike väl (which is hearer-oriented and similar to a tag question) the particle nog (in medial position) does not appeal to the hearer for confirmation and is not used in interrogative sentences.
In the second sense nog is said to strengthen a speech act.Nog guarantees the truth of statements about things which the speaker him/herself is in the position to judge (e.g.reports about perceptions or mental states) or expresses the speaker's commitment to carrying out the action in promises or threats.
I think 'nog' anyhow like Ulf that it is punishable.
The following utterances illustrate nog with the function of a promise (5b) or a threat (5c): (5b) Jag kan nog både sjunga och spela må ni tro.I can 'nog' both play and sing you know.
Nog is reinforcing especially in initial position.In this position the first sense of nog (as a probability marker) is not possible: (6) Nog fövånar det mig litet att jag fick för pappa och mamma.'Nog' surprises it me a little that I was allowed to by my father and mother.
If the utterance with nog is used about something the hearer knows better than the speaker, nog can have the function of a question or hearer appeal: (7) Nog kan jag väl få låna din cykel?'Nog' can I borrow 'väl' the bicycle from you?
The reinforcing nog is sometimes similar to an adversative adverbial with concessive meaning ('admittedly'): (8) Nog vill jag komma ur det här, men jag kan inte.'Nog' want I to get out of this, but I cannot.Teleman et al (1999) propose a number of meanings and functions that nog can have in Swedish.By using a parallel corpus where Swedish is one of the compared languages we can check if the functions which have been distinguished have their own translation.The translations can also show meanings or contextual effects of a modal particle which are difficult to discover on the basis of a single language.

Material and method
Modal particles are restricted to certain languages.However the function of modal particles can also be translated into languages which do not have modal particles such as English (Waltereit 2001).Nog does not have a fixed meaning making it possible to translate it 'uniformly' but has a large repertoire of different meanings depending on the context.The use of translations as evidence for a certain meaning and as a source for contrastive analysis is nothing new.Linguists have often referred to nog as 'tests' for different meanings.The method used here is to study the meanings of the modal particle systematically in a corpus of translations.
Parallel corpora for cross-linguistic research of linguistic elements with their translations into the other language have now been available for several decades (see Johansson 2007 for some research based on parallel corpora).They have been a particularly valuable resource to study phenomena in spoken language which do not have a uniform meaning in all contexts (see e.g. the overview in Aijmer and Simon-Vandenbergen 2011 of contrastive corpus studies of pragmatic markers).Studies of Swedish modal particles include Aijmer (1996) and Aijmer (2015) on Swedish väl.
The English-Swedish Parallel Corpus (ESPC) contains original texts in English and Swedish with their translations into the other language, altogether 2.8 million words representing both fiction and non-fiction (see Altenberg and Aijmer 2000). 2 The parallel corpus can be used in several ways to establish similarities and differences between languages and to support or modify results based on research on monolingual corpora.Since the ESPC is a bidirectional corpus we can study both the English translations of nog in Swedish originals and the English 'sources' of nog in the translated texts.I have used the fiction part of the corpus only (about 1.5 million words) since this is the closest correspondence to speech.

