Deontic Modality Research Articles

A Contrastive Study of the Deontic Modality in George Orwell’s Animal Farm

A Contrastive Study of the Deontic Modality in George Orwell’s Animal Farm

Deontic modality in tourism scientific writing

Deontic modality in tourism scientific writing

On the agent-relativity of ‘ought’

Abstract In the standard theory of deontic modals, ‘ought’ is understood as expressing a propositional operator. However, this view has been called into question by Almotahari and Rabern’s puzzle about deontic ‘ought’, according to which the ethical principle that one ought to be wronged by another person rather than wrong them is intuitively coherent but the standard theory makes it incoherent. In this paper, I take up Almotahari and Rabern’s challenge and offer a refinement of the standard theory to handle the puzzle. I propose that ‘ought’ is evaluated relative to contextual parameters (e.g. Kratzer’s conversational backgrounds, Finlay and Snedegar’s alternative sets) and those contextual parameters are sensitive to agents as well as possible worlds.

What can be said?

Abstract We employ a cluster approach to explore the comparative semantic maps of several markers of modal possibility – the “potential” prefix nga‑ and expressions meaning, roughly, ‘know how to’ and ‘be able to’ – in four South African Nguni languages: isiNdebele, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Siswati. We also compare the Nguni results with results from Xitsonga, a closely related language outside of the Nguni clade. The languages exhibit cross-linguistic differences in the expansion of core meanings, some of which do not appear to follow the cross-linguistically common diachronic pattern in which goal-oriented modality precedes deontic modality. In addition, the distinction between inherent and learned ability is salient in several of these languages. Semantic maps of the markers’ functional distributions further show the diversity of modal systems that can be found even in closely related languages in significant contact with one another.

Interpreting causee in a ‘permissive’ causative: A case study on Teochew

The verbal domain has been long argued to be a strong phase, of which the origin can be traced back to the discussions on theta role assignment in Chomsky (2000). This study contributes to the phasehood issue at the understudied LF by exploring the argument thematic interpretation in the verbal domain. I argue that in Teochew permissive bun-causative, the interpretation of causee as an understudied external argument is not listed as syntactic primitives, but rather as post-syntactic derivatives derived from syntactically-oriented causal event structure. Such a causal event structure is first affected by the eventuality of the embedded predicate and then influenced by two modalities sublexically encoded in the embedding causative verb, namely a volitional modality in the at-issue meaning and a deontic modality in the presupposition. Such a two-step contextualization mechanism constrains the final interpretation of causee, and, for the first time, sheds light on discussions on the domain sensitivity at LF.

The Pragmatic Aspect of Modality in the English Mass-Media Discourse

The article is devoted to the pragmatic aspect of modality representation in the English mass-media discourse. The categorial status of modality, typology of modal meanings and their interaction have been examined from the viewpoint of historical perspective. The research is aimed at revealing the pragmatic characteristics of subjective-interpersonal (author-recipient) modality, which reflects the author's intentions to describe the world (epistemic modality), change the world (deontic modality), evaluate the world (axiological modality). The four factors of internet communication - the addresser, the addressee, the text, the objective reality - are studied within the framework of communicative-pragmatic approach to modality. The discourse-analysis and pragma-stylistic analysis have been applied to depict language means representing modality in the English mass-media Internet discourse, in the article on political issues. It has been revealed that the author of the article may act differently in accordance with the roles he assumes - of an informer, of an expert-analyst, of a consultant-adviser; his task is to attract the readers and involve them in discussion in the comments section. The expression of authorship is principal here and the author's modality is always explicit. The comments following the text of an article are distinguished by a variety of the authors' communicative strategies and modal meanings.

Alethic modality is deontic

According to one view of alethic modality, alethic modality is deontic modality with respect to thoughts or language. To say that something is necessary is to prescribe norms on how we must think or use language. This view has been argued to have many philosophical advantages over the traditional view that takes alethic modality to describe things in the world. In this article, I argue that the deontic view also enjoys a wide range of empirical support from linguistics and psychology.

A Sentence Medial Clause Typing Intoneme in Mandarin A-NOT-A Questions

A sentence medial intoneme is argued to be responsible for typing Mandarin A-NOT-A questions. In narrow syntax, it is merged higher than deontic modals and lower than Tense; after spell out, it is realized phonetically as a high low intonation starting from the left edge of the A-NOT-A predicate. Th is proposal is supported by a sentence medial segmental particle in Chinese dialects, which further corroborates the Intonation Particle Hypothesis by showing that typing particles in non sentence final positions are also variants of intonations. Besides, the Mandarin nu clear stress rule derives two prosodic features of A-NOT-A questions : No intonational breaks within the A-NOT-A predicate and destressing of the negation word. The two features follow from the requirement that only one intonation is allowed in the nuclear stress domain and instantiate interaction among different stresses

The range of causatives with fàchere ‘make’ in Sardinian:

