Modality in English and Arabic : description and analysis
Modality is a cross-linguistic category that is normally discussed in the context of tense and aspect since these three categories are often marked within the verbal complex. Its status, compared with that of tense and aspect, is, however, more vague and complex to the extent that one might find it quite difficult to identify the borderlines of its domain. The thesis attempts to lessen some of this vagueness through studying modality in English and Arabic, from both a descriptive and an analytic perspective. The analysis will draw on the theory of HPSG. The thesis, in general, attempts to achieve five aims. The first is to reduce the obscurity around modality by illustrating its main aspects in general and exploring it in two languages which are different in termns of the way they realise it. The second is to describe the morphological, semantic/notional, and syntactic properties of the set of English modal auxiliaries and how the members of this set interact with negation. The third is to present an up-to-date theoretical account that covers the main aspects of English modal auxiliaries, and, most importantly, fills the current gaps in the literature which will be specified in the review of the relevant previous
Althawab, Abdulrahman A. S.
Modality in English and Arabic : description and analysis. Modality is a cross-linguistic category that is normally discussed in the context of tense and aspect since these three categories are often marked within the verbal complex. Its status, compared with that of tense and aspect, is, however, more vague and complex to the extent that one might find it quite difficult to identify the borderlines of its domain. The thesis attempts to lessen some of this vagueness through studying modality in English and Arabic, from both a descriptive and an analytic perspective. The analysis will draw on the theory of HPSG. The thesis, in general, attempts to achieve five aims. The first is to reduce the obscurity around modality by illustrating its main aspects in general and exploring it in two languages which are different in termns of the way they realise it. The second is to describe the morphological, semantic/notional, and syntactic properties of the set of English modal auxiliaries and how the members of this set interact with negation. The third is to present an up-to-date theoretical account that covers the main aspects of English modal auxiliaries, and, most importantly, fills the current gaps in the literature which will be specified in the review of the relevant previous
modality_english arabic description analysis modality cross_linguistic category normally discuss_context tense_aspect since three_category often mark within verbal complex status compare tense_aspect however vague complex extent one_might quite difficult identify domain attempt vagueness study modality_english arabic descriptive analytic perspective analysis draw theory hpsg general attempt achieve aim first reduce obscurity around modality illustrate main_aspect general explore two_language different way realise second describe morphological semantic syntactic_property set english_modal member set interact negation third present up_to_date theoretical_account cover main_aspect english_modal auxiliary importantly fill current gap_literature specify review_relevant previous