Two Uummarmiutun modals – including a brief comparison with Utkuhikšalingmiutut cognates

The paper is concerned with the meaning of two modal postbases in Uummarmiutun, hungnaq ‘probably’ and ȓukȓau ‘should’. Uummarmiutun is an Inuktut dialect spoken in the Western Arctic. The analyses are founded on knowledge shared by native speakers of Uummarmiutun. Their statements and elaborations are quoted throughout the paper to show how they have explained the meaning nuances of modal expressions in their language. The paper also includes a comparison with cognates in Utkuhikšalingmiutut, which belongs to the eastern part of the Western Canadian dialect group (Dorais, 2010). Using categories from Cognitive Functional Linguistics (Boye, 2005, 2012), the paper shows which meanings are covered by hungnaq and ȓukȓau. This allows us to discover subtle differences between the meanings of Uummarmiutun hungnaq and ȓukȓau and their Utkuhikšalingmiutut cognates respectively

LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF NECESSITY EXPRESSIONS IN FINNISH AND POLISH LEGAL TEXT IN TERMS OF DEONTIC STRENGTH

Artykuł ma na celu przedstawienie różnic w wyrażaniu stopnia konieczności w kontekście prawnym w języku fińskim i polskim. Przykłady zaczerpnięte zostały z Traktatu o funkcjonowaniu Unii Europejskiej i omówione w odniesieniu do języka angielskiego. Środki przenoszenia modalności deontycznej odznaczające się największą frekwencją w analizowanym Traktacie to wyrażenie nesesywne on –t(t)ava oraz jego polskie odpowiedniki. Zauważono, iż użycie polskich ekwiwalentów tego wyrażenia jest najbardziej zróżnicowane w kategoriach siły deontycznej wśród trzech języków.The aim of this article is to highlight an issue of expressing deontic modality in Finnish and Polish in a legal context in terms of deontic strength. The particular interest is put on the Finnish necessive expression on –t(t)ava and its Polish equivalents. The choice of this expression is motivated by the fact that it is the most frequent deontic expression that occurred in the analysed material. It is argued that although the meaning of the Finnish and English modal expressions are almost parallel, the corresponding Polish expressions show some discrepancy. This paper aims at giving insight into the differences of the phenomenon on the basis of the Treaty on Functioning of the European Union

Modals, tense and mood

AbstractA lack of consensus has existed regarding the interaction of English modals with categories such as tense, and individual modal forms can vary in the extent to which they make assertions regarding temporal reference. The present work attempts to provide a compositional semantic account of English modals by proposing that these forms may be inflected both for tense and for mood. The crosslinguistic status of inflectional moods such as the subjunctive is examined; it is argued that an inflectional subjunctive exists in Modern English with semantic properties similar to those of comparable forms in older Indo-European languages, and the extent to which linguistic cues would permit learners of English to acquire such a category is discussed. Data on English modals are reviewed in light of the analysis proposed here to determine its compatibility with observed usage. It is suggested that the analysis proposed here has certain advantages over models in which the observed semantic range of English modals is presented in terms of an unprincipled heterogeneity.</jats:p

A pan-Atlantic 'multiple modal belt'?

Multiple modality is spread across the wider Atlantic region, both within individual varieties and across variety types. Based on corpus-based evidence, it is argued that first and second tiers of multiple modals carry high diagnostic value and that regionally separated Anglophone areas differ in their preference for first- and second-tier components in modal constructions. Semantics is a diagnostic typologically as there exists a continuum, the “Multiple Modal Belt,” which consists of three main clusters that are primarily differentiated by their respective compositional preferences: North American varieties favor epistemic ‘weak probability’ elements (~might) as first-tier modals, Caribbean varieties ‘high probability’ or ‘certainty’ (~must). Multiple causation and contact-induced change are offered as explanations for supra- and sub-regional variation in the Atlantic region, and there is strong evidence that the preference for second-tier components originally represented Scottish origin and subsequent diffusion with locally differing contact scenarios. Locally distinct preferences for semantic compositionality – particularly based on preference for first-tier ‘high-probability’ modals – are used to model a geo-typological clustering of varieties throughout the wider Atlantic region

Davidsen-Nielsen, Niels: Tense and Mood in English. A Comparison with Danish. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 1990. Topics in English Linguistics 1. x + 224 pp.

