On the Temporal Function of Modal Verbs

Abstract

In semantic approaches to modality inspired by Kratzer (1981, 1991), modal verbs are construed as introducing possible worlds. An examination of the syntactic properties of English modals suggests a somewhat different perspective. On the one hand, English modal verbs belong to the class of auxiliary verbs which map spatial configurations defined in VP onto a temporal interval defined in TP, deriving events and states. On the other hand, English modal auxiliaries, like lexical modals in Romance, Germanic, and Old English, function as causative verbs: they bridge the gap between an input spatial configuration holding at some instant of time and an output configuration holding at the next instant of time by introducing an instrument capable of effecting the change of configuration. The grammar provides for two types of causality, intentional causality, in which the instrument of change is triggered and manipulated by a [+human] Agent, and metaphysical causality (cf. Condoravdi, 2002) in which the instrument of change needs no human trigger. It is claimed that causative verbs lack the lexical content motivating an Agent argument, and are thus necessarily associated with metaphysical causality. The [+human] subject of causative verbs, including modal verbs, is thus not to be construed as an Agent but rather as an instrument of metaphysical causality.