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Abstract

In recent years, it has been shown that perspectivization is not a pragmatic add-on but central to human cognition and linguistic conceptualization (see e.g. MacWhinney 2005, Verhagen 2023). One linguistic aspect where this is particularly obvious is modality as the semantic domain whose core function is commonly seen in denoting speakers’ attitudes towards a proposition, and as such, dependent on viewpoint (e.g. Bybee & Fleischman 1995, Papafragou 2002, 2006, Abraham & Leiss 2012, Abraham 2020). In this paper, we want to support this view by showing that the viewpoint constellation is a central semantic component which is responsible for the (synchronic as well as diachronic) shifts between different readings of German modal verbs. With this aim in mind, the paper brings together previous formal semantic and functional cognitive approaches and offers a unified analysis of the perspectival mechanism that allows for various semantic readings of modal verbs. We will show this exemplarily for one particular modal verb in German, i.e. (‘shall’) + inf. Based on historical empirical evidence, we will work out a unified analysis of the viewpoint constellation which is able (i) to unify root, epistemic and evidential readings, (ii) to describe the semantic development, and (iii) to explain the complementary distribution to the imperative. By doing so, our aim is to shed light on fundamental processes of perspectivization in modal verbs and their status in linguistic theory.

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2026-04-03
2026-04-22

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Perspectival mechanisms of modality
John Benjamins ; https://doi.org/10.1075/elt.00066.hin
/content/journals/10.1075/elt.00066.hin
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keywords: epistemicity ; perspectivization ; modality ; evidentiality ; imperative

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