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Modality packaging in Japanese : the encoding of modal meanings and subjectivity

Larm, Lars LU (2014) In Studies in Pragmatics 16. p.20-46
Abstract
This paper focuses on the grammatical expression or ‘packaging’ of modality in Japanese. I consider two aspects: (1) the grammatical encoding of epistemic, deontic, and evidential notions with English as a point of comparison, and (2) the co-encoding of modality and subjectivity. As for the former aspect, the comparison between Japanese and English exemplifies how languages can take different strategies for grammatical modality packaging, linking and encoding cognitive categories in language-specific ways. Regarding the latter aspect, I discuss how modal markers exhibit different degrees of subjectivity. Not only epistemic modality, whose subjective character is often mentioned in the literature, but also deontic and evidential modality... (More)
This paper focuses on the grammatical expression or ‘packaging’ of modality in Japanese. I consider two aspects: (1) the grammatical encoding of epistemic, deontic, and evidential notions with English as a point of comparison, and (2) the co-encoding of modality and subjectivity. As for the former aspect, the comparison between Japanese and English exemplifies how languages can take different strategies for grammatical modality packaging, linking and encoding cognitive categories in language-specific ways. Regarding the latter aspect, I discuss how modal markers exhibit different degrees of subjectivity. Not only epistemic modality, whose subjective character is often mentioned in the literature, but also deontic and evidential modality can be subjective or objective. I also consider the broader implications for linguistic theory. (Less)
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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
modality packaging, epistemic, deontic, evidential, subjectivity
in
Studies in Pragmatics
volume
16
pages
20 - 46
publisher
Brill
ISSN
1750-368X
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b29ab103-25f9-4f57-aa74-75991fbc12b4 (old id 5031734)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 09:42:57
date last changed
2018-11-21 20:55:06
@article{b29ab103-25f9-4f57-aa74-75991fbc12b4,
  abstract     = {{This paper focuses on the grammatical expression or ‘packaging’ of modality in Japanese. I consider two aspects: (1) the grammatical encoding of epistemic, deontic, and evidential notions with English as a point of comparison, and (2) the co-encoding of modality and subjectivity. As for the former aspect, the comparison between Japanese and English exemplifies how languages can take different strategies for grammatical modality packaging, linking and encoding cognitive categories in language-specific ways. Regarding the latter aspect, I discuss how modal markers exhibit different degrees of subjectivity. Not only epistemic modality, whose subjective character is often mentioned in the literature, but also deontic and evidential modality can be subjective or objective. I also consider the broader implications for linguistic theory.}},
  author       = {{Larm, Lars}},
  issn         = {{1750-368X}},
  keywords     = {{modality packaging; epistemic; deontic; evidential; subjectivity}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{20--46}},
  publisher    = {{Brill}},
  series       = {{Studies in Pragmatics}},
  title        = {{Modality packaging in Japanese : the encoding of modal meanings and subjectivity}},
  volume       = {{16}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}