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Modality–Aspect Interfaces
Implications and typological solutions
The main topics pursued in this volume are based on empirical insights derived from Germanic: logical and typological dispositions about aspect-modality links. These are probed in a variety of non-related languages. The logically establishable links are the following: Modal verbs are aspect sensitive in the selection of their infinitival complements – embedded infinitival perfectivity implies root modal reading, whereas embedded infinitival imperfectivity triggers epistemic readings. However, in marked contexts such as negated ones, the aspectual affinities of modal verbs are neutralized or even subject to markedness inversion. All of this suggests that languages that do not, or only partially, bestow upon full modal verb paradigms seek to express modal variations in terms of their aspect oppositions. This typological tenet is investigated in a variety of languages from Indo-European (German, Slavic, Armenian), African, Asian, Amerindian, and Creoles. Seeming deviations and idiosyncrasies in the interaction between aspect and modality turn out to be highly rule-based.
[Typological Studies in Language, 79] 2008. xxiv, 422 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Published online on 19 September 2008
Published online on 19 September 2008
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
- List of contributors | pp. vii–viii
- Preface | pp. ix–9
- Introduction: Aspect-modality interfaces and interchanges across languagesWerner Abraham and Elisabeth Leiss | pp. xi–xxiv
- General
- On the logic of generalizations about cross-linguistic aspect-modality linksWerner Abraham | pp. 3–13
- The silent and aspect-driven patterns of deonticity and epistemicity: A chapter in diachronic typologyElisabeth Leiss | pp. 15–41
- Propositional aspect and the development of modal inferences in EnglishDebra Ziegeler | pp. 43–79
- Towards an understanding of the progressive form in English: The Imperative as a heuristic toolZygmunt Frajzyngier, Marion Bond, Lori Heintzelman, Dan Keller, Saeko Ogihara and Erin Shay | pp. 81–96
- Epistemic modality and aspect contingency in Armenian, Russian, and GermanStella Gevorgyan-Ninness | pp. 97–115
- Slavic
- Indefiniteness and imperfectivity as micro-grammatical contexts of epistemicity in German-Slovene translationsCarmen Terzan Kopecky | pp. 119–145
- The connections between modality, aspectuality, and temporality in Modern RussianWladimir D. Klimonov and Gerda Klimonov | pp. 147–173
- Aspectual coercion in Bulgarian negative imperativesMilena Kuehnast | pp. 175–196
- Russian modals možet 'can' and dolžen 'must' selecting the imperfective in negative contextsElena Padučeva | pp. 197–211
- African
- Tense, mood, and aspect in Gungbe (Kwa)Enoch Oladé Aboh and Fabrice Nauze | pp. 215–239
- The modal system of the Igbo languageChinedu Uchechekwu | pp. 241–276
- Asian
- The aspect-modality link in the Japanese verbal complex and beyondHeiko Narrog | pp. 279–307
- The aspect-modality link in Japanese: The case of the evaluating sentenceShin Tanaka | pp. 309–327
- Amerindian
- The Lakota aspect/modality markers -kinica and tkháRegina Pustet | pp. 331–355
- Creole
- A note on modality and aspect in SaramaccanHeiko Narrog | pp. 359–368
- Diachronic
- Aspects of a reconstruction of form and function of modal verbs in Germanic and other languagesMichail L. Kotin | pp. 371–384
- The autopsy of a modal – insights from the historical development of GermanJakob Maché | pp. 385–415
- Index of authors | pp. 417–418
- Index of subjects | pp. 419–422
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Jones, Howard & Morgan Macleod
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Abraham, Werner & Jadwiga Piskorz
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Bucciarelli, Paola, Ramona Bongelli, Andrzej Zuczkowski, Sibilla Cantarini & Christine Berthold
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Lokmane, Ilze & Andra Kalnača
2014. Modal semantics and morphosyntax of the Latvian DEBITIVE. In Modes of Modality [Studies in Language Companion Series, 149], ► pp. 167 ff.
Uchechukwu, Chinedu
2014. Dimensions of implicit modality in Igbo. In Modes of Modality [Studies in Language Companion Series, 149], ► pp. 485 ff.
Zeman, Sonja
2014. (C)Overt epistemic modality and its perspectival effects on the textual surface. In Modes of Modality [Studies in Language Companion Series, 149], ► pp. 457 ff.
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