On Modality in English

Abstract

This paper argues that modality should be recognized as an independent grammatical category, since it behaves separately from proposition in terms of time and negation. Modality in English is typically expressed by modal verbs, and they are divided into epistemic, deontic, and dynamic in the spirit of Palmer (1986, 1987). These three types of modals exhibit different behaviors in terms of time and negation. First, with epistemic modals only the proposition is marked for time, but either the modality or the proposition is marked for negation. Second, with deontic modals time cannot be marked either on the modality or on the proposition due to their performative disposition. For negation, only the modality is normally negated for possibility, but the proposition is negated for necessity. Finally, with dynamic modals only the modality is marked for time and negation in a straightforward manner. This complicated system of time and negation in English modals leads Korean EFL learners to commit a host of errors in their interpretation, and they should be taught modality and proposition separately in terms of time and negation.