On modal particles in Franz Kafka's story 'The Metamorphosis' (Austria, German text)

This thesis poses two questions: whether an empirical linguistic micro-analysis of one specific language phenomenon in a literary text can confirm previous linguistic findings, and whether it can lead to a better understanding of a literary work.; The language phenomenon under consideration is the use of modal particles; the literary text is Franz Kafka's story The Metamorphosis, written in 1912.; The thesis begins with a discussion of the present literary criticism of Kafka's works (1) and is followed by an all-encompassing discussion of the research on particles with emphasis on the most important current research problems. (2) A survey of existing research on the function of modal particles in literary works supports the contention that Kafka's story can be fruitfully investigated from this perspective (3).; A methodological approach leading to verifiable statistical data is proposed. The analysis of these data indicates the necessity of a closer investigation of certain text segments. The study makes evident that existing classifications of modal particles are only partially applicable. Even the most elaborate classification so far proposed (Helbig/Helbig, 1995), is not sufficient to grasp the multitude of possible functions of modal particles. The interdependence and combination of the most varied linguistic and stylistic elements and means must be considered in order to arrive at an adequate description of the meaning and function of modal particles in a literary text.