The correspondences of nog in the ESPC
In this section I will look at the correspondences of nog in the fiction part of the ESPC.Altogether there were 142 examples in the translations from Swedish into English.Nog was more frequent in original texts than in sources reflecting the fact that modal particles have important discourse functions in the interaction.See Table 1 where the correspondences have been ordered by (total) frequency: Nog has been rendered by many different lexical expressions or constructions.Altogether there were 40 different variants (including zero) only 9 of which were shared by translations and sources.Of course, no doubt and must were frequent in English translations but not in sources.Surely and I think were the most frequent variants in sources but they occurred only once in translations.
Omission was the most frequent strategy.In 42.3% of the examples nog has either been deleted in English translations or added in the Swedish ones.The translator looks for a correspondence that seems to fit the context or omits nog (a zero translation) if the particle is not thought to be important for the message conveyed.Probably was the most frequent correspondence (after omission).It was more frequent in English translations than in sources.This suggests that the translator has overused probably because of its formal and semantic similarity with nog.
The translation paradigm provides us with a messy picture of what nog means in different contexts.Nog does not seem to have a single meaning but a variety of different functions reflecting its frequency and importance in spoken language.Moreover the English correspondences fall into different word classes (see Table 2).It has been suggested that modal particles (in German) correspond to non-integrated 'formulas' (discourse markers) in English (Fillmore 1984).However in my data the only discourse markers were anyway and in fact (both occurring only once).The most frequent type of correspondence was instead a modal adverb.The functions of nog are also similar to those associated with 'modal tags' such as I think, I suppose expressing a degree of certainty (cf.de Haan 2006: 38 for the term 'modal tag').Nog can also correspond to a modal auxiliary (in particular will and must).On the other hand nog was rarely translated with a tag question.6. Functions of nog Modal particles are multifunctional and context-bound.They therefore raise a number of questions about semantics and pragmatics.Do they have one meaning or should we account for their multifunctionality in a polysemous approach?Nog signals in principle that the speaker has sufficient grounds for the truth of the utterance whether this involves that something is probable or true (Borgstam 1977;Lindström 2008:98).It follows that nog is subjective or speaker-oriented (Teleman et al 1999;Fretheim 1981).There is no appeal to the hearer or someone who knows better but the speaker takes full responsibility for his/her attitudes and actions.
Nog seems to be associated with different core aspects depending on its position and the presence of stress.The following discussion is therefore organized in two parts: the first examines unstressed nog placed medially and the second example where stressed nog is placed initially.

3
"Yes, but it 's probably got rather cold," said Pretorius.(ARP1T) The speaker makes a fairly confident statement about the temperature of the coffee.
In (11) nog interacts with I suspect in the main clause.The translator has used probably: (11) -Då misstänker jag att hon nog kommer att bli överraskad.(HM1) "Then I suspect she 'll probably be surprised."(HM1T) The probability meaning seems to be the most frequent one of nog in translations into British English.The meaning can also be expressed by other means than probably.
No doubt expresses probability rather than certainty and has the same meaning as probably.According to Quirk et al. (1985: 623) 'it in fact implies some doubt and is synonymous with "very probably"': (12) De skulle nog klara sitt husköp.(HM2) They would no doubt cope with buying their house.(HM2T) Probability can also be expressed by a modal auxiliary (13).Will as a translation indicates that the speaker has sufficient knowledge of the facts to judge that something is true: (13) Jojo, tänkte fastern.Julgransplundringen är nog snart över om de fortsätter på det här viset.(ARP1) "Oh, yes," thought Auntie, "presents under the Christmas tree will soon be a thing of the past if this goes on.(ARP1T) In ( 14) the translation with must suggests that the speaker has enough background information for inferring that 'he is about fifty': (14) Han är nog omkring femtio -fast han ser yngre ut, tänker jag och ser in i hans blick.(MS1) He must be around fifty but looks younger, I think, and look into his eyes.(MS1T) In ( 15) nog refers to the facts or circumstances on the basis of which the speaker makes a judgement.The translator has used 'by the look of them': (15) Lögnen kom av sig själv och de accepterade den utan vidare.
Ingen av dem sa någonting efter det.Valerie satt och stirrade på deras kortklippta grå nackar och förarens åldersfläckiga händer på ratten.De är nog systrar, tänkte hon.(PDJ1T) The lie came easily to her and was as easily accepted.Nothing more was said by any of them.She sat looking at the backs of the two grey, cropped heads, watching the driver's age-speckled hands on the wheel.Sisters, she thought, by the look of them.(PDJ1)

