A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
MODALITY AND THE V WH PATTERN By BENET DONALD VINCENT
A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Depa...
MODALITY AND THE V WH PATTERN By BENET DONALD VINCENT
A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics School of English, Drama and American and Canadian Studies College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham October 2014
University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder.
Abstract Research into modality has tended to focus on modal auxiliary verbs (modals) at the expense of other forms that may express modal meaning. This thesis takes a phraseological, exploratory approach to the investigation of modal meaning by focusing on modal expressions with verbs with wh-clause complementation (the V wh pattern). The approach first tests the hypothesis that the pattern is associated with markers of modal meaning and then goes on to conduct a concordance analysis of samples of frequently-occurring V wh verbs taken from the British National Corpus. This analysis first categorizes these verbs into semantic sets and then explores which realizations of different types of modal meaning – obligation, volition, potential, and uncertainty – are most often found with verbs in particular sets. The presentation of the results of this analysis also involves a discussion of how exponents of modal meaning other than modals extend the range of expression available to users of English, indicating what an exclusive focus on modals will tend to overlook.
Acknowledgements
There are a number of people I would like to thank for their support in various ways during the writing of this thesis.
Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisors Nick Groom and Susan Hunston for their enthusiasm, support, encouragement and constructive criticism throughout the process.
I would also like to thank Neil Millar, who was very helpful with questions related to the use of R and statistics.
My parents have been very supportive in every way.
Finally, I must mention my wife Berrak and daughter Brigid, who have been incredibly understanding and supportive throughout and without whom this thesis would not have been finished.
Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION
1
1.1 General aim of the thesis
1
1.2 Background
2
1.3 Outline of the thesis
7
CHAPTER 2 – DESCRIBING AND INVESTIGATING MODAL MEANING
10
2.1 Introduction
10
2.2 Definitions of modality and categories of modal meaning
11
2.2.1 The ‘supercategories’: deontic and epistemic modality
13
2.2.2 The treatment of obligation and (non-epistemic) necessity in the literature 18 2.2.3 The treatment of ability, possibility and permission in the literature
23
2.2.4 The treatment of volition and intention in the literature
28
2.2.5 Towards a definition of modality
32
2.3 Forms realising modal meaning
35
2.3.1 Modal auxiliaries
36
2.3.2. Semi-modals
40
2.3.3 Other means of expressing modal meaning
46
2.4 Modal meanings and their realisations: a synthesis
51
2.4.1 Obligation: main meanings and forms
51
2.4.2 Volition / purpose: main meanings and forms
57
2.4.3 Potential: main meanings and forms
63
2.4.4 Uncertainty: main meanings and forms
66
2.5 Investigating modal meaning
70
2.6 The V wh pattern
73
2.6.1 Meanings of V wh verbs
76
2.6.2 Types of wh-clause
78
2.6.3 Types of wh-clause: conclusion
87
2.7 Conclusion
87
CHAPTER 3 – METHODOLOGY
89
3.1 Introduction
89
3.2 A preliminary quantitative investigation of the association between modal markers and the V wh pattern
89
3.2.1 Initial observations of the association between V wh and modal meaning 90 3.2.2 Corpus and interface used
94
3.2.3 Selection of V wh verbs and query procedure
97
3.2.4 Ascertaining the association between the infinitive and V wh
100
3.2.5 The association between modal verbs, to and V wh verbs
106
3.3 Issues arising from the preliminary study
109
3.4 A qualitative methodology for investigating modal meaning and the V wh pattern
112
3.4.1 Sampling procedure
113
3.4.2 Removing false hits from the V wh samples
115
3.4.3 Establishing meaning frames: a worked example of EXPLAIN wh
124
3.4.4 The identification of modal exponents with EXPLAIN wh
132
3.4.4.1 Analysis of [source] + EXPLAIN + wh: modal and non-modal meanings
132
