Grammaticalization versus subjectification in the Dutch modals
In this talk I will offer another piece of empirical evidence showing that the still quite common assumption that the diachronic processes of grammaticalization and subjectification necessarily go hand in hand cannot be maintained. The casus belli are four modal verbs in Dutch: kunnen ‘can’, mogen ‘may’, moeten ‘must’, and hoeven ‘need’. In the last few hundred years these auxiliaries have shown a distinct tendency to regain autonomy, and to get used as main verbs again. Still, they are continuing on their semantic subjectification path (i.e. there is no return to ‘objective’ meanings, not even in the new autonomous uses). I will offer an explanation for these developments, which at once illustrates why highly subjective meanings (e.g. epistemic modality or inferentiality) do not necessarily ‘like’ a highly grammatical status.
Datum und Uhrzeit: 29.04.2026, 17.00h - 18.30h
Ort: SR 33.3.211 (Institut für Sprachwissenschaft, Merangasse 70, 8010 Graz)