en

modality

1

Terminological databases

EKI terminibaas Esterm

ID 1145616 Last modified 16.06.2025
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Domain Linguistics - Language & Literaturegrammarterminology
  • grammatiline kategooria, mis väljendab kõneleja suhet tegelikkusse, eriti tegusõna kõneviiside (mooduste) abil
  • the meaning expressed by modal verbs
Good to know
  • Modality is about a speaker’s or a writer’s attitude towards the world. A speaker or writer can express certainty, possibility, willingness, obligation, necessity and ability by using modal words and expressions.
  • From a linguistic point of view, modality is a semantic category expressing concepts such as ‘possibility’, ‘necessity’, ‘obligation’, ‘permission’, ‘intention’ and so on. The most important formal devices found in languages for expressing modality are: (1) modal verbs, whether main verbs or auxiliaries, e.g. may, can, must, will; and (2) modal inflections, or moods, e.g. imperative, subjunctive, optative, conditional. ... Other categories expressing modality, such as adjectives (e.g. possible, likely, certain), adverbs (e.g. possibly, perhaps, maybe), nouns (e.g. possibility, likelihood), derivational affixes (e.g. -able in controllable, governable), and verbs taking sentential complements (e.g. believe, doubt) are almost completely missing from early child language.
modaalsus
Usage examples
  • Oskuskeel on loomulik keel ja tema leksikaalsed elemendid on loomuliku keele elemendid. Nomineeriv näitab kõige oleva tähistamist sõnaliselt. Nomineerimist on käsitletud avaralt, et see hõlmaks peale asjade, nähtuste jms ka suhted ja modaalsused.
  • Autorid möönavad, et polüseemiat (sh kategoorialist mitmetähenduslikkust) ja sünonüümiat on oskuskeeles palju, kuid neist vabanemise püüdlus peab olema. Ja peale selle: „Oskuskeelses kontekstis on termin vaba ekspressiivsusest, modaalsusest, esteetilistest funktsioonidest”...
modality

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