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Shell nouns as textual markers

Towards a modal classification

ORCiD logo with link | Universiteit Gent
 | Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
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Abstract
Even before the term ‘shell nouns’ was coined by Schmid, Hans-Jörg. 1998. Constant and ephemeral hypostatization: thing, problem and other shell nouns. In B. Caron (ed.), 16th International Congress of Linguists (Paris, July 22–25 1997, CD-ROM: Elsevier).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, the nominal category comprising words such as problem or solution was studied by linguists focusing on textual patterns (Hoey, Michael. 1982. On the Surface of Discourse. London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2001. Textual Interaction. An Introduction to Written Discourse Analysis. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Mann, William. C. & Sanda A. Thompson. 1987. Rhetorical structure theory: A theory of text organization. Technical report RS, 87–190.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). In trying to tackle this issue, several classifications have been put forward, like . 2000. English abstract nouns as conceptual shells: From corpus to cognition. Berlin: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Flowerdew, John & Richard W. Forest. 2014. Signalling nouns in English: A Corpus-Based Discourse Approach. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, and, more recently, Jiang, Feng K. & Ken Hyland. 2015. “The fact that”: Stance nouns in disciplinary writing. Discourse Studies 17(5). 529–550. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar. However none of these typologies consider shell nouns as modal elements. Drawing on the works of Chevalier, Gisèle & Jean-Marcel Léard. 1994. Le nom subordonnant : les séquences [SN que P] et la modalisation. Travaux de Linguistique 27. 43–64.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar as well as Gosselin (Gosselin, Laurent. 2010. Les modalités en français : la validation des représentations. Leyde: Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2015. De l’opposition modus/dictum à la distinction entre modalités extrinsèques et modalités intrinsèques. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris CX–1. 1–50.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2018. Quand nommer, c’est juger. Les jugements de valeur internes aux noms d’humains. In C. Schnedecker (ed.), Nouvelles approches en sémantique lexicale : les noms d’humains, théories, méthodologies, 44–101. Berlin: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), the modal classification of shell nouns offers a cohesive model for this elusive lexical category which textual function lends itself to the notion of “modal scenario” (. 2015. De l’opposition modus/dictum à la distinction entre modalités extrinsèques et modalités intrinsèques. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris CX–1. 1–50.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Recapping some defining features of shell nouns
    • 2.1Shell nouns within a set of constructions
    • 2.2Shell nouns and specification
  • 3.Previous classifications of shell nouns
    • 3.1Schmid’s (2000) pioneering classification
    • 3.2Flowerdew & Forest’s (2014) systemic functional classification
    • 3.3Jiang & Hyland’s (2015) classification of “head nouns”
    • 3.4Pitfalls of existing classifications
  • 4.Shell nouns and modality
    • 4.1The pairing between shell noun and propositional content: Seemingly endless possibilities
    • 4.2Modality and modal scenarios: From lexis to text
    • 4.3Extended conception of modality
      • 4.3.1Validation instances
      • 4.3.2Direction of adjustment
      • 4.3.3Extended conception of modality and modal scenarios
  • 5.Proposition for a fundamentally modal classification of shell nouns
    • 5.1Alethic shell nouns
    • 5.2Epistemic shell nouns
    • 5.3Appreciative shell nouns
    • 5.4Axiologic shell nouns
    • 5.5Boulomaic shell nouns
    • 5.6Deontic shell nouns
    • 5.7Shell nouns belonging to the relative modality
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
References (31)
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