Classifying modal interaction in discourse
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Abstract:
This paper reports on ongoing research into modal interaction in discourse. In particular, a classi cation is presented method that was developed for this phenomenon during recent corpus investigations. For a proper understanding a short introduction to the topic has been included, as well as several examples from the corpus investigations and a brief discussion of the relation with other phenomena of interaction in discourse: modal subordination, quanticational subordination, E-type anaphora, tense operators and discourse operators. 1 Modal interaction in discourse The topic of this paper is modal interaction in discourse. Therefore we start with a short introduction to this phenomenon. In the literature most examples of modal interaction are cases of modal subordination, as in: (1a) A lion might come in. (1b) It would eat you rst. (1c) It might eat me later. (2a) A lion might come in. (2b) It might eat you rst. (2c) It might choose me instead. A supercial glance at these discourses suggests a representation as in:
Citations
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