Modality in English and Chinese
Title | Modality in English and Chinese PDF eBook |
Author | Renzhi Li |
Publisher | Universal-Publishers |
Pages | 368 |
Release | 2004 |
Genre | Foreign Language Study |
ISBN | 1581122357 |
Modality is a grammatical, or semantic-grammatical, category. It is an important component of human languages. This is at least the case in most European languages. To what extent is it a near-universal? This thesis is to contribute to the question. It focuses on modal verbs in English and Chinese, two genetically and geographically unrelated languages, and analyzes what these two languages have in common and how they differ in their systems of modality. To achieve the aim, the thesis adopts the theoretical framework proposed by van der Auwera (1996, 1998 with Plungian, 2001) for the typological study of modality. Its language-specific descriptions involve the morphosyntactic features, notional functions, modal logic, and diachronic development. With these descriptions, it constructs a cross-linguistic database in a uniform, parallel structure. Then on the basis of this database, it deals with the cross-linguistic issues about modality in English and Chinese. Like many of the studies in this area, this research makes use of the well-sampled data in the relevant literature, thereby assuring the same degree of representativeness. When the data do not meet this need, it resorts to computer-based corpora. In the diachronic study of Chinese modality, quantitative analysis is adopted in proposing a development path for the senses of a modal. English translation is given particular attention in the description of Chinese modality and cross-linguistic analyses. One can only know one's own language only if one compares it with other languages. The present study is conducive to a better understanding of English and Chinese. It contributes not only to the investigation of language universals, but also to the study of human cognition and other linguistic or applied linguistic issues.
Modality and Modulation in English and Chinese
Title | Modality and Modulation in English and Chinese PDF eBook |
Author | Yongsheng Zhu |
Publisher | |
Pages | 244 |
Release | 1985 |
Genre | Chinese language |
ISBN |
Modality and the English Modals
Title | Modality and the English Modals PDF eBook |
Author | Frank Robert Palmer |
Publisher | Longman Publishing Group |
Pages | 212 |
Release | 1979 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN |
Corpus Linguistics and Sociolinguistics
Title | Corpus Linguistics and Sociolinguistics PDF eBook |
Author | Beke Hansen |
Publisher | BRILL |
Pages | 437 |
Release | 2018-12-24 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 900438152X |
In Corpus Linguistics and Sociolinguistics, Beke Hansen provides an in-depth analysis of variation and change in the expression of modality in second-language varieties of English by adopting an integrated sociolinguistic and corpus-based approach.
Modality and the English Modals
Title | Modality and the English Modals PDF eBook |
Author | F.R. Palmer |
Publisher | Routledge |
Pages | 233 |
Release | 2014-02-04 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 1317900928 |
A detailed account of the many uses and functions of these verbs. The nature of modality, and some controversial issues, are also discussed.
The Oxford Handbook of Modality and Mood
Title | The Oxford Handbook of Modality and Mood PDF eBook |
Author | Jan Nuyts |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Pages | 762 |
Release | 2016-09-08 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 0191646342 |
This handbook offers an in depth and comprehensive state of the art survey of the linguistic domains of modality and mood. An international team of experts in the field examines the full range of methodological and theoretical approaches to the many facets of the phenomena involved. Parts 1 and 2 of the volume present the basic linguistic facts about the systems of modality and mood in the languages of the world, covering the semantics and the expression of different subtypes of modality and mood respectively. The authors also examine the interaction of modality and mood, mutually and with other semantic categories such as aspect, time, negation, and evidentiality. In Part 3, authors discuss the features of the modality and mood systems in five typologically different language groups, while chapters in Part 4 deal with wider perspectives on modality and mood: diachrony, areality, first language acquisition, and sign language. Finally, Part 5 looks at how modality and mood are handled in different theoretical approaches: formal syntax, functional linguistics, cognitive linguistics and construction grammar, and formal semantics.
A Systemic Functional Study of Modality in Modern Chinese
Title | A Systemic Functional Study of Modality in Modern Chinese PDF eBook |
Author | Shu Yang |
Publisher | Springer Nature |
Pages | 184 |
Release | 2021-12-10 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 9811680205 |
This book presents a systematic and relatively comprehensive account of the system of MODALITY in Modern Chinese and the functions that realizations of modality serve in the clause and clause complex. Grounded in SFL, the research begins by introducing the system of types of modality in Modern Chinese, investigating the subtypes of modality and their realizations. The study then explores the systems of Orientations that characterize the realization of modalization and modulation in Chinese. After establishing the complete system of modality in Modern Chinese, the research finally examines the functions that realizations of modality serve in the textual structure of the clause and in the clause complex. The study finds that the system of MODALITY is an important interpersonal clause system at the lexicogrammatical stratum of Chinese. There are two distinct types of modality in Chinese: modalization and modulation. Modalization concerns the assessment of probability of the proposition; modulation is concerned with the assessment of the proposal in terms of obligation, inclination, and ability. The systems of ORIENTATIONS make a basic distinction between subjective and objective modality, and between the explicit and implicit realizations. The research also reveals that in the thematic structure of the clause, realizations of modality can serve as the interpersonal Theme in the clause, in the information structure of the clause, realizations of modality can function as the unmarked information focus of the clause or introduce the marked information focus, and in the clause complex, realizations of modality can encode modal meanings and simultaneously construct clauses into a clause complex.