Sardinian has several types of make-construction: the analytic causative constructions corresponding to French faire-inf (FI) and faire-par (FP); subject control constructions similar to the colloquial idiomatic use of the pronominal Italian verb farcela ‘be able to, to manage’ (a kind of dynamic ability); and particular impersonal constructions that express the deontic modality of possibility. Furthermore, there are several lexicalized expressions that involve make, similar to Italian far vedere ‘to show’ (lit. ‘to make see’). The impersonal construction, which I call the “impersonal causative”, is of particular interest in this paper: It always selects an infinitive (not inflected, which would be possible at least in some varieties of Sardinian), introduced by a; apparently, it shows transparency effects, but it must nevertheless be interpreted as a biclausal structure; it is, in principle, only possible with the third person of the verb make; with regard to its interpretation it encodes modal possibility and is thus more related to (less strong causative) LET than to strong causative MAKE; and it shows up in two different types, at least in some varieties, with or without number agreement (the latter also with an overt subject in a personal infinitive), which has interesting consequences for the interpretation of the argument structure of MAKE.

Semantic Analysis on Deontic Modality of Angkola Language as Politeness Maker

Social interaction is a necessity for everyone in ethnic groups (microscope) and nations (macro scope). Language as a group identity is very close to cultural values ​​that must be considered by the language users. The object of this study is one of the Ethnic languages ​​in North Sumatra, which is Angkola Language. The aspect discussed in this language is the use of modals in command sentences (deontic modality seen from a semantic perspective). This research used a descriptive method with a qualitative approach. The data of this study are Oral and Written Data of Angkola Language. The research finding shows that there are three values of deontic Modality in Angkola Language: 1) High degree: ulang (don’t /no), musti/musti akkon (must), tarpaksa (has/has to), 2) Median degree: akkon (should), 3) Low degree: tola (may), na tola, inda tola (may not), izin /izitkon (allow), na diizitkon (not allowed), inda bisa/na bisa (not allowed), dipatola/inda dipatola (allowed/not allowed), Akkon (Ought to) and The particle as modality markers: da, ma, mada to create the polite expression.

The role of intonation and context in lack of necessity meanings in negated deontic necessity modals in child Romanian

The current paper experimentally addresses the question of whether Romanian 5-year-olds interpret negated deontic necessity modals as interdiction initially, and to what extent intonation and situational context may act as cues for a more adult-like interpretation. We find that, in the absence of situational context, children initially interpret all negated deontic modals as interdiction. Prosodic cues are on their own not enough to lead to an adult interpretation. However, in the presence of situational context, children are able to tease lack of necessity and interdiction apart and even show sensitivity to prosodic differences among negated modals.

Las formas modales 'must' y 'should' en el discurso académico inglés de los posgraduados españoles

This paper presents a corpus linguistic study investigating the use and functions of the modal verbs, must and should, in academic discourse. The study analyses a corpus of doctoral dissertations within two distinct fields of knowledge, written in English and submitted to Spanish universities between 2011 and 2021. By employing corpus linguistics, we could interrogate this compilation to obtain concordances that could be analysed from a horizontal perspective, ensuring that each sample was appraised appropriately within its context of occurrence. The frequency and distribution of these modals in various contexts were examined. The findings revealed that must and should are utilised with differing frequencies and in diverse ways, depending on the academic discipline and the rhetorical purpose of the discourse. The paper contends that the use of modality, particularly deontic modality, is a vital aspect of academic writing, as it signals the writer's stance and the level of necessity, recommendation or obligation in their argumentation.

დეონტური მოდალური სემანტიკის მქონე ზმნური ფორმების გადმოცემისათვის „ვეფხისტყაოსნის“ ინგლისურ თარგმანებში (მარჯორი უორდროპის, ლინ კოფინისა და დოდონა კიზირიას თარგმანების მიხედვით)

დეონტური მოდალური სემანტიკის მქონე ზმნური ფორმების გადმოცემისათვის „ვეფხისტყაოსნის“ ინგლისურ თარგმანებში (მარჯორი უორდროპის, ლინ კოფინისა და დოდონა კიზირიას თარგმანების მიხედვით)

Language, culture and society: Modality, face and societal logic

It is common to distinguish between individualistic cultures typically associated with Western countries and collectivistic cultures normally linked to Asian countries. Some countries are not easily characterized, because they are placed right in the middle of the continuum. This concerns, for instance, Russia. In this paper, I will attempt to demonstrate on the basis of the theory of communicative supertypes that the notion of individualism is intimately connected to the notion of alethic modality – concerned with laws of nature, i.e. what is possible, impossible, necessary and unnecessary – whereas the notion of collectivism is tied up with the notion of deontic modality having to do with laws of society, i.e. permission, prohibition, obligation and non-obligation. Specifically, the British-English speaking speech community is based on the alethic notion of possibility and guided by the hearer's face, i.e. second person, in contrast to the Mandarin-Chinese-speaking community which is based on the deontic notion of obligation and guided by the speaker’s face, i.e. first person. Compared to this, the Russian-speaking community stands out as a third unnoticed variant that seems to differentiate nature and society by making a sharp distinction within their aspectually defined modality system, between alethic and deontic logic expressed by the perfective and the imperfective aspect, respectively. That Russian culture must be a third variant is confirmed by their understanding of face as being defined in relation to the situation itself, i.e. third person.

