The decline of certain core modals in English, including
may and
might, is a
well-documented phenomenon (cf.
Daugs 2017). It is less clear, however, whether this
tendency will lead to the loss of these modals or whether other changes are also underway. I aim to address this issue by looking
at the use of
may and
might in concessive clauses. I will first present the results of a corpus
study (COHA) aimed at understanding the diachronic development of concessive
may and
might. The
analysis reveals a significant increase of
may and
might in concessive contexts since the 1960s,
especially in factual concessives with
but. This new finding is important as it shows that, though decreasing in
frequency, the two modals are developing new patterns of use. This raises the question whether the status of
may
and
might as modal verbs is also changing. I argue that the two verbs are going through a process of post-modal
(secondary) grammaticalisation and constructionalisation, and that the concessive meaning is linked to the more complex
‘
subj {
may/
might} VP,
but-
clause’ construction. I also
claim that, within the paradigm of concessive constructions, those with
may and
might are best
viewed as hedged concessives that serve politeness purposes.