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Modal verbs represent a special verb category and constitute an essential component of L2 German semantics. While Abrams and Rott (2017) suggest that German learner texts depict a 90% accuracy in the correct use of modal verbs in integrative writing tasks, the correct semantic use of the modal sollen (‘supposed to’; ‘should’) seems to pose a particular challenge (Jentges 2016), especially in an assessment context. In this corpus analysis, 1,032 L2 German assessment texts across all CEFR levels were analyzed with respect to the L2 semantic use of sollen against the backdrop of the assessment prompts. 68% of instances of all uses of sollen in A1 texts and 53% of all uses of sollen in A2 texts showed an inappropriate semantic use of sollen. The discrepancy between these results and Abrams and Rott (2017) can be attributed to the prompts used in the assessments analyzed in this paper: They do not take into consideration the semantic mismatch between the use of the modal in the prompt and its inappropriate use in the texts produced. Modal verbs represent a special verb category and constitute an essential component of L2 German semantics. While Abrams and Rott (2017) suggest that German learner texts depict a 90% accuracy in the correct use of modal verbs in integrative writing tasks, the correct semantic use of the modal sollen (‘supposed to’; ‘should’) seems to pose a particular challenge (Jentges 2016), especially in an assessment context. In this corpus analysis, 1,032 L2 German assessment texts across all CEFR levels were analyzed with respect to the L2 semantic use of sollen against the backdrop of the assessment prompts. 68% of instances of all uses of sollen in A1 texts and 53% of all uses of sollen in A2 texts showed an inappropriate semantic use of sollen. The discrepancy between these results and Abrams and Rott (2017) can be attributed to the prompts used in the assessments analyzed in this paper: They do not take into consideration the semantic mismatch between the use of the modal in the prompt and its inappropriate use in the texts produced. Modal verbs represent a special verb category and constitute an essential component of L2 German semantics. While Abrams and Rott (2017) suggest that German learner texts depict a 90% accuracy in the correct use of modal verbs in integrative writing tasks, the correct semantic use of the modal sollen (‘supposed to’; ‘should’) seems to pose a particular challenge (Jentges 2016), especially in an assessment context. In this corpus analysis, 1,032 L2 German assessment texts across all CEFR levels were analyzed with respect to the L2 semantic use of sollen against the backdrop of the assessment prompts. 68% of instances of all uses of sollen in A1 texts and 53% of all uses of sollen in A2 texts showed an inappropriate semantic use of sollen. The discrepancy between these results and Abrams and Rott (2017) can be attributed to the prompts used in the assessments analyzed in this paper: They do not take into consideration the semantic mismatch between the use of the modal in the prompt and its inappropriate use in the texts produced. Czasowniki modalne są specjalną kategorią czasowników i stanowią istotny element języka niemieckiego jako drugiego (L2). Podczas gdy badanie Abrams i Rott (2017) sugeruje, że teksty pisane przez osoby uczące się języka niemieckiego wykazują 90% dokładność w prawidłowym użyciu czasowników modalnych w zintegrowanych zadaniach pisemnych, prawidłowe semantyczne użycie czasownika modalnego sollen („powinien”) wydaje się stanowić szczególne wyzwanie (Jentges 2016), zwłaszcza w kontekście oceniania. W ramach niniejszego badania korpusowego przeanalizowane zostały 1032 niemieckie teksty egzaminacyjne L2 na wszystkich poziomach CEFR pod kątem poprawności znaczeniowej użycia czasownika modalnego sollen z uwzględnieniem kontekstu pytań egzaminacyjnych. W 68% wszystkich przypadków użycia sollen w tekstach A1 i 53% wszystkich przypadków użycia sollen w tekstach A2 czasownik ten był niewłaściwie zastosowany. Za przyczynę rozbieżności między uzyskanymi wynikami a wynikami Abrams i Rott (2017) można uznać polecenia stosowane w analizowanych zadaniach – nie uwzględniają one rozbieżności semantycznej między użyciem czasownika w instrukcji a jego niewłaściwym użyciem w tworzonych tekstach.

