Pragmatic approach to modality and the modals: with application to literary Arabic

Abstract

This study sets out a pragmatic speaker-based approach to modality and the modals and applies it to Literary Arabic. The pragmatic framework is based on Searle's (1983) Theory of Intentionality, which is slightly modified to be capable of accounting for the pragmatic implications of the modals. It is postulated that linguistic expressions have 'sense meaning', 'referential meaning' and 'Intentional meaning' and that modal meaning is basically 'Intentional'. The Intentional meaning of the modals is analysed in terms of: i) the speaker's assumptions about his addressee at the time of utterance, ii) his belief or desire with respect to what he is speaking about, and iii) his intention or purpose of producing the illocutionary. act(i.e., the Preparatory Conditions, Sincerity Condition and Illocutionary Point Condition, respectively). In performing the illocutionary act, the speaker's belief, desire, etc. are assumed to be externalized by means of a logically-prior illocutionary act of 'Informing', which is postulated to secure the illocutionary uptake through a complex intention-in-action on the part of the speaker. Non-deontic modal implications are discussed and formalized in chapter 3. They are further clarified through the different environments of Tense, Negation and Interrogation, (chapters 4-6). Chapter 7 discusses the Intentional meaning of Deontic Modality, i. e., PERMISSION and OBLIGATION