3.4.4.2 Analysis of [situation] + EXPLAIN + wh instances by modal and non-modal categories 141 3.4.5 Dealing with frequencies
143
3.5 Methodology: conclusion
145
CHAPTER 4 – THE ‘FINDING OUT’ FRAME
147
4.1 Introduction
147
4.2 Overview of the meaning frame [knowledge-seeker] + [find out] + wh
148
4.2.1 The expression of obligation with the frame [knowledge-seeker] + [find out] + wh 155 4.2.2 The expression of volition and purpose with [knowledge-seeker] + [find out] wh 170 4.2.3 The estimation of potential with [knowledge-seeker] + [find out] + wh
183
4.2.4 Expressions of uncertainty with [knowledge-seeker] + [find out] + wh
6.3.2.4 Other examples of [commentator] + [question] + wh
328
6.4 Conclusion
329
CHAPTER 7 – ‘KNOWING’ FRAMES
331
7.1 introduction
331
7.2 The meaning frame [knower] + [know] + wh
332
7.2.1 The expression of obligation with [knower] + [know] + wh
336
7.2.2 The estimation of potential with [knower] + [know] + wh
344
7.2.3 The expression of volition and purpose with [knower] + [know] + wh
352
7.2.4 The expression of uncertainty with [knower] + [know] + wh
359
7.2.5 Negative [knower] + [know] + wh
370
7.2.6 Indicative [knower] + [know] + wh
372
7.3 The meaning frame [carer] + [care] + wh
373
7.3.1 The expression of uncertainty with [carer] + [care] + wh
377
7.3.2 Negative [carer] + [care] + wh
380
7.3.3 Other instances of [carer] + [care] + wh
380
7.4 Conclusion.
381
CHAPTER 8 – ‘SHOWING’, ‘EXPLAINING’, AND ‘DETERMINING’ MEANING FRAMES
382
8.1 Introduction
382
8.2 The meaning frame [evidence/test] + [show] + wh
384
8.2.1 The expression of uncertainty with [evidence/test] + [show] + wh
387
8.2.2 Indicative [evidence/test] + [show] + wh
391
8.2.3 Negative [evidence/test] + [show] + wh
393
8.3 The meaning frame [situation] + [explain] + wh
393
8.3.1 The expression of uncertainty with [situation] + [explain] + wh
396
8.3.2 Negative [situation] + [explain] + wh
397
8.3.3 Indicative [situation] + [explain] + wh
397
8.3.4 Other meanings of [situation] + [explain] + wh
398
8.4 The meaning frame [factor] + [determine] + wh
399
8.4.1 Expressions of uncertainty with [factor] + [determine] + wh
402
8.4.2 Indicative [factor] + [determine] + wh
403
8.4.3 Other instances of [factor] + [determine] + wh
404
8.5 Conclusion
405
CHAPTER 9 – DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
407
9.1 Introduction
407
9.2 Summary of Results and Contributions
407
9.2.1 Overview of the resources of obligation
408
9.2.2 Overview of potential
414
9.2.3 Overview of volition & purpose
418
9.2.4 Overview of uncertainty
422
9.2.5 The phraseologies of modality and the meaning frame
425
9.3 Limitations of the study
428
9.3.1 Corpus composition
428
9.3.2 Considerations of context: genre, register, mode
429
9.3.3 Limitations of the methodology: subjectivity
430
9.3.4 Limitations of the methodology: the meaning frame and uncertainty
433
9.3.5 Use of frequency information
434
9.4 Conclusion 9.4.1 Future research implications
REFERENCES
436 438
442
List of Figures Figure 2.1. Normalised frequencies (per million words) of modals in Collins (2009) .......... 39 Figure 2.2. Normalised frequencies (pmw) of quasi-modals in Collins (2009: 5) ............... 45 Figure 2.3. Examples of information wh-clauses in the data analysed in this study ........... 80 Figure 2.4. Examples of rhetorical and biased wh-clauses ................................................ 86 Figure 3.1. Random 10-line concordance of ‘decide (who|what|where|why|when|how|whether|if)’ from BNCweb ...................................... 92 Figure 3.2. Percentages of VVI wh instances which are preceded by modal / to: higher percentage verbs ...................................................................................................... 107 Figure 3.3. Proportions of VVI wh instances which are preceded by modal / to: verbs with lower percentages .................................................................................................... 108 Figure 3.4. ‘True’ wh-clause proportions of V wh verbs expressed as percentage of sample; verbs with higher proportions (> 90%) ........................................................ 122 Figure 3.5. ‘True’ wh-clause proportions of V wh verbs expressed as percentage of sample; verbs with lower proportions (
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