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Journal home page:
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Scientific-theoretical foundations of modality category
Muhammadjon ABDURAKHMANOV
Namangan State University
ARTICLE INFO
ABSTRACT
Article history:
Received March 2024
Received in revised form
10 April 2024
Accepted 25 April 2024
Available online
25 July 2024
The article examines the importance of modality in linguistic
research, exploring its development and manifestations in
different languages. Categories of modality, research
methodologies, and views on modality by scholars such as
Aristotle, Charles L. Fillmore, and J. Lakoff are analyzed. The
role of modality in the formation of communication and its
complex nature is emphasized, which determines its
importance in understanding human interaction.
2181-3701
/© 2024 in Science LLC.
https://doi.org/10.47689/2181-3701-vol2-iss3-pp76-81
This is an open access article under the Attribution 4.0 International
(CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.ru)
Keywords:
modality,
classification,
linguistic analysis,
cognitive approach,
mental representations,
cognitive processes,
pragmatic functions,
discourse organization,
language variation,
cross-cultural perspectives,
language,
cognition,
social interaction.
Modallilik kategoriasining ilmiy-nazariy asoslari
ANNOTATSIYA
Kalit so‘zlar
:
modallik, tasnif,
lingvistik tahlil,
kognitiv yondashuv,
aqliy tasvirlar,
kognitiv jarayonlar,
pragmatik funktsiyalar,
nutqni tashkil etish,
til variatsiyasi,
madaniyatlararo istiqbollar,
til,
bilish,
ijtimoiy o‘zaro ta’sir.
Maqola
tilshunoslik
tadqiqotlaridagi
modallikning
ahamiyatini ko‘rib chiqadi, uni rivojlanishini va turli tillardagi
ko‘rinishlarini
o‘rganadi.
Modallik
toifalari,
tadqiqot
metodologiyalari va Aristotel, Charles L. Fillmor hamda J. Lakoff
kabi olimlarning modallikka oid mulohazalari tahlil qilinadi.
Modallikning muloqotni shakllantirishdagi roli va uning
murakkab tabiati ta’kidlanadi, bu esa inson o‘
zaro
munosabatlarini tushunishdagi ahamiyatini belgilaydi.
1
PhD, Senior Lecturer, Namangan State University. E-mail: abdurahmanov@gmail.com
Xorijiy lingvistika va lingvodidaktika
–
Зарубежная лингвистика
и лингводидактика
–
Foreign Linguistics and Linguodidactics
Issue
–
2
№
3 (2024) / ISSN 2181-3701
77
Научно
-
теоретические основания категории модальности
АННОТАЦИЯ
Ключевые слова:
модальность,
классификация,
лингвистический анализ,
когнитивный подход,
ментальные
репрезентации,
когнитивные процессы,
прагматические функции,
организация дискурса,
языковая вариация,
межкультурные
перспективы,
язык,
познание,
социальное
взаимодействие.
В статье рассматривается значение модальности в
лингвистических исследованиях, исследуется ее развитие и
проявления в разных языках. Анализируются категории
модальности, методологии исследования и взгляды на
модальность таких ученых, как Аристотель, Чарльз
Л.
Филлмор
и
Дж.
Лакофф.
Подчеркивается
роль
модальности в формировании общения и ее сложный
характер, что определяет ее значение в понимании
человеческого взаимодействия.
INTRODUCTION
In the history of linguistics, linguists have looked at all the different angles and
results for the linguist. One of the appealing topics of linguistics that fascinated them is
modality. The modality is a category of human communication that gives the speaker the
chance to exercise his attitude, point of view, and opinions about the event. Modality can
express the characteristics of certainty, reliability, certainty, suspicion, possibility,
usability, and necessity.
The category of modality was the object of close study by many linguists.
It involved a study of manifestation in different languages and at different linguistic
levels, in the form of modality. Modal words and phrases play important roles in the way
they are formed and in modal phrases and sentences; they also take the part they add to
the meaning and interpretation of the whole sentence.
