Major Linguistic Theories of Modality

Abstract

Abstract This section will present three semantic theories of modality which have been developed within linguistics. My goal here is to provide a clear, detailed, and accurate understanding of each theory. In order to achieve this goal, we will focus on those linguistic phenomena which have been the most important in developing the theories, even though this focus necessarily means that many important issues of the semantics of modality will be left out. The next chapter will turn around this relationship between theory and research issues: my goal there will be to provide a broad understanding of the nature of modality, using theories of modality as a basis. In short, this chapter is primarily about theories of modality; the next chapter is primarily about modality itself. Of course the ultimate goal of linguistics is to unify the goals of these two chapters, to develop a theory of modality which in itself provides the best possible understanding of the nature of modality. But for the time being, while our theories are still imperfect, it is helpful to look at the topic from two angles separately.