A closer look at subjectification in the grammaticalization of English modals
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Keisuke Sanada
Abstract
This paper takes a closer look at subjectification in the grammaticalization of English modals, using a case study on the root usage of must in Early Modern English (EModE) and later versions of English and its ancestral form mo(o)t in Middle English (ME). This contribution has the following three aims: (i) to quantitatively show that the root must underwent subjectification through its grammaticalization from the root mo(o)t, (ii) to propose a pragmatic motivation for this subjectification, with a special focus on instances of mo(o)t in the construction expressing a speaker’s prayer, and (iii) to operationalize subjectification in terms of the person distribution of subjects in sentences with mo(o)t and must.
Abstract
This paper takes a closer look at subjectification in the grammaticalization of English modals, using a case study on the root usage of must in Early Modern English (EModE) and later versions of English and its ancestral form mo(o)t in Middle English (ME). This contribution has the following three aims: (i) to quantitatively show that the root must underwent subjectification through its grammaticalization from the root mo(o)t, (ii) to propose a pragmatic motivation for this subjectification, with a special focus on instances of mo(o)t in the construction expressing a speaker’s prayer, and (iii) to operationalize subjectification in terms of the person distribution of subjects in sentences with mo(o)t and must.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and Acknowledgements vii
- Editors’ introduction 1
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Part I. Grammaticalization
- The role of historical research in building a model of Sign Language typology, variation, and change 15
- On the origin of Niger-Congo nominal classification 43
- A closer look at subjectification in the grammaticalization of English modals 67
- Subjectivity encoding in Taiwanese Southern Min 83
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Part II. Problems in historical comparison and reconstruction
- Emergence of the tone system in the Sanjiazi dialect of Manchu 101
- Searching for undetected genetic links between the languages of South America 115
- Reconstructing the category of “associated motion” in Tacanan languages (Amazonian Bolivia and Peru) 129
- The mirage of apparent morphological correspondence 153
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Part III. Historical development of morphosyntactic features
- Analogy as a source of suppletion 175
- The rise and demise of possessive classifiers in Austronesian 199
- Immediate-future readings of universal quantifier constructions 227
- The historical development and functional characteristics of the go-adjective sequence in English 243
- Recycling “junk” 267
- Sapirian ‘drift’ towards analyticity and long-term morphosyntactic change in Ancient Egyptian 289
- Language index 329
- Index of terms 333
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and Acknowledgements vii
- Editors’ introduction 1
-
Part I. Grammaticalization
- The role of historical research in building a model of Sign Language typology, variation, and change 15
- On the origin of Niger-Congo nominal classification 43
- A closer look at subjectification in the grammaticalization of English modals 67
- Subjectivity encoding in Taiwanese Southern Min 83
-
Part II. Problems in historical comparison and reconstruction
- Emergence of the tone system in the Sanjiazi dialect of Manchu 101
- Searching for undetected genetic links between the languages of South America 115
- Reconstructing the category of “associated motion” in Tacanan languages (Amazonian Bolivia and Peru) 129
- The mirage of apparent morphological correspondence 153
-
Part III. Historical development of morphosyntactic features
- Analogy as a source of suppletion 175
- The rise and demise of possessive classifiers in Austronesian 199
- Immediate-future readings of universal quantifier constructions 227
- The historical development and functional characteristics of the go-adjective sequence in English 243
- Recycling “junk” 267
- Sapirian ‘drift’ towards analyticity and long-term morphosyntactic change in Ancient Egyptian 289
- Language index 329
- Index of terms 333