Researchers have identified several ways that will measure different aspects of the
feedback. While epistemological modality assesses the truthfulness or validity of the
proposition, modality evaluates grounds, permissions, and thrones. While dynamic
modality refers to utility, necessity, and will, modality is understood as the source and
reliability of information. These are the modal categories within which a basis may be
looked for differences in the ways speakers express their point of view and their relation
to reality through language. They elaborated frameworks and analytical production to
study how language meanings interrelate with tense, person, mood, and other
grammatical categories, observing simultaneously the general meaning and pragmatic
force of linguistic expressions. This study is bound to further enlighten us about the place
of modality in communication.
With the development of corpus linguistics and computational linguistics, new
methodological opportunities for the study of modal meanings in a large corpus have
become available. During the last twenty years, sophisticated algorithms have been
increasingly applied by researchers to the analysis of large textual data in search of
patterns of usage of modality across genres, domains, and languages. Such corpus-based
approaches yield helpful information on the distribution, frequency, and variation of
Xorijiy lingvistika va lingvodidaktika
–
Зарубежная лингвистика
и лингводидактика
–
Foreign Linguistics and Linguodidactics
Issue
–
2
№
3 (2024) / ISSN 2181-3701
78
modal words and phrases, complementing lacunae found in traditional linguistic analysis
and our understanding of modality in language.
LITERATURE REVIEW
It was from antiquity that the study of the category of modality commenced.
Aristotle was one of the first persons who spoke about the concept of modality in his
books. He is one of the ancient linguists who studied modality, dividing it into two gurus.
According to the possibility or impossibility of some action or behavior of an individual in
the real world, it splits into two groups: he views modality as an essential part of the
sentence that connects it with the material world.
Balli views the modality as part of a sentence carrying the heart of its meaning.
Within the definition of this part of speech, one finds judgment, intuition, and desire. It is
to be stressed that modal meanings are conveyed either by words or by intonation,
question, or command.
M.K. Halliday gives a contention of the importance of modality for the purpose of
communication. He carries out studies on personality and time tendencies and divides
modality into objective and subjective. Objective modality is concerned with thoughts
and reality and covers ideas that are actual or probable. It is expressed through grammar
and words. It shows the speaker’s attitude towards his opinion in a subjective way,
whether it is belief, agreement, or disagreement. He can express it through words, word
order, intonation, lexical repetition, modal word, loading, introductory words, phrases,
and introductory sentences. F.Bruno in his study divided modality into two types: real
and hypothetical. According to him, the use of the tone, tense, word order, and the tenses
themselves of the verb can be used for expressing modality.
The diverging views of modality point to how complex and, at the same time,
important it is for languages. Modality is important to bring forth opinions, attitudes,
feelings, and desires from the speaker, hence helping to shape communication and
possibly enriching human interaction.
Modality is a complex phenomenon in language; meaning is viewed as possibility,
necessity, permission, duty, ability, intention, etc., and has been widely researched by
eminent researchers.
The great contribution of the American linguist Charles L. Fillmore to the
development of modality investigation was that he appeared in the research on modality.
Generally, the focus of Fillmore’s research is fixed on the intersection of modality and
evidence. Most often, modal expressions give an issuer information about the source
from which the speaker appears to have knowledge or evidence in support of a certain
proposition. Looking at the evidentiary base for modal statements, Fillmore tells us some
very useful information about how speakers manage to evaluate and communicate their
beliefs and opinions. George Lakoff is the most eminent American cognitive linguist.
In conformity with the cognitive approach to modality, Lakoff suggested that “modal
meanings” are experientially grounded and stem from “human experiences” as well as
from “conceptual metaphors”.