Nog as a downtoner
The speaker may also use nog for reasons having to do with politeness.When nog has been translated by a modal tag such as I suppose, I guess, I dare say, I should think its function is to soften or tone down the illocutionary force or more generally the speaker's commitment to what is said: (16) Sen är jag nog inte lätt att umgås med eftersom jag till stora delar består av sällskapliga gäster i det där hotellet jag talade om.(RJ1) And I suppose I 'm not that easy to get on with because I 've got this hotel full of guests that I mentioned earlier.(RJ1T) In ( 17) the speaker has used I'm afraid apologizing for not being able to answer the question.The translator's nog makes the answer less abrupt than the corresponding utterance without a modal particle.( 17) "I 'm afraid I ca n't answer that, Mr Orloff," said Cooper honestly.
(MW1) "Jag kan nog inte svara på den frågan, herr Orloff", sade Cooper ärligt.(MW1T) In the examples quoted nog is associated with softening an illocutionary act.The same sentence without nog would sound impositive and brusque and threaten the hearer's negative face (the hearer's want to have his/her freedom of action unimpeded) (Brown and Levinson 1978).

Nog indicating certainty
In ( 18) nog seems to suggest 'complete certainty' as indicated by the translator's certainly (Aijmer 2002): (18) Det var nog kallare ute än det verkade.Röken bolmade ur skorstenarna och slog ner.Det blåste och röken svepte i vita slöjor förbi hennes fönster.(MG1) It certainly was colder outside than it seemed.It was windy, and the smoke from the chimneys swept by her window in white veils.
The sun broke through the clouds, gilding the veils of smoke.(MG1T) However, when nog is translated as 'certainly' or another expression of certainty the reason may also be that the speaker needs some reassurance that the grounds for judging something to be true are sufficient (cf.Solberg 1990: 55 who considers one of the most important elements of the Norwegian particle nok (cognate with Swedish nog) to be that the speaker tries to prove to herself that something is the case).In ( 19) the translator has used 'I'm sure' to express the speaker's confident prediction or self-assurance that something will be the case.This interpretation is further strengthened by the addition of an explanation for the speaker's (un)certainty (H B may be glad to spend some time chatting since she is alone).( 19) Fast om söndagarna tog hon sig ändå för det mesta åt Storholmträsk, Gammlundström brukade skjutsa henne, han sade: jag får nog en kaffetår av Hanna Burvall, hon kan vara glad att få prata bort en stund, hon är ju som ensammen.(TL1) Though on most Sundays she got herself to Storholmsträsk.Old Lundström used to drive her there, he said: "I 'm sure I 'll get a cup of coffee from Hanna Burvall.She may be glad to spend some time chatting.She is as it were alone.(TL1T)

Emotional and subjective uses
As the Swedish Academy Grammar (Teleman et al. 1999)   In ( 22) and ( 23) nog has been added in the Swedish translations after tycka and tro to make the Swedish text more idiomatic: (22) "I think you 'd best," he said."What would your name be?" (SG1) "Ja, det tycker nog jag också", sade han."Hur var ert namn?" (SG1T) Tror jag nog can be regarded as an idiomatic expression which is typically used in response utterances.
(23) Do you think you can find it?""Got a tongue in my head," he said, peering at the maze of roads."Reckon so." (DF1) Tror du att du kan hitta den?" "Kan ju fråga mig fram", sa han och kikade på villervallan av vägar."Tror jag nog." (DF1T) Nog is needed to tone down a too blunt subjective statement.English has no explicit correspondence in such cases.

