Article published In: Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict: Online-First Articles
‘Might kill at least fifteen tomorrow’
Modal auxiliaries in pledges to harm written in American English
Published online: 18 June 2026
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00153.hur
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00153.hur
Abstract
Modal auxiliaries (e.g., ‘will’, must’) are a language area of interest to threat assessment professionals as a
means for discerning authorial commitment to imagined future violence. Yet, how do modal auxiliaries pattern in authentic threats
and how does this compare to the way their use is characterized in the threat assessment literature? This study analyzes modals in
fourteen authentic ‘pledges to harm’ — a threat targeting a grammatical 3rd Person (e.g., ‘I will kill him/her/them’). Primary
findings include: pledge authors who did not act on their violent ideations nevertheless present themselves as
both more capable of and more inclined to violence, especially via frequent use of modal ‘will’. Meanwhile, pledge authors who
proceeded to real-world violence use a combination of 1st Person subject + requirement modal + proposal of
violence to present themselves as morally compelled to attack (e.g., “I must kill”), a construction which appears
nowhere in the non-realized texts.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 1.1Theoretical approach
- 1.2Delineating the data
- 2.Modal auxiliaries and threatener behavior
- 3.Methodology
- 3.1Data
- 3.2Procedure of analysis
- 4.Results and discussion
- 5.1Likelihood
- 5.2Ability
- 5.3Inclination
- 5.4Requirement
- 5.Discussion
- 6.Conclusion
- Notes
References
References (35)
Allyn, Bobby. 2015. “Responding
to online threat, Philly-area universities amplify
security.” WHYY, October 5.
Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, and Edward Finegan. 1999. Longman
Grammar of Spoken and Written
English. London: Longman.
Bojsen-Møller, Marie, Sune Auken, Amy J. Devitt, and Tanya Karoli Christensen. 2020. “Illicit Genres: The Case of Threatening Communications.” Sakprosa 12(1): 1–53.
Brown, Penelope, and Stephen C. Levinson. 1987. Politeness:
Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bulling, Denise, and Mario Scalora. 2013. Threat
Assessment Glossary. Public Policy Center, University of Nebraska.
Bybee, Joan. 2014. “Cognitive
Processes in Grammaticalization.” In The New Psychology of
Language, edited by Michael Tomasello, 145–167. Sussex: Psychology Press.
Calhoun, Frederick S., and Stephen W. Weston. 2015. “Perspectives
on Threat Management.” Journal of Threat Assessment and
Management 2(3–4): 258–267.
Gales, Tammy. 2010. “Ideologies
of Violence: A Corpus and Discourse Analytic Approach to Stance in Threatening
Communications.” PhD Dissertation, University of California, Davis.
. 2011. “Identifying
Interpersonal Stance in Threatening Discourse: An Appraisal Analysis.” Discourse
Studies 13(1): 27–46. [URL]
. 2015. “Threatening
Stances: A Corpus Analysis of Realized Vs. Non-Realized Threats”. Language and Law Linguagem E
Direito 2(2): 1–25. [URL]
Gellerman, David M., and Robert Suddath. 2005. “Violent
Fantasy, Dangerousness, and the Duty to Warn and Protect.” Journal of the American Academy of
Psychiatry and the Law
Online 33(4): 484–495. [URL]
Halliday, M. A. K., and Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen. 2004. Halliday’s
Introduction to Functional Grammar. New York: Routledge.
Harmon, A. G. 2008. “Back
from Wonderland: A Linguistic Approach to Duties Arising from Threats of Physical
Violence.” Capital University Law
Review 37(1): 27–91. [URL]
Huddleston, Rodney, Geoffrey K. Pullum, and Brett Reynolds. 2005. A
Student’s Introduction to English
Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hurt, Marlon. 2025. “Perseus’s
Shield: The Linguistics of Detecting Violent Intent in Threatening Language.” Journal of Threat
Assessment and
Management 13(1): 82–99.
Kupper, Julia, and Meloy, J. Reid. 2021. “TRAP-18 Indicators
Validated Through the Forensic Linguistic Analysis of Targeted Violence Manifestos.” Journal of
threat assessment and
management 8(4): 174–199.
Kupper, Julia, Marie Bojsen-Møller, Tanya Karoli Christensen, Dakota Wing, Marcus Papadopulos, & Sharon Smith. 2024. Decoding Terrorism: An Interdisciplinary Approach to a Lone-Actor Case. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lock, Graham. 2005. Functional
English Grammar: An Introduction for Second Language
Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Martin, J. R., and P. R. White. 2005. The Language of Evaluation: Appraisal in English. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Meloy, J. Reid, Jens Hoffmann, Karoline Roshdi, and Angela Guldimann. 2014. “Some
Warning Behaviors Discriminate Between School Shooters and Other Students of Concern.” Journal
of Threat Assessment and
Management 1(3): 203–211.
Meloy, J. Reid, and Mary Ellen O’Toole. 2011. “The
Concept of Leakage in Threat Assessment.” Behavioral Sciences and the
Law 29(4): 513–527.
Monagas, Enrique A., and Carlos E. Monagas. 2016. “Prosecuting
Threats in the Age of Social Media.” Northern Illinois University Law
Review 36(3): 57–78. [URL]
Napier, Michael R., and R. Stephen Mardigian. 2003. “Threatening
Messages: The Essence of Analyzing Communicated Threats”. Public Venue
Security, September/October: 16–19.
O’Donnell, Mick. 2013. UAM
Corpus Tool (Version 3.3) [Computer software]. Retrieved from [URL]
O’Toole, Mary Ellen, and Sharon S. Smith. 2014. “Fundamentals
of Threat Assessment for Beginners.” In International Handbook of
Threat Assessment, edited by J. Reid Meloy and Jens Hoffman, 272–282. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ritchie, Hannah, Edouard Mathieu, Max Roser, and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina. 2023. “Internet.” Our
World In Data.
Simons, André, and Ronald Tunkel. 2014. “The
Assessment of Anonymous Threatening Communications.” In International
Handbook of Threat Assessment, edited by J. Reid Meloy and Jens Hoffman, 195–213. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Smith, Sharon S. 2006. “From Violent Words to Violent
Deeds?: Assessing Risk from Threatening Communications.” PhD
Dissertation, Georgetown University.