LINGUIST List 15.10

Mon Jan 12 2004

FYI: Modality Survey

Editor for this issue: Anne Clarke <annelinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. curiosa nova, Modality Survey

Hello,

I am posting this survey question for volunteers because I have to
write a paper on modality. I am interested in native speakers'
judgments of grammaticality concerning an English sentence.

The question is this: is it equally correct to utter the sentence

John might have arrived on Monday.

with a counterfactual (not deontic nor epistemic) meaning in both of
the following two situations:

A) when the speaker knows that John arrived on Tuesday.
B) when the speaker knows that John has not arrived at all.

Please contact me directly and answer my question soon if possible.

Thank you in advance,
Best regards,

Boldizs�r Eszes