This volume presents a collection of papers which consider the phenomenon of modality in the context of English historical linguistics, in particular as a consequence of changes taking place at the beginning of the Early Modern period. The contributions, representing post-Lightfoot thinking, consider semantic and pragmatic approaches to the question in a generally corpus-based approach. It is essentially a review of modal forms in use, whether they be central or marginal verbal forms or the non-verbal forms which are available in English.
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978-3-03910-046-0 (9783039100460)
Schweitzer Klassifikation
The Editor: David Hart is Associate Professor of English in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Rome Three. He has coordinated the research into aspects of Early Modern English modality, supported by the Italian Ministry of Education. He teaches and researches in the History of the English Language, and is particularly interested in questions relating to word formation and to pragmatic aspects of the sixteenth century theatre in England.
Contents: David Hart: Introduction - Olga Fischer: The Development of the Modals in English: Radical Versus Gradual Changes - Debra Ziegeler: On the Generic Origins of Modality in English - Rafal Molencki: What Must Needs Be Explained About Must Needs - Arja Nurmi: Youe shall see I will conclude in it: Sociolinguistic Variation of WILL/WOULD and SHALL/SHOULD in the Sixteenth Century - Maurizio Gotti: Pragmatic Uses of Shall and Will for Future Time Reference in Early Modern English - Gabriella Mazzon: Modality in Middle English Directive/Normative Texts - Marina Dossena: Hedging in Late Middle English, Older Scots and Early Modern English: the Case of SHOULD and WOULD - Vanda Polese: Semantic and Pragmatic Shades of Modal Meaning in Utopia.
