Modality

1. Modality Prepared by: Muhammed Ashour Submitted to: Prof. Dr. WalidAmer

2. Modality in English • Modality is defined as the grammaticalizedexpression of the subjective attitudes and opinions of the speaker. • It’s a semantic concept, providing the semantic information associated with the speaker’s attitude or opinion about what is said.

3. Modality in English Characteristics of English modal verbs: 1. Modals are always finite (i.e., appear in present or past tense forms). e.g. will, would 2. Modals never occur in non-finite clauses because they do not have non-finite verb forms: to, -ing, - ed, etc. e.g. Maying,to may, mayed.

4. Modality in English 3. Modals can be directly negated by the negative particle (not). e.g. will not Negative forms can be contracted e.g. won't 4. Modals can undergo inversion in interrogative clauses. e.g. will she go?

5. Modality in English 5. Modals can be used as“ code verbs" in ellipsis: e.g. I can play the piano, but she can’t. 6. Modals are not found in imperativeclauses. e.g. can go out 7. Modals do not co-occur in a clause (except in some non standard dialects) e.g. She might could go.

6. Modality in English 8. Modals do not inflect for the subject-verb agreement morpheme –s. e.g. He cans 9. Modals always take infinitive verb forms as their complements. e.g. I can play 10. Modals always appear at the beginning of the verb phrase . e.g. He may come with us.

7. Modality in English The three categories of modals • Basic modals • Semi-modals or quasi-modals • Marginal auxiliary verbs

8. Modality in English First: Basic modals : There are nine of them- can, could, will, would, shall, should may, might, and must. These can have different meanings, which depend on the context in which they are being said.

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13. Modality in English Second: Semi-modals or quasi-modals: They are (had) better, have to, (have)got to, be able to, be supposed to, and be going to. These verbs actas forms of modality but ( not all of them ) can be marked for tense ( e.g. have to / had to ) and person (e.g. he has to..) and can co-occurwith modal verbs ( e.g. will have to )

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16. Modality in English Third: Marginal auxiliary verbs: They are need, dare, used to, and ought to. They resemble modal auxiliaries like should, must, etc.  They can also beas main verbs without a difference in meaning.

17. Modality in English • Dare and need 1. As modals: They are followed by “ bare infinitive” a) They precede“ not “ e.g. I dare not speak to the Dean about this. = I would not speak to the Dean... e.g. We need not tell the Dean about this. = We must not tell the Dean about this.) b) They invert with the subject in the formation of yes/no questions. e.g. DareI speak to the Dean about this? e.g. Needwe tell the Dean about this? c) They do not inflect for the subject-verb agreement morpheme –s. e.g. No one dareapproach him before breakfast. e.g. Everyone needapproach him at the right time.

18. Modality in English Dare and need • 2. As main verbs: They are followed by “ to infinitive “ a) They require do-insertion when negated by not and in yes/no questions: e.g. I did not dare tospeak to the Dean about this. e.g. We do not need totell the Dean about this. e.g. DoI daretospeak to the Dean about this? e.g. DoI needto tell the Dean about this? b) Theyinflect for the subject-verb agreement morpheme –s. e.g. No one dares to approach him before breakfast. e.g. Everyone needs to approach him at the right time.

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20. Modality in English • Used to and ought to • They only very rarely occur without to. • As main verbs: They require do-insertion when negated by not and in yes/no questions: e.g. They did not ought to do that sort of thing. e.g. Didwe ought to have done the job? e.g. Did he use to smoke ? e.g. He didn't use to smoke.

21. Modality in English 2. As modals: a) They precede “ not “ e.g. We ought not totell the Dean about this. e.g. We used not to prepare the samples as carefully as this. b) Ought to invertswith the subject in the formation of questions, while used to doesn’t. e.g. Oughtwe to tell the Dean about this?

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23. Modality in English The two main functional distinctions of modality: • Extrinsic / epistemic modality • Intrinsic / deontic modality

24. Modality in English First: Extrinsic / epistemic modality • It is concerned with beliefs, opinions, understanding and knowledge. • It has as its basis what the speaker knows about the world. • These verbs express likelihood, possibility or prediction of a proposition. e.g. It may snow today. e.g. The weather may turn bad this evening.

25. Modality in English Second: Intrinsic/ deontic modality • It speaks about agent-controlled actions and events. • It calls for an action to be taken. • These verbs express obligation, volition, permission, and ability. e.g. I will choose the yellow pencil. e.g. This computer can do many things.

