Definition:
Linguistic devices that indicate the degree to which an observation is possible, probable, likely, certain, permitted, or prohibited. In English, these notions are most commonly expressed by modal auxiliaries, sometimes combined with not.
See also:
Etymology:
From the Latin, "measure"Examples and Observations:
- "[Modality] is a category that is closely associated with tense and aspect in that all three categories are categories of the clause and are generally, but not always, marked within the verbal complex.
"In notional terms all three are, in some way, concerned with the event or situation that is reported by the utterance . . .. Tense, rather obviously, is concerned with the time of the event, while aspect is concerned with the nature of the event . . .. Modality is concerned with the status of the proposition that describes the event.
"Modality differs from tense and aspect in that it does not refer directly to any characteristic of the event, but simply to the status of the proposition."
(Frank Robert Palmer, Mood and Modality. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2001) - "[Modality] is what makes the difference between a factual assertion like unicorns never existed, and a more guarded view, such as it seems likely that unicorns could ever have existed--or a bolder claim like the existence of unicorns must always have been a myth. Modality, then, is a resource speakers and writers use when they are staking claims to knowledge: it allows them to formulate different kinds of claims (e.g., assertions, opinions, hypotheses, speculations) and indicate how committed they are to those claims."
(Deborah Cameron, The Teacher's Guide to Grammar. Oxford Univ. Press, 2007)
Pronunciation: mo-DAL-eh-tee
