Modality and the V wh pattern

[摘要] Research into modality has tended to focus on modal auxiliary verbs (modals) at the expense of other forms that may express modal meaning. This thesis takes a phraseological, exploratory approach to the investigation of modal meaning by focusing on modal expressions with verbs with wh-clause complementation (the V wh pattern). The approach first tests the hypothesis that the pattern is associated with markers of modal meaning and then goes on to conduct a concordance analysis of samples of frequently-occurring V wh verbs taken from the British National Corpus. This analysis first categorizes these verbs into semantic sets and then explores which realizations of different types of modal meaning – obligation, volition, potential, and uncertainty – are most often found with verbs in particular sets. The presentation of the results of this analysis also involves a discussion of how exponents of modal meaning other than modals extend the range of expression available to users of English, indicating what an exclusive focus on modals will tend to overlook.

[发布机构] University:University of Birmingham;Department:School of English, Drama and American & Canadian Studies, Department of English Language and Linguistics

[关键词] P Language and Literature;PE English