This book offers original theoretical accounts and a wealth of descriptive information concerning modality in present-day English. At the same time, it provides fresh impetus to more general linguistic issues such as grammaticalization, colloquialization, or the interplay between sociolinguistic and syntactic constraints. The articles fall into four sections: (a) the semantics and pragmatics of core modal verbs; (b) the status of emerging modal items; (c) stylistic variation and change; (d) sociolinguistic variation and syntactic models. The book is of considerable value to students and teachers of English and Linguistics at undergraduate and graduate level worldwide.

PrefaceRoberta Facchinetti, Manfred Krug, Frank Palmer Modality in English: theoretical, descriptive and typological issuesFrank Palmer The semantics and pragmatics of core modal verbs Irrealis, past time reference and modalityPaul Larreya Modal auxiliary constructions, TAM and interrogativesRichard Matthews A pragmatic analysis of the epistemic would construction in EnglishGregory Ward, Betty J. Birner, Jeffrey P. Kaplan Towards a contextual micro-analysis of the non-equivalence of might and couldStéphane Gresset The status of emerging modal items On two distinct uses of go as a conjoined marker of evaluative modalityPhilippe Bourdin Had better and might as well: on the margins of modality?Keith Mitchell What you and I want: A functional approach to verb complementation of modal want toHeidi Verplaetse Between epistemic modality and degree: the case of reallyCarita Paradis Stylistic variation and change Modality on the move: the English modal auxiliaries 1961-1992Geoffrey Leech