He argues that the existence of cognitive systems in human beings provides a
framework for the understanding and interpretation of modal statements since it is
human beings who apply the use of conceptual frameworks in reasoning from different
possibilities, obligations, or permissions.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
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Зарубежная лингвистика
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Foreign Linguistics and Linguodidactics
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This research methodology encompasses a qualitative approach, reviewing
literature and conducting comparative linguistic analysis to examine modal expressions
and their cognitive, pragmatic, and sociocultural functions across various languages,
dialects, and cultural contexts.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
“The three main types of modality are epistemic, deontic, and dynamic. Epistemic
modality discloses how likely the speaker is to act. The epistemic does duty with
knowledge, belief, and uncertainty. The subtypes of epistemic modality include
probability, possibility, certainty, and necessity. For example, when people say, “It may
rain tomorrow”, they present a chance for rain, while “It must be true” will indicate that
there is high confidence in something being true.
The deontic modality translates to mean permission, obligation, and prohibition.
The deontic modality, in general semantics, is a reference to the speaker’s judgment as to
whether an action is something that will or will not be allowed. Its subcategories include
necessity, permission, and prohibition. For example, the sentence “You must study for the
exam” is translated as “You need to study”, while “You can go now” gives permission.
Dynamic modality expresses the meanings of ability, desire, and intention. Ability and
desire are some of the subcategories of dynamic modality. For example, the sentence
“I can swim” is taken to mean the ability to do something, while the sentence “I will help
you”, portrays intention.
Coates (1983) identifies root modality and epistemic modality as the two main
branches of the English modal auxiliaries. Root modals have features that distinguish
them from epistemic modals. They are often animate and agentive, always with the
subject’s intonation pattern differences. Coates is against further sub
-categorizing root
modalities into groups like the “deontic” modality. It sees this as obscuration of the fact
that a single modal auxiliary may be used to denote both deontic and non-deontic
meanings, making up a continuous range of meanings rather than discrete categories.
This division of root from epistemic, or that of extrinsic from intrinsic modality across
both senses, has been a target for criticism by Quirk et al. (1985). Extrinsic modality
comprises the human judgment of what is likely or unlikely to happen, including root
possibilities, necessities, and predictions, both epistemic and non-deontic.
Intrinsic modality is the one that has to do with some sort of intrinsic human
control throughout events. Deontic modality and volition go with intrinsic modality in a
group. Incidentally, the “ability” sense of “can” is one of the extrinsic “can” senses, even
though often it involves control. They argue that statements or questions about the
ability of something issue a judgment on the likely occurrence of a situation, hence
leading to their classification of “ability” as extrinsic. Epistemic modality deals with direct
linguistic expressions from the speaker that show their judgment or knowledge of how
likely, sure, or possible the given proposition holds. It is the speaker’s estimation in terms
of some available evidence, inference, or subjective belief on the statement’s truth value.
The set of epistemic modal expressions allows speakers to say how sure, in doubt, or
speculative the speech is about what they are saying.
There is a great diversity of expressions signaling the range of epistemic modality
in English. These can be modal auxiliaries like “might”, “may”, “could”, “must”, and
“should”, and adverbs such as “possibly”, “probably”, “certainly”, and “likely”. Verbs,
adjectives, and other lexical words may also be used in addition to the epistemic modality
reflecting the speaker’s attitude toward the statement.
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Dynamic modality refers to expressions that convey notions of ability, possibility,
and necessity related to physical or mental capacities, skills, and actions. It focuses on the
potential or capability of individuals to perform certain actions or achieve specific
outcomes. Dynamic modality is concerned with what someone can do, what is physically
or mentally possible, or what is necessary for achieving a goal.
The scope of dynamic modality encompasses a wide range of linguistic expressions
in English. Modal auxiliaries such as “can”, “could”, “may”, “might”, “must”, and “should”,
as well as verbs like “be able to”, “be allowed to”, and “need to”, are commonly used to
convey dynamic meanings. Additionally, adjectives, adverbs, and other linguistic devices
can be employed to indicate abilities, possibilities, or necessities.
