Narrog Heiko. Modality, Subjectivity, and Semantic Change: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective

Oxford University Press, 2012. — xiv, 333 pages. — (Oxford Linguistics). ISBN: 978–0–19–969437–2.This book is a cross-linguistic exploration of semantic and functional change in modal markers. Its approach is broadly functional typological but makes frequent reference to work in formal semantics by scholars such as Angelika Kratzer and Paul Portner. The author starts by considering what modality is and how it relates to and differs from subjectivity.He argues that modality cannot be defined in terms of subjectivity: both concepts are independent of each other, the first exhibiting different degrees of subjectivity, and the second being operative in a much wider range of grammatical and lexical categories. Subjectivity, he suggests, should not be defined solely in terms of performativity, evidentiality, or construal, but rather from the interplay of multiple semantic and pragmatic factors. He then presents a two-dimensional model for the descriptive representation of modality, based on the notion that among the many aspects of modal meaning, volitivity and speech-act-orientation versus event-orientation are two of its most salient parameters. He shows that it is especially the dimension of speech-act orientation versus event-orientation, parallel to category climbing in syntax, that is operative in diachronic change. Numerous examples of diachronic change within modality and between modality and other categories are then examined with respect to their directionality. With a focus on Japanese and to a lesser extent Chinese the book is a countercheck to hypotheses built on the Indo-European languages. It also contains numerous illustrations from other languages.The study of modality and subjectivity
Goals of this book
Theoretical orientation/Principles of the approach
Modality and Subjectivity
Modality
Subjectivity in language
Subjectivity in modality
A new model of modality and mood
Modality and Semantic Change
Semantic change and modal polysemy
Hypotheses about the directionality of semantic change in modality
A new proposal
Illustrating the Model: Some Case Studies
Change within modality
From modality into mood
From modality to illocutionary modification
Into modality
Into moodCross-Linguistic Patterns of Polysemy and Change within Modality and Mood
The data in Bybee et al. (1994)
Overview of the data
From volitive to non-volitive modality (from deontic to epistemic)
Within volitive
From non-volitive to volitive modality (epistemic to deontic)
Within non-volitive
Shifts Between Types of Modality in Traditional Terms
Between necessity and possibility
Between participant-internal and participant-external modality
‘Deontic > epistemic’ and its limitsInto (and Out of) Modality
Voice and modality
Possession and modality
Aspect and modality
Conclusions