Preverbal modal markers in Kriol: an irrealis system - Archive ouverte HAL
Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2023

Preverbal modal markers in Kriol: an irrealis system

Maïa Ponsonnet

Résumé

In this paper we will present a synthetic analysis of the Kriol system of preverbal modal markers, informed by comparative descriptions of each of these markers, themselves based on extensive first-hand, variety-specific data (see Schultze-Berndt, Ponsonnet & Angelo in prep.). The data revealed a number of preverbal modal markers that share coherent distributional and syntactic properties. We will first discuss the morphosyntactic properties of these modal markers; then propose to approach the system of Kriol modal markers as structured around ‘irrealis modality’ rather than quantification over possible worlds. Much of the comparative and theoretical discussion of modality across the world’s languages focuses on the question of the semantic axis around which modal markers vary (see for instance Kratzer 1991; Nauze 2008; Steinert-Threlkeld, Imel & Guo 2023). In many of the languages studied in the literature, modal markers are described as fixed in modal strength, and variable in modal flavour (English being an example). There are also linguistic analyses of markers characterized by fixed flavour and variable strength (e.g. St’át’imcets (Rullmann, Matthewson & Davis 2008), Nez Perce (Deal 2011), Pintupi/Luritja (Gray 2021)). Finally, some modals are known to be fixed for both strength and flavour (e.g. Paciran Javanese (Vander Klok 2013), or variable for both (e.g. Washo (Bochnak 2015), Koryak (Mocnik & Abramovitz 2019)). We want to explore the hypothesis that characterizing Kriol preverbal modal markers in terms of their flavour and/or strength does not do justice to their semantic organization as a system. The flavour and strength dimensions apply to the semantics of quantification over possible worlds; instead, we suggest, Kriol preverbal modal markers span across the broader domain of ‘irrealis’ semantics. In spite of the evident English influence on their forms, the semantics organization of Kriol modal markers would in fact be typical of Australian languages, where the irrealis category is often grammatically salient (Verstraete 2005; McGregor & Wagner 2006; Nordlinger & Caudal 2012; Bednall 2020 inter alia). Bednall, James. 2020. Temporal, aspectual and modal expression in Anindilyakwa, the language of the Groote Eylandt archipelago, Australia. Australian National University PhD. Bochnak, Ryan M. 2015. Underspecified modality in Washo. In Naralie Weber & Sihwei Chen (eds.), Proceedings of the Workshop on Structure and Constituency in Languages of the Americas 18 & 19, 3–17. University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics. Deal, Amy Rose. 2011. Modals without scales. Language 87(3). 559–585. Gray, James. 2021. Variable modality in Pintupi-Luritja purposive clauses. Languages 6–52. Klok, Jozina vander. 2013. Pure possibility and pure necessity modals in Paciran Javanese. Oceanic Linguistics 52(2). 341–374. Kratzer, Angelika. 1991. Modality. In Arnim von Stechow & Dieter Wunderlich (eds.), Semantik: ein internationales Handbuch der zeitgenössischen Forschung, 639–650. Berlin: de Gruyter. McGregor, William B & Tamsin Wagner. 2006. The Semantics and pragmatics of irrealis mood in Nyulnyulan languages. Oceanic Linguistics 45(2). 338–379. Mocnik, Maša & Rafael Abramovitz. 2019. A variable-force variable-flavor attitude verb in Koryak. In Julian J Schlöder, Dean McHugh & Floris Roelofsen (eds.), Proceedings of the 22nd Amsterdam Colloquium, 494–503. Nauze, Fabrice Dominique. 2008. Modality in typological perspective. University of Amsterdam PhD. Nordlinger, Rachel & Patrick Caudal. 2012. The Tense, Aspect and Modality System in Murrinh-Patha. Australian Journal of Linguistics 32(1). 73–113. https://doi.org/10.1080/07268602.2012.657754. Rullmann, Hotze, Lisa Matthewson & Henry Davis. 2008. Modals as distributive indefinites. Natural Language Semantics 16. 317–357. Schultze-Berndt, Eva, Maïa Ponsonnet & Denise Angelo. In prep. The semantics of modal markers in Northern Australian Kriol. Steinert-Threlkeld, Shane, Nathaniel Imel & Qingxia Guo. 2023. A semantic universal for modality. Semantics and Pragmatics 16(1). https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.16.1. Verstraete, Jean-Christophe. 2005. The semantics and pragmatics of composite mood marking: The non-Pama-Nyungan languages of northern Australia. Linguistic Typology 9. 223–268.

Mots clés

Domaines

Linguistique
PonsonnetEtAl EAW 20230804.pdf (968.35 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
Origine Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)

Dates et versions

hal-04670825 , version 1 (13-08-2024)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-04670825 , version 1

Citer

Maïa Ponsonnet. Preverbal modal markers in Kriol: an irrealis system. European Australianist Workshop, University of Köln, Aug 2023, Köln, France. ⟨hal-04670825⟩
7 Consultations
2 Téléchargements

Partager

More