Modality

By: Assist. Lect. Dalya Qays

Propositions can be modalised in different ways. Facts may be presented as possible, probable, or necessary; as obligatory or permitted; as desired or wished; and so on (van Dijk, 2013: 183). 

There are two main dimensions of linguistic modality. The first is ‘epistemic modality’; the second is ‘deontic modality’, such modalities have something to do with the way speakers represent the world and its events. For instance, representing police brutality as ‘necessary’ may imply some kind of legitimisation for certain kind of violence (van Dijk, 2000b:52). Epistemic modality is the one that is most clearly relevant to normal language, that is, it is concerned with the speaker’s expectations or estimation of possibilities and, in most cases it indicates the speaker’s confidence (or lack of confidence) in the reality of the expressed proposition (Coates, 1985: 18).

Deontic modality, on the other hand, is essentially performative in nature. Using deontic modals, Palmer determines, a speaker may actually give permission, lay an obligation, or make a promise or a threat (Palmer, 1990: 69). Saeed puts it concisely when he says that deontic modals, like epistemic modals, signal a speaker’s judgment, but while with epistemic modal the judgment is about the way the real world is, with deontic modal it is about how people should behave in the world (Saeed, 2016: 135). 

Sources 

Coates, J. (1985). The Semantics of the Modal Auxiliaries. Great Britain: Billing & Sons Limited, Worcester.

Palmer, F. (1990). Modality and the English Modals. (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. 

Saeed, J. (2016). Semantics. (4th ed.). Singapore: C.O.S. Printers Pte Ltd. 

Van Dijk, T. (2000b). Ideology and Discourse: A Multidisciplinary Introduction.

Van Dijk, T. (2013). “Ideology and Discourse”. In Freeden, M., Sargent, L., & Stears, M. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Ideologies. (pp.: 175-196).Oxford: Oxford University Press.