LINGUIST List 32.1802
Mon May 24 2021
Diss: English; Linguistic Theories; Pragmatics; Semantics; Syntax; Text/Corpus Linguistics: Pascal Hohaus: '' Subordinating Modalities - A Quantitative Analysis of Syntactically Dependent Modal Verb Constructions''
Editor for this issue: Sarah Robinson <srobinsonlinguistlist.org>
Date: 29-Oct-2020
From: Pascal Hohaus <pascal.hohaus
engsem.uni-hannover.de>
Subject: Subordinating Modalities - A Quantitative Analysis of Syntactically Dependent Modal Verb Constructions
E-mail this message to a friend Institution: Leibniz University Hannover
Program: English Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2020
Author: Pascal Hohaus
Dissertation Title: Subordinating Modalities - A Quantitative Analysis of Syntactically Dependent Modal Verb Constructions
Dissertation URL:
https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783476056429 Linguistic Field(s): Linguistic Theories
Pragmatics
Semantics
Syntax
Text/Corpus Linguistics
Subject Language(s):
English (eng) Dissertation Director:
Rainer Schulze
Martin Hilpert
Dissertation Abstract:
This study is concerned with the use of the English modals (may, might, can, could, shall, should, will, would and must) in adverbial, relative and complement clauses. It employs synchronic data from the British National Corpus and quantitative methods to investigate similarities and differences between the core modals, as well as modal-specific preferences in subordinate clauses. The main finding is that modal verbs in subordinate clauses may be conceived of as meso-constructions and that they qualify as micro-constructions once further syntagmatic features are considered. This allows for distinguishing modal verb phrases with different degrees of complexity, schematicity, productivity and subjectivity. Further applications give us insights into collocations, modal harmony, semantic preference, and the attraction of dynamic meaning to relative clauses.
Page Updated: 24-May-2021