Nog with deontic uses
Nog can be interpreted as deontic in combination with a deontic modal auxiliary.The 'deontic nog' expresses the speaker's attitude towards a possible action with regard to whether it is appropriate or morally right (cf.Palmer 1986: 120).In (15) the source text has had better 'a comparative modal' (van der Auwera et al 2013) used to express advice given by the speaker to the hearer (the hearer should do something or it is 'best' for the hearer to do something).The translator has used få nog ('may nog', 'must nog'): (24) You 'd better keep my dinner warm."(DL1) Du får nog hålla maten varm."(DL1T) (Ni) ska ('you shall') combines with nog and is (also) used to give advice (the speaker judges an action to be the best one).The source text has 'my advice is': (25) "I 'll see what I can find out for you back at the lab, but my advice is, do n't hold your breath.(MW1) "Jag ska se vad jag kan hitta åt er när jag kommer till labbet, men ni ska nog inte ha för stora förhoppningar.(MW1T) In ( 26) nog is a part of the Swedish modal idiom det är bäst att ('it is best that').The source text has it's time (you did something): (26) "You 're raving ever so slightly, darling, and it 's time you went home." (RDA1) Det är nog bäst att du går hem." (RDA1T) In ( 27) the English original has just gotta.Nog as a translation of just emphasizes what ought to be done: (27) "Sometimes, you just gotta stay there and teach him how to go through the bad and good of whatever comes."(GN1) Någon gång blir du nog tvungen att stanna kvar och lära honom att ta ont och gott som det kommer." (GN1T) 6.1.5Nog with the meaning of a promise or a threat Nog can signal that the utterance should be taken as a threat (jag ska nog 'I shall nog').The particle reinforces (or mitigates) the speaker's attitude (the speaker commits herself to a future action).In the English translation nog has been omitted: (28) "Ät gröt, om du kan tugga den, och lämna vildoxarna åt mej", sa Mattis."Dem ska jag nog bli färdig med när tiden är inne."(AL1) "Eat your porridge, if you can chew it, and leave wild bulls to me," said Matt. "I 'll deal with them when the time comes."(AL1T) I'm going to get you in the English original text is typically a threat.In the Swedish translation nog conveys the speaker's emotional stance: Nog is associated with promises in the idiomatic expression det är/blir… bra.The translator has used be going to to express the speaker's emotional involvement in the activity and its effects on the hearer.The speaker offers the hearer comfort and reassurance that things will be all right.

Nog in initial position
Roughly 17% of the examples of nog had initial position.In initial position nog was always stressed.The translation with really makes it clear that it can mean emphasis: (31) Åjo, nog är det ganska tyst och tomt på landet nu för tiden.(SC1) "Oh yes, it really is silent and empty in the country nowadays.(SC1T) In ( 32) certainly is used in the source text and the translator has used nog.Certainly is not neutral but implies an appeal for confirmation: (32) He had no idea when she had given that dress up, but certainly it was years and years ago.(AT1) Han hade ingen aning om när hon hade gjort sig av med den där klänningen, men nog var det för flera år sedan.(AT1T) Both väl and nog can be used to appeal to the hearer for positive feedback but in different ways.Teleman et al (1999: 116) describe the meaning of väl as follows, 'In conversation a declarative sentence with väl can be used as a careful question, an appeal to the hearer for agreement' (translation KA)'.The initial nog on the other hand is a convenient way of introducing 'contradictory assumptions' without being explicit about which these assumptions are.Further evidence for the hearer-oriented function of intial nog is found in (33) where the English source text contains a negative interrogative sentence.These interrogatives are special in being biased towards a particular interpretation of the answer to the question.According to Biber et al (1999Biber et al ( : 1114)), 'negative interrogatives challenge a negative expectation that has been assumed to exist in the context, and thus indicate the speaker's inclination towards a positive response': (33) She would open the front door and smell home.
She would pass through the rooms where she 'd been so happy all these years.(Had n't she been happy?)She would find the cat stretched out on the couch, long and lazy and languid, and she 'd settle on the cushion next to her and think, How could I have left?(AT1) Hon skulle öppna dörren och känna att det luktade hemma.Hon skulle gå genom de rum där hon hade varit så lycklig alla dessa år.(Nog hade hon väl varit lycklig?) Hon skulle få se katten ligga utsträckt på dyschan, lång och lat och dåsig, och hon skulle sätta sig bredvid den och tänka: Hur kunde jag ge mig iväg härifrån?(AT1T) Both nog and väl have the function to appeal to the hearer for (positive) feedback.Nog conveys that the speaker tries to convince herself that she had been happy at the same time as she is invoking the scenario of not being happy.Nog (but not väl) can also convey emotions such as resignation or reluctant admission ('she should have been happy shouldn't she') associated with what ought to be the case.
Nog can also correspond to a tag question in English.The sentence with a tag question presupposes a positive response.In (34) the speaker appeals to the hearer to share her assumption that it would be interesting to study the parents (to find out why they forced their daughters to marry to preserve their respectability).
(34) It 's interesting, is n't it, to observe the parents.It would be quite wrong to say that they sold their daughter to preserve their respectability; they would n't have done that.Another context-bound meaning of nog is concessive as indicated by translations such as of course, obviously.In (36) the clause containing nog is followed by a but-clause which foregrounds a more convincing argument so that the first clause gets a concessive function ('admittedly'): (36) Nog kunde hon springa som en räv och nog visste hon skogens alla gömmen, men vittrorna kom envist efter henne, och hon hörde deras gälla skrik: (AL1) Of course she could run like a fox, and of course she knew every hiding place in the forest, but the harpies pursued her stubbornly, and she heard their strident cries, "Ho, ho, pretty little human, blood will run now, ho, ho!" (AL1T) To sum up, nog in initial position has translations signalling meanings such as emphasis (really), contradictory assumptions and hearer appeal (certainly, surely, negative interrogatives, tag question) or concessive meaning (of course).In the hearer-appealing function it could have deontic implications about what ought to be the case.Some possible contextual effects of using nog are resignation and reluctance to accept that something is the case.

