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In:Re-Assessing Modalising Expressions: Categories, co-text, and context
Edited by Pascal Hohaus and Rainer Schulze
[Studies in Language Companion Series 216] 2020
► pp. 281–310

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Chapter 11
On the (con)textual properties of must, have to and shall

An integrative account

 | New Sorbonne University
Published online: 12 November 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.216.11fur
Abstract
This paper focuses on the (con)textual properties of root must, shall and have to. It is conducted within an evolving framework, Integrative Grammar. The account of the three modal forms that is given here is integrative in two senses. First, it shows that traditional semantic descriptions fail to account for how these forms are used in discourse and that a comprehensive characterisation of their conditions of use requires that (con)textual factors be taken into consideration. Two contextual levels are considered: the distribution of the modal forms according to discourse modes and their propensity to be used within specific discourse sequences. Second, this study shows that these (con)textual features and the forms’ semantic, pragmatic and even syntactic properties are interconnected and throw light upon one another.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Discourse modes
  • 3. Modality: Basic concepts
  • 4.Method
  • 5.Results and discussion
    • 5.1Root must
    • 5.2Deontic shall
    • 5.3Root have to
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
References (35)
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Furmaniak, Grégory
2025. On the semantics of English modal expressions. In Possibility and Necessity [Studies in Language Companion Series, 237], ► pp. 166 ff. DOI logo
Depraetere, Ilse
2022. Sources of Modal Necessity: The Case of Needto’. Journal of English Linguistics 50:4 ► pp. 327 ff. DOI logo

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