Apart from those three major classes of epistemic, deontic, and dynamic modality,
some other categories of modality express a great function in the realizations of linguistic
expression. Some of the following categories may overlap or interact with the above-
stated main modal categories, as we have seen so far, hence adding further nuance to the
modal meanings. Categories for these include:
This refers to evident, expressions showing the source of information or type over
that on which the statement is based. The speaker has the information. Evidential
markers include “I heard that”, “It is said that”, and “Apparently”. It clues the hearer to
the source of the knowledge or clues the hearer in on how sure the speaker is that
something is true. The boulomaic modality looks at the wants, preferences, or intentions
of an agent. It focuses on what the agent wants, prefers, or intends to do but it also takes
into consideration the necessary implications of obligation, possibility, or certainty.
Examples are “I would like to travel”, “She prefers tea over coffee”, and “They plan to
start a family”.
According to Halliday, the evaluative modality concerns expressions that convey
value judgments, opinions, or assessments. What this simply means is that a speaker can
give his or her value judgment or subjective view about the proposition. Some of these
include “It is good to see you”, “That movie is excellent”, “This is a terrible situation”, etc.
An epistemic stance is one of the forms marking the attitude, belief, or epistemic
commitment of a speaker towards a given proposition. In its general meaning, it goes
beyond testing likelihood or degree of certainty but extends to evaluating the attitude of
the speaker from a personal point of view. This kind includes such expressions as
“I believe that”, “In my opinion”, and “It seems to me that.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, by analyzing the modality, we get to understand how language is
complex and how we give utterance to thoughts, judgments, and the beliefs that
characterize them. Modality is one of the leading key dimensions of human cognition and
language, associated with the power of perception and appraisal. It is grouped into
categories like epistemic, deontic, and dynamic modalities, among others, grounded in
scientific theoretical frameworks.
Cognitive linguistics has identified modal meanings not only as language-based
constructions but also as having a cognitive and subjective experience base. Modal
expressions, in this light, reflect our cognitive reasoning, social interaction, cultural
context, etc., and give valuable inputs for the variation of a language, discourse strategies,
pragmatic functions, and so forth.
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Modal expressions contain several pragmatic functions of a communicative
situation. The functions may run from hedging assertions, and expression of politeness,
to conveying uncertainty, giving advice, or stating social norms. They feature
predominantly in the organization of discourse, expression of attitude, and control of
information flow. Modal markers in discourse assist in structuring an argument,
persuading, and negotiating in the development of shared understanding.
The modal expressions differ from linguistic communities through dialects and
registers. Knowing about this variation makes a person aware of the socio-linguistic
factors in modal uses that are obtained among particular speech communities and
language contact and change.
Modal expressions are thus entirely under the influence of cultural values, belief
systems, and worldviews. In the context of cross-linguistic studies, modal concepts in
several languages and across cultures have presented marked differences and certain
features of similarities in expression and meaning. The main contributions of cross-
cultural perspectives bring forward the relationship.
The study of modality essentially is purposed to help provide a framework for
understanding the multifaceted nature of the language. It provides an exploration of
different modal categories that help to be indicative of the cognitive process, pragmatic
functions, and socio-cultural influences that guide our modal expressions. This further
enhances our capability for analysis of language, reading meaning, and understanding
how language reflects the cognition and human social interaction through which it is
produced.
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1.
Balli, Simone. “Modality in English: Theory and Description”. Continuum
International Publishing Group, 2006.
2.
Coates, Jennifer. “The Semantics of the Modal Auxiliaries”. Croom Helm, 1983.
3.
Fillmore, Charles J. “Lectures on Deixis”. Stanford: Center for the Study of
Language and Information, 1997.
4.
Fillmore, Charles J. “The Case for Case Reopened”. In “Syntax and Semantics:
Volume 8, Grammatical Relations”, edited by Peter Cole and Jerry L. Morgan, 1985.
5.
Bruno, F. “A Contrastive Study of
Modality in English and Spanish: A Corpus-
Based Approach”. John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2010.
6.
Halliday, M. A. K. “An Introduction to Functional Grammar”. Edward Arnold,
1985.
7.
Halliday, M. A. K. “Language as Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of
Language and Meaning”. University Park Press, 1978.
8.
Lakoff, George. “Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal
About the Mind”. University of Chicago Press, 1987.
9.
Quirk, Randolph, et al. “A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language”.
Longman, 1985.
