A Corpus Analysis about Mood and Modality of May and Might in English Modal System
Introduction
Mood and modality are challenging aspects of description in language since, among other reasons, there is no stability in inventory of modal meanings across languages, and moods vary from one language to another. On the other hand, modality is realizable by free- standing words, or morphologically, the interaction between modality and other grammar modules is complex, like aspect and tense. It is difficult to describe mood and modality especially if one tries to come up with a unifying approach that covers cross- linguistic and practical natural systems of processing languages (Bhatia, 2003: 34). Pragmatic English analysts argue that the interpretation and analysis of language should relate to the social context within which generation and use of the language occurs. Language considerations should not be as an isolated system of mental rules or symbols. This research proposal will seek to analyze mood and modality of may and might in English modal system.
Literature Review
This section seeks to review past information on mood and modalities in English and the theories associated with mood and modality in English. This present an overview of information, that is available on mood and modality in English and its relationship with the study. The section analyzes the effects of mood and modality in English language. Mood and modality express the opinion or attitude of the speaker with regard to sentence proposition or the sentence content. Downing and Locke (2002: 384) argue that mood exists in verb morphology while modality is a linguistic feature that results from variations in linguistic phenomena where modal verbs play a peculiar role. Downing and Locke classified modality into two main types: deontic and epistemic. Epistemic modality means that the speaker assesses chance of truth of certainty in the modal preposition, possibility and preposition, for example, the case may be that…, changes in results might be due to …. Deontic modality, on the other hand, implies the speaker by permission or laying obligations intervene(s) in the speech event, for example, you may look into in detail, or peace negotiation might start now. This proposal seeks to analyze the modal verb corpora of may and might in English language (Downing & Locke, 2002: 384)
Research Questions
1. Does the mood and modality of may and might vary from one culture to the other in English?
2. Does the mood and modality of may and might vary in different disciplines
3. What is the relationship between cultural context and interpretation of modal language in
English
Methodology
To determine the application of this hypothesis, the study will analyze the unique corpus of mood and modality in English. The study will incorporate English language corpora RAs (C1), and literature criticism RAs (C2) (Brett, 2004: 407). Even though English and literature belong to the umbrella of English, English language corpus deals with grammar, writing, punctuation, reading while literature is different consequently their results offer differences. The study will seek to detect modal differences generated by the corpora’s. English language consists of 51,199 words that consist of different RAs obtained from leading English journals while, literature criticism corpus contains 51,314 words. Selected modals for this study are may and might. The study will seek to attempt to identify modal verb considering its epistemic or deontic function in sentence (Hopkins, & Dudley-Evans 2008: 209).
Proposal
The initial count on the use of deontic modality in English language RAs indicates a minimum use of these modality type, that the use of only 305 semi modal and modal verbs. Actually, most of the semi modals and modals indicate 100% of the use of epistemic modality (Cremmins, 2002: 309). For example in the case of may, and might as the following corpus 1 examples shows:
C1- epistemic modality: This observation indicates that rennin- angiotensin spiral system may play a role in vessel remodeling during pregnancy
C1- epistemic modality: Since eighty percent of protein- bound calcium serum, is bound to serum albumin. Some scholars suggest that serum albumin effects on blood pressure might be because of serum calcium.
Conclusion
Modals represent the type of modality preferred by a certain community in an academic setting or specific profession. Selection of a specific modality type, that is epistemic or deontic is a deliberate stylistic choice of researchers or scientists influenced by their respective professional communities. Literature pundits favour a mixture of epistemic modality and deontic modality; whereas in biology and medical research favour the use of epistemic modals while restricting deontic expressions. RAs objective in the three disciplines could be similar (persuade readers and describe research) but the means of attaining these goals seem to be different epistemologically. Additionally, it is relevant to extend the study to account for epistemic and deontic dichotomy usage in other academic fields; or to check if the use of epistemic or deontic modals vary across, the introduction, results, methods, discussions or methods depending on the section of RA, this is an open field of research that requires further linguistic inquiry.
List of References
Bhatia, V. K. 2003. “Analyzing Genre; Language use in Professional Settings,”
London: Longman.
Brett, P. 2004. “A genre analysis of the results section of sociology articles,”
English for Specific Purposes 13: 47-59.
Cremmins, E. T. 2002. “The art of abstracting,” Philadelphia: ISI Press.
Dubois, B. 2008, “Citation in biomedical journal articles,” English for
Specific Purposes 7: 181-194.
Downing, A. & P. Locke 2002, “A university course in English grammar,” Hemel Hempstead: Phonix ELT.
Hopkins, A. & T. Dudley-Evans 2008, “A genre-based Investigation of the
Discussion Sections in Articles and Dissertations.” English for Specific
Purpos es 7: 113-121.