The role of deontic modality in the construction and mitigation of evaluation in hard news reporting

Abstract The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of deontic modality as a strategic means of mitigating evaluative meanings within and across texts. Evaluative meanings concern the function of language as used to express the speaker’s or writer’s subjective opinions, and such meanings have been extensively analysed through Appraisal framework. The framework has been used to account for evaluative/attitudinal meanings in texts, as well as dealing with the interaction of voices as one way through which speakers and writers can attribute evaluations to third parties in order to downplay or distance themselves from the evaluations that are expressed. Within the literature on Appraisal, however, the potential for deontic modality to mitigate subjective evaluation in texts has largely been overlooked and, thus, under-analysed. In this paper therefore, we develop a systems network for analysing the role of deontic modality and its interaction with other features as a tool for text analysis. We illustrate the distinctions in the network with examples of contrasting values from hard news stories that covered the 2011 public sector workers’ strike in Botswana and finish up with a short textual analysis to demonstrate how the consideration of deontic modality as a strategy of mitigation can not only enhance our understanding of how evaluative meanings are downplayed or overridden in texts, but also of how the distinctions between text types themselves can be blurred.

‘-을걸’과 ‘말다’ 보충법

This paper presents a morpho-syntactic analysis of the realization patterns of negation suppletion -malta, which vary depending on the meanings of -ulkel, an ending ambiguous between expressing regret and conjecture. It argues that the occurrence of the negation suppletion form is conditioned by deontic modality within a local C-command relation. Consequently, -ulkel with a regretful meaning is linked to deontic modality, while -ulkel with a conjectural meaning corresponds to epistemic modality. In addition, it claims that -ulkel, depending on the two interpretations, occupies distinct syntactic positions, thereby leading to their contrasting grammatical properties.

Reframing self-talk in endurance sports using grammatical taxonomy

Abstract In this theoretical paper, we use a linguistic vocabulary to reframe self-talk in endurance sport through a focus on grammatical function. Self-talk often works as speech acts, a kind of communicative action, e.g. where a self-talker is using the imperative mood to accomplish some goal with respect to herself (Come on!). Auxiliary modal verbs work across three main types of utterances: Deontic modality involving permission and obligation; dynamic modality involving ability and willingness; epistemic modality involving probabilistic judgements. In self-talk, these all function to establish a hypothetical domain for further reflection. Self-distance can be negotiated using 1st and 2nd person pronouns (I/you) and spatial demonstratives (this/that). Sentiment is communicated using adjectives, while negation may yield a means for impulse control. We can question our own utterances and use interjections to communicate surprise. These are all vital mental tools in endurance sports and an increased awareness of their functions in self-talk research will likely yield better self-talk interventions and lead to better performance for athletes.

Natural language processing for legal document review: categorising deontic modalities in contracts

Natural language processing for legal document review: categorising deontic modalities in contracts

Deontic meta-rules

Abstract The use of meta-rules in logic, i.e., rules whose content includes other rules, has recently gained attention in the setting of non-monotonic reasoning: a first logical formalisation and efficient algorithms to compute the (meta)-extensions of such theories were proposed in Olivieri et al. (2021, Computing defeasible meta-logic. In JELIA 2021, LNCS, vol. 12678, pp. 69–84. Springer.). This work extends such a logical framework by considering the deontic aspect. The resulting logic will not just be able to model policies but also tackle well-known aspects that occur in numerous legal systems. The use of Defeasible Logic to model meta-rules in the application area we just alluded to has been investigated. Within this line of research, the study mentioned above was not focusing on the general computational properties of meta-rules. This study fills this gap with two major contributions. First, we introduce and formalise two variants of Defeasible Deontic Logic (DDL) with meta-rules to represent (i) defeasible meta-theories with deontic modalities and (ii) two different types of conflicts among rules: Simple Conflict DDL and Cautious Conflict DDL. Second, we advance efficient algorithms to compute the extensions for both variants.

Deontic Modality in "The Invisible Man" Movie (A Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective)

This research discusses the aspects of action and speech that are contained in The Invisible Man movie based on the theory of Jespersen and Palmer (2007) in the sub-categories commissive, directive, and volitive. The objective of this research is to describe deontic modality in three sub-categories commissive, directive, and volitive in The Invisible Man movie. This research used the descriptive qualitative method. The sources of data of this research are audio visual as primary data and written utterances from screenshotting and transcribing as secondary data. The data is from The Invisible Man movie. Data collection was carried out by searching and downloading movies, watching movies, screenshotting, classifying, and coding. Data were analyzed by presenting, describing, interpreting, and concluding data to answer research questions from this research. The results show that 18 data are included in the sub-categories commissive, directive, and volitive. Deontic modality appears because it is made by several characters in the movie that make promises and threats (commissive), make requests, order others to do something, give suggestions, carry out obligations (directive), and hope for something (volitive). The researcher found that the characters in The Invisible Man movie adopt deontic modality aspects that focus on the sub-categories commissive, directive, and volitive modality because many scenes show how aspects of the three sub-categories are used by characters to overcome existing problems. These three sub-categories are related to each other, the existence of a commissive that will lead to the directive to volitive.