26. Modality in English e.g. It must be late now. prediction>>> epistemic e.g. You may open the window. granting permission >>> deontic

27. Modality in English • Decide whether the following sentences with modal expressions have deontic or epistemic meaning: • (a) I must be getting sick. It’s predicted that I am getting sick. => Epistemic • (b) Nitric acid will dissolve zinc. It’s certain that N.A dissolves zinc, I know. => Epistemic • (c) He can miss the class. • He has the permission to miss class or he’s able to miss class => Deontic

28. Modality in English • (d) He must be in his office. • It’s predicted that he’s in his office => epistemic • OR he is obliged to be in his office=> deontic • (e) We should arrive on time. • We are under an obligation to arrive on time. => Deontic • (f) Harris has to retire next year. • Harry is obliged to retire. => Deontic

29. Modality in Arabic • Modality in Arabic is expressed by a modal element (a verb or particle) followed by an embedded sentence usually introduced by ‘an. • Modality falls within both the syntactic and semantic categories in English, but only within the semantic category in Arabic.

30. Modality in Arabic • Standard Arabic doesn't have exact equivalents of modal verbs, but it has words that are used in much the same way. • All of these are followed by imperfect-mood verbs, although if you removethe ann,you can follow them with a derived nominal.

31. Modality in Arabic

32. Modality in Arabic Characteristics of Arabic modal verbs: • a- Some modals display subject-verb AGRs, like ordinary verbs, others do not display any AGRs morphology. • e.g. ‘alaayastaTiiG/ Tala tastaTiiG • e.g. ‘alaalābudda/ Tala lābudda • b- Some modals display present and past TNS verbal forms, others have frozen verbal forms with no tense reference. • e.g. yastaTiiGand istaTaG • e.g. rubbamma

33. Modality in Arabic • c-All modals can be negated by at least one negative particle except(lābudda). • d- The subject precedes the modal in SVO word order. • e.g. ‘alaayastaTiiG • e- In VSO word order, the subject follows the main verb. • e.g. yastaTiiG‘alaa

34. Modality in Arabic The correspondence of epistemic and deontic functions to Arabic modality: The expression 
with
´an apparently corresponds todeonticmodality, 
while
´annagives the 
(factual) meaning 
of
 epistemicmodality. First: impersonal verbs:

35. Modality in Arabic • Second: other modal expressions

36. Modality in Arabic • Third: other lexicalisedmodalities

37. Implications on Modality • Translate the following into English: • 1. عليه فليتوكل المتوكلون “ So, on Him should rely, those who trust ” • 2. وما لي لا اعبد الذي فطرني واليه ترجعون Why should I not worship the One who created me? It is to Him that you will be returned. 3. يجب التحقيق في الهجمات ضد الامم المتحدة Attacks against the UN in Gaza must be investigated.

38. Implications on Modality 4. هذا يؤدي الى وفاة المصابين بعد معالجة الاطباء للجروح التي يمكنهم كشفها This results in the death of patients after doctors treat them for the wounds they can detect. • 5. هذا كله كان جزء من القرار 1860(2009) وينبغي ان ينفذ من قبل اسرائيل وحماس. That was all part of resolution 1860 (2009) and it should be implemented by Israel and Hamas. 6. لايمكن ان يكون هناك سلام دائم دون احترام حقوق الانسان There can be no lasting peace without respect for human rights.

39. References • Al Aqad, M. H. (2015). Translation of English Modality Into Arabic on Selected United Nations Resolutions on Gaza War (Doctoral dissertation, Fakulti Bahasa danLinguistik, Universiti Malaya). • Boudemagh, W. (2010). Modality in English, French and Arabic Biomedical Discourse. • Alharbi, A. (2002). Verbal modals. MajalatJami’at Um Alqura, 14(1), 1-28. • By, S., Khaleel, H., Alkariem, S. A., & Hamzah, L. N. J. (2018). Marginal Verbs in English. • Mejdell, G. ( n. d. ). Lost in translation 
of
 modality. • Saoudi, N. (2010). Transfer of modal structure from standard arabic to english. • Modals in standard and Egyptian Arabic • Abdel-Fattah, M. M. (2005). On the translation of modals from English into Arabic and vice versa: the case of deontic modality. Babel, 51(1), 31-48.

40. Thank you