No abstract

Temporal, aspectual and modal expression in Anindilyakwa, the language of the Groote Eylandt Archipelago, Australia

This thesis provides an empirically driven and theoretically informed examination of temporal, aspectual and modal (TAM) expression in Anindilyakwa, an underdescribed and underdocumented Gunwinyguan language of the Groote Eylandt archipelago, north-east Arnhem Land, Australia. The goals of the thesis are both descriptive and theoretical. The first is to provide a detailed description of some of the core grammatical properties of Anindilyakwa, particularly related to the verbal complex. This descriptive goal is linked to, and builds the infrastructure for, the second goal of the thesis: to provide a theoretically-informed examination of temporal, aspectual and modal expression and interaction in Anindilyakwa, thus contributing towards (and building upon) research in the area of TAM semantics and pragmatics (and their interfaces with morpho-syntax). The original contribution of this thesis lies in the cross-section between theoretically-informed morpho-syntactic, semantic and pragmatic approaches to TAM expression in natural languages, and the exploration and examination of this domain in a fieldwork and language documentation setting: how do underdescribed languages inform our understanding of this domain, and how should we approach the documentation of these concepts in the field? Anindilyakwa is a particularly interesting language to examine in this regard, given the polysynthetic nature and complex morphological make-up and combinatorics of the verb. Inflectionally, TAM expression is realised through the combination of (at least) two discontinuous morphological slots of the verb structure. In addition to the complex morphological combinatorics of the verbal structure, this inflectional system displays widespread aspectuo-temporal underspecification, coupled with a widespread lack of contrastiveness in many of the paradigmatic forms (i.e. syncretism). Thus, unpacking and understanding these inflectional verbal properties, with respect to TAM expression, is where the core of this thesis lies. This comprehensive semantic and morpho-syntactic investigation into the TAM system of Anindilyakwa contributes not only to the description of this underdocumented language, but it also bolsters the representation of understudied (particularly non-European) languages that have received detailed TAM study, ensuring that future cross-linguistic typological work on TAM has access to richer data in a wider sample of the world's languages

Modulating grammar trough modality : a discourse approach.

This paper argues for a dynamic, discourse-based approach to modality which departs from the traditional, monolithic account of modality in a number of interesting respects: (i) modality is characterized as conveying the speaker’s involvement in the propositional content of a given utterance (either in the form of agency or subjectivity) (ii) modality can be said to ramify across the whole lexico-grammatical architecture of the language, (iii) many of the meanings usually ascribed to individual modal verbs are in fact derived either from the verb’s sentential environment or from some wider context of utterance, and (iv) modal meaning in discourse can be said to arise out of the interaction of two closely connected layers of meaning: one embracing the inherent linguistic meaning of the modal verb in conjunction with that of other neighbouring modal devices, and another concerned with principles connected with politeness and face-saving strategies

Double Modals in the British Isles : Scotland and Northern England

The purpose of this study is to analyse the accepted double modal combinations in the British Isles found in the literature. The paper begins with the collection of different syntactical analysis suggested by well-known researches that have analysed the non-standard feature of double modals. Considering that the second modal is the true modal verb, those researchers propose different syntactical functions for the first modal. The main findings suggest that double modal combinations are only found in Scotland and the North of England and that the most common double modal combination is might could.L'objectiu d'aquest estudi és analitzar les combinacions dels dobles modals acceptades a les Illes Britàniques segons la literatura. El treball comença amb diferents propostes d'anàlisi sintàctic fetes per diferents investigadors que han analitzat els dobles modals. Els dobles modals no són considerats gramaticalment correctes en l'anglès estàndard. Es considera que el segon modal és el modal real mentre que la funció sintàctica del primer modal no està clara. La principal hipòtesi és que els dobles modals només es troben a Escòcia i al Nord d'Anglaterra i que la combinació més comuna és might could