This study takes an interactional linguistics and conversation analysis-based approach to analyze the modal verb huì ‘will’ in the recurrent formular of commissive actions, [wǒ huì X (de)] ‘I will X.’ Data analyses show that this format has two variations differentiated by the prosodic stress on huì. The format with the unstressed huì is often observed in turn-initiating position where the speaker offers to perform a future action or informs the recipient of their arrangement of an established activity. The format with the stressed huì appears in both initiating and responding positions although it is less frequently observed. Stressed huì is often used to reassure the recipient of an existing commitment to performing a future action. This study highlights the significance of prosody in the study of modal verbs and the benefits of studying individual words in a linguistic formula situated in specific interactional contexts.

The concept of bias is familiar to linguists primarily from the literature on questions. Following the work of Giannakidou and Mari (Truth and Veridicality in Grammar and Thought: Modality, Mood, and Propositional Attitudes, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2021), we assume “nonveridical equilibrium” (implying that p and ¬p as equal possibilities) to be the default for epistemic modals, questions and conditionals. The equilibrium of conditionals, as that of questions, can be manipulated to produce bias (i.e., reduced or higher speaker commitment ). In this paper, we focus on three kinds of modal elements in German that create bias in conditionals and questions: the adverb wirklich ‘really’, the modal verb sollte ‘should’, and conditional connectives such as falls ‘if/in case’. We conducted two experiments collecting participants’ inference about speaker commitment in different manipulations, Experiment 1 on sollte/wirklich in ob- questions and wenn- conditionals, and Experiment 2 on sollte/wirklich in wenn/falls/ V1-conditionals. Our findings are that both ob- questions and falls- conditionals express reduced speaker commitment about the modified (antecedent) proposition in comparison to wenn- conditionals, which did not differ from V1 - conditionals. In addition, sollte/wirklich in the antecedent of conditionals both create negative bias about the antecedent proposition. Our studies are among the first that deal with bias in conditionals (in comparison to questions) and contribute to furthering our understanding of bias.

This paper analyzes the morphosyntactic variation in past counterfactuals with modal verbs in Pomerano, a Low German variety spoken in Brazil. The variation concerns (i) the highest verb (temporal auxiliary or modal verb), (ii) the morphological form of the temporal auxiliary (blocking of tense and/or person agreement), (iii) the frequently unexpected position of the modal verb (verb clusters in the CPdomain), and (iv) the overall number of verbs (syntactic doubling and/or PF-insertion). Analyzing more than 6,000 translated sentences, scope rivalry between the temporal auxiliary and the modal verb proves to be the major catalyst of an intriguing instance of language variation and change. The derivation of the extant variants grants us a privileged view of the clausal architecture of Pomerano—including cases of derivational misfiring—as well as of more general processes of clause formation.

The interest in Malaysian English generated many studies on Malaysian English focusing on various grammatical features. However, modality in Malaysian English is still under-researched, especially in post-independence and new Englishes contexts. As a new variety of English, it raises questions on how Malaysian English has developed from the historical input variety, i.e., British English and how resistant or accepting Malaysian English is to American English which is highly influential globally. This study aimed to contribute to the development of Malaysian English studies by reporting a corpus-based research of the frequency and statistical differences of a set of modal and quasi-modal verbs in three spoken corpora representing Malaysian, British, and American English. AntConc software (Version 3.5.9) (Anthony, 2020) was used to explore and generate the relevant data in the spoken Malaysian English corpus, while the spoken British and American English corpora were accessed online using the tools on the respective websites. The findings show that the use of modal and quasi-modal verbs in spoken Malaysian English does not entirely resemble either of the Supervarieties, i.e., spoken British English and American English. Log-likelihood test carried out in the study shows significant differences in the use of certain modal and quasi-modal verbs between the varieties, suggesting that Supervarieties are not always in the lead in using quasi-modals. The results also suggest that these significant differences are mainly accounted for by the nativisation process and evolution of Malaysian English as a new English variety. The findings shed new light on the current knowledge of modal and quasi-modal verbs in postindependence spoken Malaysian English.

Despite the impressive research of scholars on Middle Persian grammatical problems, there are still many words in surviving texts that are shrouded in ambiguity. One of these words, whose pronunciation in the inscriptions we owe to the Manichaean texts, is dastan . In this article, first the few available instances of this word in Middle Persian inscriptions and Manichaean texts are mentioned, and scholars’ interpretations of its meaning and grammatical category are discussed. Then it is revisited through the analysis of another word, tuwān , with which it is paired in the Manichaean instance. After a review of prior scholarly interpretations of this latter word, it is argued that in Middle Persian tuwān is a noun, and that it became a modal verb during the process of its application to the possessive structure. Finally, it is asserted that dastan also is a noun, due to its conjoinment with tuwān in the Manichaean example.

