Реферат: Double modals as single lexical items in American English

Due the individuals’ will the second part of a double modal may vary ,therefore, the whole modal construction changes its meaning. That is because some senses are preferred over others in a second modal. Furthermore the data indicate that there is no simple generalization that can be made concerning which senses are the most acceptable. For instance, although the root senses are preferred over the epistemic one for might could and might oughta (the “obligation” and “obligation/suggestion”from the one part and the “logical possibility” from the other) this generalization does not hold for might could or might would .

In the case of might could , “ability” , a root sense, is more acceptable than “permission”,another root sense, and “possibility”, an epistemic sense. Finally, for might would “hypothetical”, the most epistemic sense , is somewhat preferred over “prediction” and definitely preferred over “habitual” , the most root-like sense. Because of this situation , se-mantis relations must be stated separately for each Double Modal.

The DM’s syntactic and semantic properties analysis shows that Double Modals have restrictions in their syntax and meanings that the corresponding single modals may not have. Furthermore , the restrictions are idiosyncratic: a rule that applies to one DM may not be applicable to another one. Thus , a syntactic solution of the DM problem is unlikely because DMs don’t behave as simple combinations of their component parts as would be expected if they were syntactically combined.

THE TENSE IN DOUBLE MODAL CONSTRUCTIONS

The tense specification for single modals in present-day English is somewhat unclear. On the one hand , there are some contexts where only the past-tense forms of some of the models are acceptable for most speakers of American English , as in the following dialogue:

- Why did he lose the all-around athlete contest last month?

- Well , he was excellent in everything else , but he can’t/couldn’t swim across the river that day.

Although some speakers will also find this difference for might as opposed to may , or , will accept may in this context :

I am not sure what the problem was. But he may/might have had too much to eat before the race. The behaviour of may and might is not unusual for the present-day modals , which (except for can and will ) can usually be used in past tense contexts , or in present , future , or timeless action ones :

She might have eaten that last piece of cake.

You would have been just as angry.

George could have been more polite around his mother.

That woman may have been his mother-in-law.

It could be ready by 6 o’clock.

You should visit Rome in the spring.

In spite of the fact that some past contexts freely allow both past and present forms of the modals , there are other contexts which are more acceptable with past than with present :

I talked to Jim just before he left for Dallas last week.

A : He thought that he could get there in time.

B : He thought that he can get there in time.

As to Double Modals , their problem is more difficult. They could be conventionally subdivided the two groups : Tense-mixed and Tense-matched ones . The first group comprises DMs whose first and second parts are specified differently for tense :

e.g. may could

instead of having the same tense specification as it is in the second gro-

up :

e.g : may can

Although the present as well as the past forms of the modals seem to be acceptable , Tense-matched forms should be more acceptable than Tense-mixed ones if both modals are sensitive to tense specification.

While comparing the two DMs from diverse tense-groups , may could and may can, in a past context , the Tense-mixed DM could be found more acceptable than the Tense-matched one . That is probably because may could has at least some past-tense marking . However , this formisn’t as acceptable as it is found to be in situations in which the contextdoesn’t restrict the action to the past . If the action is limited to the past,it is more common to use both modals in the same (here past) tenseunderlying this way the certainty of the past :

e.g : may could - might could

e.g : It scared him because he might can have died.

It scared him because he might coulda died. (more preferable variant)