Preterite-presents and modality

Old English verbs expressing root possibility and necessity were irregular verbs whose present tense had a preterite morphology. The paper considers this expression of modality by ‘preterite-presents’, assuming that this preterite had a perfect meaning and that the grammar of the modal verbs concerned was semantically motivated. The main argument is that the modal states ‘capacity’, ‘ability’, ‘permission’ or ‘obligation’ are the outcome of dynamic situations and that this inherent property is reflected in the grammar of the verbs denoting them: preterite-present verbs have an inbuilt resultative perfect to indicate that their denotata are resultant states. The paper proposes semantic reconstructions of the genesis of some Latin and Old English perfect/preterite-present verbs with an emphasis on the expressive and metalinguistic functions of the perfect. It offers a semantic analysis of Old English preterite-presents, comparing them with the ‘modal auxiliaries’ of Modern English, a majority of which are derived from them. It also focusses on resultant states, the inferential and intersubjective (rather than subjective) nature of modality, the differences between modal and mental situations and the function of the mediopassive in the construction of some modal meanings by preterite-present verbs.