Modality Without Modals
نویسنده
چکیده
منابع مشابه
The grammatical category of modality∗
In many languages, the same words are used to express epistemic and root modality. These modals further tend to interact with tense and aspect in systematic ways, based on their interpretation. Is this pattern accidental, or a consequence of grammar or meaning? I address this question by: (i) comparing ‘grammatical’ modals to verbs/adjectives that share meanings with modals, but not the same sc...
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In a series of recent articles Angelika Kratzer has argued that the standard account of modality along Kripkean lines is inadequate in order to represent context-dependent modals. In particular she argued that the standard account is unable to deliver a non-trivial account of modality capable of overcoming inconsistencies of the underlying conversational background. She also emphasized the diff...
متن کاملThe Coordination of Counterfactual Modality
This paper presents a new deductive argument for the strict conditional analysis of counterfactual conditionals, as against the dominant variably strict analysis due to Robert Stalnaker (1968) and David Lewis (1973). Counterfactual conditionals belong to a broader linguistic family of counterfactual modals. The argument offered here turns on facts about the logical interaction of counterfactual...
متن کاملAntonyms? Presuppositions? On the Semantics of Two Evaluative Modals Jingran and Guoran in Mandarin
Jingran indicates that the (non)occurrence of a situation that it presents contradicts the expectation, while guoran indicates that the (non)occurrence of a situation presented by it converges with the expectation. Arguing against Hsieh’s (2005, 2006a, 2006b) proposal that evaluative modals in Mandarin do not have a model-theoretic semantics, I propose that, given that the expectation serves as...
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The semantics of the linguistic modals is argued to be determined mainly by the power structure of the participants in the interaction. In the deontic uses of the modals, another determining factor is the expectations of the participants’ attitudes towards the relevant action. By viewing the evidence as a power in its own right, our analysis can be generalized to the epistemic uses in a coheren...
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