Date: 27-Oct-2005 From: Paul Peranteau <paulbenjamins.com> Subject: Epistemic Modality: Pietrandrea
Title: Epistemic Modality
Subtitle: Functional properties and the Italian system
Series Title: Studies in Language Companion Series 74
Published: 2005
Publisher: John Benjamins
http://www.benjamins.com/
Author: Paola Pietrandrea, University Rome Three
Hardback: ISBN: 9027230846 Pages: xii, 232 Price: U.S. $ 126.00
Hardback: ISBN: 9027230846 Pages: xii, 232 Price: Europe EURO 105.00
Abstract:
This volume offers an original theoretical and methodological approach to the hotly debated issue of epistemic modality. The analysis is conducted in a rigorous typological frame developed after a careful consideration of a wealth of cross-linguistic data, and focuses on Italian, a language often disregarded in comparative analyses. The complexity of the Italian epistemic system provides relevant information that will undoubtedly foster a better understanding of the topic. A new definition of epistemic modality is proposed on a functional basis and the structure of the Italian epistemic system is closely described. The morpho-syntactic characteristics of Italian epistemic forms are regarded as the result of the dialectic between universal functional pressures and peculiar system resistances. Shaped by the system, epistemic modality emerges as an intrinsically linguistic category, which cannot be downsized to a mere conceptual notion, as other approaches would propose.
Table of contents
Abbreviations xi-xii Introduction 1-5 The notional category of epistemic modality 6-39 A typological classification of epistemic systems 40-52 Epistemic modality in Italian 53-68 Semantic oppositions 69-99 A typological characterization of Italian epistemic modality 100-107 Inflectional and distributional constraints.: The (low) performativity of Italian epistemic modality 108-132 Aspectual constraints on the propositional content 133-153 The incompleteness of the propositional content and the meta-propositionality of epistemic modality 154-186 A diachronic hypothesis 187-206 Conclusions 207-209 Notes 210-216 Bibliography 217-229 Subject Index 230-232
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