Hypothetical Modality
Author | : Debra Ziegeler |
Publisher | : John Benjamins Publishing |
Total Pages | : 318 |
Release | : 2000-01-01 |
ISBN-10 | : 9027230544 |
ISBN-13 | : 9789027230546 |
Rating | : 4/5 (44 Downloads) |
Download or read book Hypothetical Modality written by Debra Ziegeler and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book marks a new development in the field of grammaticalisation studies, in that it extends the field of grammaticalisation studies from relatively homogeneous languages to those possessing well-established and institutionalised second language varieties. In Hypothetical Modality, special reference is made to Singaporean English, a native-speaker L2 dialect of considerable importance in the South-East Asian region, and to the expression in the dialect of hypothetical modality, which appears to be indistinguishable from non-hypothetical modality in terms of the use of preterite or past forms of modal verbs. Within a grammaticalisation framework, a number of factors can be seen to be relevant to an explanation, including substratum and contact features such as tense/aspect marking, levels of lexical retention as an individual (psychological) phenomenon, and the fact that such dialects have a discontinuity in their development. In addition, the book defines pragmatic approaches to the understanding of hypothetical modality, in both diachronic and synchronic terms.