The expression of modality in English
The purpose of this work is to examine the various ways in which modality is expressed in English. Firstly, the fundamental concept 'possible worlds' and a view of modality as 'relativization 1 is proposed. The way in which the concept of modality is related to utterance functions is then examined and the perspective of linguistics on modality is discussed. Chapter 3 provides an analysis of the English modals: it is argued that purely syntactic accounts have severe limitations and an 'atomistic' semantic analysis is proposed instead which makes it possible to relate the modals to non-auxiliary modal expressions. This analysis is extended in Chapter 4 to cover quasi-auxiliary modal expressions, adjectival, participial and nominal modal expressions, and modal adverbs and lexical verbs, which are all assessed in terms of a scale of ~formal explicitness' and the type of modality they may be used to express. An explanation is offered of why such a wide range of modal expressions is available in English and why the modals are so often taken to be more 'central* to the expression of modality than other modal expressions. In Chapter 5 it is further argued that tense, IF-clauses and questions may also be regarded as
Perkins, Michael
Linguistics
The expression of modality in English. The purpose of this work is to examine the various ways in which modality is expressed in English. Firstly, the fundamental concept 'possible worlds' and a view of modality as 'relativization 1 is proposed. The way in which the concept of modality is related to utterance functions is then examined and the perspective of linguistics on modality is discussed. Chapter 3 provides an analysis of the English modals: it is argued that purely syntactic accounts have severe limitations and an 'atomistic' semantic analysis is proposed instead which makes it possible to relate the modals to non-auxiliary modal expressions. This analysis is extended in Chapter 4 to cover quasi-auxiliary modal expressions, adjectival, participial and nominal modal expressions, and modal adverbs and lexical verbs, which are all assessed in terms of a scale of ~formal explicitness' and the type of modality they may be used to express. An explanation is offered of why such a wide range of modal expressions is available in English and why the modals are so often taken to be more 'central* to the expression of modality than other modal expressions. In Chapter 5 it is further argued that tense, IF-clauses and questions may also be regarded as
expression modality_english purpose work examine_various way modality express english firstly fundamental concept possible_world view modality relativization propose way concept modality relate utterance function examine perspective linguistics modality discuss provide_analysis english_modal argue purely syntactic account severe limitation semantic_analysis propose instead make_possible relate modal non auxiliary modal_expression analysis extend_cover quasi auxiliary modal_expression adjectival participial nominal modal_expression modal adverbs lexical verb assess term scale formal type modality may use_express explanation_offer wide_range modal_expression available english_modal often take central expression modality modal_expression argue tense clauses question may_also regard