Conclusion
The key to the use of nog seems to be that the speaker assumes sole responsibility for the truth of his/her utterances, attitudes and opinions, and actions.This is compatible with the general meaning that the speaker has sufficient for judging that something is true.However, nog does not have a single meaning but seems to be what Norén and Linell (2006: 12) refer to as 'relatively polysemous'.Probability was one of the most frequent meanings of nog in medial position.Nog can also mean (almost) certainty.When nog corresponded to certainly or I am sure the speaker looks for reassurance that the grounds for judging something to be true are sufficient.
An important factor accounting for the uses of nog in medial position is politeness.Nog does not express certainty but functions as a 'downtoner' softening an opinion or an utterance which might be offensive to the hearer unless mitigated.Nog was also used in combinations with mental verbs such as jag vet nog (I know 'nog') or jag tycker nog (I think 'nog') especially in response utterances with a softening effect.Nog had no correspondence in English in such cases.
The translations with a deontic modal auxiliary (e.g. had better) have indicated another semantic element in the analysis of nog; i.e. 'what ought to be the case' or 'what you have to do' according to some moral principle.The deontic meaning was particularly clear when nog was used with modal auxiliaries to give advice, recommendations or suggestions (e.g.du ska nog 'you shall nog'; compare also det är nog bäst 'it is nog best').
Nog was also found in 'commissive' speech acts such as threats and promises.The speaker takes upon him/herself to carry out an action which is either favourable or unfavourable to the hearer.
Nog, when initial, often involved contradictory assumptions.Contrasting opinions account for example for the translations of a sentence with initial nog by a negative interrogative sentence (or a declarative sentence with a tag question).The meaning of nog comes close to väl ('I suppose') and hearer-appeal.The initial nog can also be emphatic or used concessively to prepare the hearer for an objection in a following but-clause.
Modal particles need to be studied both in monolingual corpora and contrastively.The study of nog on the basis of the English-Swedish Parallel corpus has shown that the contrastive perspective can enrich analyses based on a single language only.However we need to study many more modal particles (and groups of modal particles) in different language pairs to get a better picture of how languages structure a particular pragmatic-semantic field both by means of modal particles and in other ways.

Table 1 :
Translations and sources of nog in the English-Swedish Parallel Corpus

Table 2 :
Word class correspondences of nog in English has pointed out, nog has subjective or affective uses in addition to the hedging or strengthening (epistemic) meaning.Nog is for example used as a modifier of the verb in subjective statements (statements about the speaker's own perceptions, needs or mental states).In (20) the equivalent in English is the emphatic do:However nog has often been omitted by the translator after verbs expressing a subjective opinion or mental state (tror jag nog 'think I nog', jag märkte nog 'I noticed nog', jag vet nog 'I know nog').In (21) I know has been regarded as sufficient in the English translation: