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Article published In:
Syntactic Variation and Change
Edited by David Håkansson, Ida Larsson and Erik Magnusson Petzell
[Linguistic Variation 17:1] 2017
► pp. 68–97

The rise of contrastive modality in English

A neoparametric account

| University of Toronto
| Saint Mary's University

This paper proposes an account of the morphosyntactic and semantic changes involved in the historical development of the English modals as a distinct category. Adopting a neoparametric approach, in which a language’s inventory of grammatical features may change over time, we show that a cluster of related surface changes can be accounted for by positing that the feature modality was added to English tense/mood system. While the most immediate manifestation of this change was the grammaticalization of the modals themselves, this in turn altered the system of contrasts in the language: in clauses without modal verbs, the absence of the modal became contrastive, narrowing the range of possible interpretations.

Keywords: modals, syntactic change, features, parameters, English, functional categories, tense, modality
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction and theoretical background
  • 2.The phenomenon
    • 2.1The starting point
    • 2.2Developments in Middle English
      • 2.2.1Decline of nonfinite use of modals
      • 2.2.2Emergence of epistemic uses of modals
      • 2.2.3Loss of the inflected subjunctive
      • 2.2.4Decline of the futurate use of the present indicative
    • 2.3Developments in the 16th century
      • 2.3.1Loss of infinitival marker -en
      • 2.3.2Loss of verb movement
  • 3.Structures, before and after
  • 4.The path of change
    • 4.1Step 1: The decline of the subjunctive
    • 4.2Step 2: The changing status of modals
    • 4.3Step 3: The narrowing of the futurate present
    • 4.4The endgame
      • 4.4.1Infinitival marking
      • 4.4.2Loss of overt verb movement
  • 5.The second act: Modals in the 20th and 21st centuries
  • 6.Conclusions: The neoparametric perspective and the role of contrast
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 29 June 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.17.1.04cow
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