Linguistic Expressions of Certainty and Uncertainty in Susan Glaspell's Trifles: A Study of Epistemic Modality

Abstrak

This study aims to analyze the forms and values of epistemic modality in Glaspell’s Trifles. The story narrates a mysterious, dynamic atmosphere in thematic exploration of gender and power between male and female characters. This study employs Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) framework to examine the expressions of certainty and uncertainty shown in the dialogues of the characters. The findings reveal that the female characters use epistemic modality more dominantly (67.3%) than the male characters (32.7%). In terms of epistemic markers, the most dominant forms are positive modal verbs (32.7%) and positive mental clauses (30.2%). This denotes that the characters utilize more direct attempts to express probability. As for the values of epistemic modality, there is a balanced occurrence of low and median values at 40.1% each. This indicates the consistent use of uncertainty markers to invoke the ambiguity in this mysterious genre.