This study demonstrates how native and learner corpora can enhance modal verb treatment in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) textbooks used in mainland China. Data analysis compares modal verbs in the textbook and native corpus by referring to distributional features, semantic functions and co-occurring constructions; and the analysis of the learner corpus refers to the use/misuse of modal verbs. A corpora comparison considers the authenticity of textbook language; and examination of learner use/misuse of modal verbs provides a learner perspective for textbook presentation that is applicable to learning difficulties. In this regard, this study highlights discrepancies between textbook treatment of modal verbs and authentic modal use in constructions, distributions and semantic functions, and its application of error analysis reveals inter/intra-linguistic interference in the use of modal verbs. This study can thus contribute to a corpus-informed and learner-centered design of grammar presentation in EFL textbooks that enhances the authenticity and appropriateness of textbook language for target learners.

Subject raising in Chinese modal auxiliary verb constructions can be either A-movement or A′-movement. Modal auxiliary verbs such as and can take a nonfinite TP complement which cannot value the abstract case of the embedded subject. Hence the embedded subject must get its case valued by the matrix T and is raised to the Spec-TP of the matrix clause. This kind of raising is A-movement and is obligatory. Modal auxiliary verbs such as and take a finite CP complement that can be assigned tense value by the broader context. The embedded subject can get its case valued and stay in situ. It can also be raised to the sentence-initial position by topicalization. This kind of raising is A′-movement. The A-movement and A′-movement contrast accounts for the minimal link condition in object raising, weak and strong quantificational NPs, topic stacking, and resumptive pronouns in Chinese modal auxiliary verb constructions.

This paper contributes to the development of collostructional analysis by taking up one of the long-standing issues in collostructional analysis, viz. the assessment and interpretation of the collexeme lists created. It uses the DWDS corpus documenting 20th century written German to study two modalverb constructions which contain either vermögen or bekommen as the first verb plus an infinitive. When expressing ‘possibility’/‘capability’, these constructions compete with the ubiquitous and strongly grammaticalized könnenconstruction. To compare their constructional semantics, the paper combines collostructional analyses with a close investigation of the verbal meanings characterizing their V slots. To classify the collexemes occurring in these slots comprehensively, the semantic information provided about each V collexeme by “GermaNet” is utilized in three different ways: A manual, context-sensitive classification of the top collexemes into the 15 generic verb classes provided by GermaNet is followed by cluster analyses over the semantic-relatedness values given out by the SemRel tool of GermaNet for the pairwise comparison of all possible collexeme combinations. This is complemented by a network analysis identifying collexemes that are salient or “central”, i.e. located on the largest number of “shortest paths” connecting any two collexemes. The implications of the results for the functional differential between the two constructions as well as the methodology itself are discussed.

Aquest treball argumenta que existeix una correlació entre la distribució i la interpretació de les seqüències en què la morfologia de perfet apareix realitzada en un verb modal, d’una banda, i la semàntica de la morfologia de perfet, més concretament l’estadi assolit pels presents perfets en la seva evolució cap a l’aorist, de l’altra. El francès contemporani, que mostra una preferència nítida pels perfets alts, es posa en contrast amb l’espanyol europeu, que exhibeix de manera regular lectures epistèmiques dels modals que duen morfologia de perfet sense que hi hagi una preferència general pels perfets alts. Les dades del francès clàssic i de les varietats de l’espanyol latino-americà confirmen la correlació assenyalada. This paper argues for a correlation between the distribution and interpretation of sequences in which perfect morphology is realized on a modal verb, on the one hand, and the semantics of perfect morphology, more precisely the stage reached by present perfects on the aoristic drift, on the other. Contemporary French, which shows a neat preference for higher perfects, is contrasted with European Spanish, which regularly exhibits epistemic readings for modals bearing perfect morphology without a general preference for higher perfects. Confirmation for the initial correlation is derived from an examination of Classical French and Latin American Spanish varieties.