1 Introduction Recent models of causation place the concept of CAUSE within a broader framework of concepts that includes the notions of LETTING, HINDERING, HELPING and PREVENTING. In each model, the related concepts are defined in terms of a small set of conceptual distinctions. This paper examines the relationship between the cognitive and linguistic systems. Specifically, we investigate whet...

The set of English modal verbs is widely recognized to communicate two broad clusters of meanings: epistemic and root modal meanings. A number of researchers have claimed that root meanings are acquired earlier than epistemic ones; this claim has subsequently been employed in the linguistics literature as an argument for the position that English modal verbs are polysemous (Sweetser, 1990). In ...

This paper investigates the impact of modality markers on the conditional interpretation of the German preposition ohne (‘without’). It tackles the question whether it is the preposition itself that possesses a conditional sense or whether it may be due to a modal context that the interpretation arises. The paper presents an annotation study for modality factors (e.g. mood, modal auxiliary verb...