Full summary of the 'Modality' section of English Linguistics I. The other parts of the course are: 'Tenses', 'The Noun Phrase' and 'Phonetics and Phonology' (see my other summaries). Teached by Dr. Maekelberghe in 2021, with my summaries I achieved 16/20 for the full course.
3 basic options in the system of modality: (zie later)
o ‘epistemic’ vs. ‘deontic’ modality
e.g. You must be Dr Livingstone ‘the only plausible interpretation is [that you are Dr.
Livingstone]’ vs. You must leave this house at once ‘it is obligatory for you [to leave this house
at once]
o speaker/hearer-oriented or non-speaker/hearer-oriented deontic modality,
e.g. must vs. have to
o external vs. internal negation
e.g. you cannot be serious ‘it is not possible [that you are serious]’ vs. we mustn’t be seen
together ‘it is better for us [not to be seen together]’
1. What is modality?
o = The expression of a speaker’s opinion on or attitude towards the situation that he or
she is speaking about, mainly in terms of :
the degree of likelihood (how likely or unlikely is something?);
e.g. It might be too quiet for some voters ‘it is possible [that it is too quiet for some
voters]’ he must have written it himself ‘the only plausible interpretation is [that he
has written it himself]’
the degree of obligatoriness/desirability (how desirable or undesirable is something?);
e.g. you must leave the country: ‘it is obligatory/advisable for you [to leave the country]
you must help him: ‘it is obligatory/desirable for you [to help him]’
o Other ways of expressing modal meaning, apart from modal auxiliaries:
Modal adverbs (such as perhaps, probably or possibly)
E.g.: He will probably try to talk you over. (vs. he will try to talk you over)
E.g.: He has no doubt got wind of what they intend to do. (vs. he must have got wind of..)
Subjunctive and modal indicative verb forms can express unreality or unfulfilled wishes
E.g.: subjunctive: If I were you…; I wish I were living on a remote island.
E.g.: indicative: I wish I knew him better; You’d (=had!) better leave her alone.
o A clause in which none of these means of expressing modality are used can be said to be
unmodalized;
o This does not mean that such a clause does not express a speaker’s position in terms of
likelihood or obligatoriness
o Rather: it expresses what one might call a ‘default value’; e.g.
he has left the country: maximal certainty (this unmodalized clause is more certain than
saying e.g. he must have left the country, even though must is a strong modal!)
take the car: maximal desirability/obligatoriness (stronger than e.g. you must take the car!)
Some characteristics of modal auxiliaries (4 features of prototype modal aux):
o Have no ‘do’-support in negations and questions (like regular auxiliaries):
Did you work vs. Have you worked vs. Can you work
I did not work vs. I have not worked vs. I cannot work
o Have no inflection for the third-person singular. Compare:
I have worked – he has worked vs. I can work – he can work
o Have no nonfinite forms. Compare:
He has been vs. *he has could
, I am having vs. *I am maying
o Are always followed by the bare infinitive of a verb. Compare:
I have worked vs. I can work
I want to work vs. I will work
inner circle: meet all of the 4 criteria = central/true modals
second circle: meet most of criteria, but not all (are followed by TO+infinitve) =marginal modals
last circle: meet none of the criteria (have flection etc.), but they do express modal meaning =
semi-modals. they are diachronically on the rise! (‘must’ is declining, but ‘have to’ is being used
more frequently over time)
2. Epistemic vs. deontic modality
Epistemic modality:
o is concerned with the degree of likelihood of a proposition
o Greek ἐπιστήμη (epistēmē) ‘knowledge’
o reflects the extent/degree of the speaker’s knowledge about the truth of a proposition
necessity: very certain
probability: quite certain, not too certain
possibility: you think, but not sure
o Epistemic modality forms an integrated continuum with the indicative mood (cf two ends of
the cline – factual/counterfactual)
o Thus, we paraphrase epistemic utterances as finite propositions (‘that’-clause):
she must have left the room
the only plausible conclusion is that she has left the room
she will have left the room
it is probable that she has left the room
she may have left the room
it is possible that she has left the room
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