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6 - The Syntax of Modal Verbs in German, Dutch, and English

from II - Verbal Modality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2021

Werner Abraham
Werner Abraham
Affiliation:
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands
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Summary

We look at the comparative properties of modal verbs in English, Romance and Slavic, and investigate whether modal verbs with their typical clustering property share something with auxiliaries. One main asset is that modals verbs in German (and Dutch, but not in English) can be used as full lexical verbs. Another main asset of German and Dutch modal verbs is their contingency upon aspect and Aktionsart embeddings. In this respect. Slavic , with its strong propensity to grammatical aspect, provides confirming evidence as complex aspectual properties often give rise to modal interpretations reflecting modal verbs of German.

Keywords

comparative modal verbs in EnglishRomance and Slavicmodal verbs vs. auxiliariesmodal verbs in EnglishRomance and Slavicmodal verbs vs. auxiliariesphase structure and modal interpretation
Type
Chapter
Information
Modality in Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics , pp. 157 - 187
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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