Publication
Title
Meaning change in the Dutch core modals : (inter)subjectification in a grammatical paradigm
Author
Abstract
This article presents a corpus-based analysis of the semantic developments of the three most prototypical Dutch modals, kunnen can, mogen may, and moeten must. It focuses on the implications for current concepts of (inter)subjectification. The three modals turn out not to behave in a uniform way and to show different diachronic profiles: kunnen and mogen do but moeten does not show clear processes of (inter)subjectification, while kunnen is a much younger modal than mogen and moeten. In terms of paths of semantic change, the investigation shows that evolutions toward more (inter)subjective meanings are often not linear. Even if they predominantly emerge from one other meaning, new meanings can have secondary sources. Furthermore, evolutions often happen in parallel, with one specific meaning serving as the source for several others (e.g., deontic, epistemic/evidential, and directive meanings typically all evolve in parallel from a dynamic modal meaning).
Language
English
Source (journal)
Acta linguistica Hafniensia. - Copenhagen, 1965, currens
Publication
Copenhagen : 2014
ISSN
0374-0463 [print]
1949-0763 [online]
DOI
10.1080/03740463.2014.955978
Volume/pages
46 (2014) , p. 85-116
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
A diachronic investigation of the Dutch 'mental state predicates'
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
VABB-SHW
Record
Identifier
Creation 21.10.2014
Last edited 07.10.2022
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