Modality (semantics)

Modality is the expression in language of how real, possible or necessary something said is. Languages commonly express modality using modal auxiliaries such as "could", "should", or "must"; modal adverbs such as "possibly" or "necessarily"; and modal adjectives such as "conceivable" or "probable". Modal components have also been identified in the meanings of other natural language expressions, including counterfactuals, propositional attitudes, evidentials, habituals, and generics. Modality has been studied from a variety of perspectives in linguistics. Typological linguists have traced variation in the ways different languages mark modality, with a particular focus on its interaction with tense–aspect–mood marking. Theoretical linguists have sought to analyze both the propositional content and discourse effects of modal expressions using formal tools derived from modal logic. Within philosophy, linguistic modality is often studied alongside broader metaphysical notions of necessity and possibility.

Modality is the expression in language of how real, possible or necessary something said is. Languages commonly express modality using modal auxiliaries such as "could", "should", or "must"; modal adverbs such as "possibly" or "necessarily"; and modal adjectives such as "conceivable" or "probable". Modal components have also been identified in the meanings of other natural language expressions, including counterfactuals, propositional attitudes, evidentials, habituals, and generics. Modality has been studied from a variety of perspectives in linguistics. Typological linguists have traced variation in the ways different languages mark modality, with a particular focus on its interaction with tense–aspect–mood marking. Theoretical linguists have sought to analyze both the propositional content and discourse effects of modal expressions using formal tools derived from modal logic. Within philosophy, linguistic modality is often studied alongside broader metaphysical notions of necessity and possibility. ===Verbal morphology=== In many languages, modal categories are expressed by verbal morphology (by changing the form of the verb). If these verbal markers of modality are obligatory in a language, they are called mood markers. Well-known examples of moods in some European languages are the subjunctive, conditional, and indicative. These three moods are illustrated below with examples using the French verb ('to have'). As in most Standard European languages, the shape of the verb conveys not only information about modality, but also about other categories such as person and number of the subject. An example for a non-European language with a similar encoding of modality is Manam. Here, a verb is prefixed by a morpheme which encodes number and person of the subject. These prefixes come in two versions, realis and irrealis. Which one is chosen depends on whether the verb refers to an actual past or present event (realis), or merely to a possible or imagined event (irrealis). ===Auxiliaries=== Modal auxiliary verbs, such as the English words may, can, must, ought, will, shall, need, dare, might, could, would, and should, are often used to express modality, especially in the Germanic languages. Ability, desirability, permission, obligation, and probability can all be expressed using auxiliary modal verbs in English: Ability: I can ride a bicycle (in the present); I could ride a bicycle (in the past) Desirability: I should go; I ought to go Permission: I may go Obligation: I must go Likelihood: He might be there; He may be there; He must be there ===Lexical expression=== Verbs such as "want," "need," or "belong" can be used to express modality lexically, as can adverbs. (9) It belongs in a museum! ===Other=== Complementizers (e.g. Russian) and conjunctions (e.g. Central Pomo ) can be used to convey modality. ==See also== Angelika Kratzer Counterfactuals Dynamic semantics Evidentiality Frank R. Palmer Free choice inference Modal logic Modal subordination Modality (semiotics) Possible world Tense–aspect–mood English modal adverbs at Wiktionary ==References== ==Further reading== Asher, R. E. (ed.), The Encyclopedia of language and linguistics (pp. 2535–2540). Oxford: Pergamon Press. Blakemore, D. (1994). Evidence and modality. In R. E. Asher (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of language and linguistics (pp. 1183–1186). Oxford: Pergamon Press. . Bybee, Joan; Perkins, Revere, & Pagliuca, William (1994). The evolution of grammar: Tense, aspect, and modality in the languages of the world. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Calbert, J. P. (1975). Toward the semantics of modality. In J. P. Calbert & H. Vater (Eds.), Aspekte der Modalität. Tübingen: Gunter Narr. Callaham, Scott N. (2010). Modality and the Biblical Hebrew Infinitive Absolute. Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 71. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Chung, Sandra; & Timberlake, Alan (1985). Tense, aspect and mood. In T. Shopen (Ed.), Language typology and syntactic description: Grammatical categories and the lexicon (Vol. 3, pp. 202-258). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kratzer, A. (1981). The notional category of modality. In H.-J. Eikmeyer & H. Rieser (Eds.), Words, worlds, and contexts: New approaches in word semantics. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Palmer, F. R. (1979). Modality and the English modals. London: Longman. Palmer, F. R. (1994). Mood and modality. Cambridge Univ. Press. Second edition 2001. Saeed, John I. (2003). Sentence semantics 1: Situations: Modality and evidentiality. In J. I Saeed, Semantics (2nd. ed) (Sec. 5.3, pp. 135–143). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. , . Sweetser, E. E. (1982). Root and epistemic modality: Causality in two worlds. Berkeley Linguistic Papers, 8, 484–507.

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