Grammatical double modality in English: sociolinguistic aspect

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Grammatical double modality in English: sociolinguistic aspect

E.K. Barsukova

Социолингвистический аспект двойной грамматической модальности в английском языке

Э.К. Барсукова

аспирант кафедры грамматики и истории английского языка Московского государственного лингвистического университета

Данная статья посвящена функционированию в языке предложений, содержащих двойные модальные сочетания. В работе проводится анализ функционального потенциала таких сочетаний, а особое внимание уделяется установлению социолингвистических характеристик респондентов (возраст, гендер, образование, местоположение, тип дискурса) методом корпусного анализа. Автор приходит к следующим выводам: 1) географическая экспансия двойной модальности в настоящий момент продолжается; 2) конструкции признаются валидными всеми возрастными и гендерными группами и 3) двойные модальные сочетания регистрируются в разных типах дискурса (письменная / устная речь, художественная проза, Интернет и медиадискурсы).

Ключевые слова: модальность; двойная модальность; социолингвистика; вежливость; маркеры вежливости; хеджирование.

E.K. Barsukova

Grammatical double modality in English: sociolinguistic aspect

The present article looks into the grammatical phenomenon of double modality which at first sight may be considered incorrect since it does not meet the rules of traditional grammar. Nevertheless, double modal combinations seem to gain frequency in terms of acceptability and usage as well as of geographical expansion. In the article grammatical double modality is described in terms of its origin, frequency, functional potential and, predominantly, in terms of its sociolinguistic features. Special attention is given to speakers' age, level of education and mode of communication in the framework of which the examples were collected and subjected to a thorough sociolinguistic analysis. The results obtained in the study suggest that double modality may no longer be regarded as a purely regional phenomenon and as a mistake made by poorly educated speakers.

Key words: modality; double modality; sociolinguistics; politeness; politeness markers; hedging.

Introduction

double modal sociolinguistic sentence

Double modal combinations are combinations of two or sometimes more modal verbs (might could, will can, might should) at a time which at first sight may appear strange and grammatically incorrect and causes surprise and bewilderment among learners of English. Such sentences as We might could go to the meeting tomorrow or You might should consider this option are not covered in traditional grammar books since they combine two modal verbs at a time in one sentence which is regarded as a case of grammatical distortion [Leech 2003]. Nevertheless, this construction is often employed and is widely accepted as valid by native speakers.

In linguistics the problem of double modality has been widely covered since the end of the 20^th century when a tendency towards a growing frequency was registered; at that time grammatical double modality acquired a peripheral status. The first study of double modal combinations is believed to be the work of William Labov (1972), who suggested that the first component of such combinations is a modal verb that functions as an adverb [Labov 1972]. This point of view prompted discussions about the nature and pragmatics of this phenomenon [Battistella 1995; Hasty 2012; Novich i More 2016] as well as about its sociolinguistic aspect [Hasty 2011].

Modality is the most anthropocentric and multifaceted area of linguistics and double modality, although it is regarded as a low-frequency phenomenon in the English language, is still developing and is widely accepted by the English-speaking world.

For instance, this grammatical phenomenon has been recently showing a tendency towards a growing frequency, revealing its usage not only in speech of Americans but also outside the territory of the US. Taking all of this into consideration we think it reasonable to conduct a case study into the sociolinguistic aspect of double modality with the primary aim of studying today's linguistic situation.

Methodology

The primary aim of the present article is to analyze the examples on the matter of sociolinguistic characteristics that govern the usage of double modal combinations: we are particularly interested in such social constraints as age, gender and level of education of speakers. Double modal combinations are subjected to a thorough sociolinguistic analysis: examples are studied within a social context, all social constraints are considered and analyzed, also taking into account semantic and pragmatic meaning of the utterances.

For the analysis we have singled out five most frequent and interesting double modal combinations: might could, might would, might should, might will and will can. For the purpose of the present paper the totality of 500 examples of usage (starting from 2010) of five combinations from the following sources have been collected and then subjected to a thorough statistical, comparative and sociolinguistic analysis:

1. The Intelligent Web-based Corpus (iWeb) - Internet pages;

2. News on the Web (NOW) - magazines, journals, newspapers;

3. Global Web-Based English (GloWbE) - different varieties of English;

4. Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) - American English;

5. British National Corpus (BYU-BNC) - British English;

6. TV and Movie Corpus - informal and colloquial language;

7. Verilogue Corpus - doctor / patient discourse;

8. collections of examples of DiPaolo (1982-1989), Reed (2013), Hasty (2012), Mishoe&Montgomery (1994), Elsman (2009) and other linguists.

These collections of texts also allow us to look at the geographical distribution of the cases and consider their usage in different types of discourse (spoken and written speech).

Double modal combinations: a brief overlook

Double modals are combinations of two or more modal verbs (might could, will can, might should) - an epistemic modal as the first component followed by a modal either in the dynamic (a) or deontic (b) meanings. Cases of two epistemic (c) components are also possible (might will).

1. You know, so, I had to try to recruit the right girls to come in to be in it who might could win (https://youglish.com/pronounce/might%20 could%20win/english).

2. The kids don't do any of the extras in the book. For a highschooler you might couldincrease the quantity of reading assignments (https:// simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/mystery-of-history-2/).

3. We might will go for a higher rate than P25/ml to P45/ml (https:// businessmirror. com.ph/2019/11/22/house-senate-panels-pitch-higher- vaping-tax-not-ban/).

The first instances of double modality were registered in the written records of the Northumbrian dialects (England), in the 17-18 centuries they manifested themselves on the territory of Scotland after which they were brought to the territory of the USA, primarily to the South (M. Montgomery, J. Stephen, S. Nagle). According to Harvard's Dialect Survey (2003) and to the research by Hasty (2011) the map of the usage of double modals in the US may look as follows:

Pic. 1. Double modals in the USA

There are more than 25 double modal combinations in active use today, and the total number of all possible combinations can reach 80 and more [Battistella 1995; Hasty 2012; Novich i More 2016]. The most frequent combinations include might could, might can, might would and might should (identified through the corpus-based method). The functional potential and semantics of each combination depend on many sociolinguistic characteristics of the speaker (age, gender, educational level), as well as on the type of discourse (written / oral) and territorial distribution.

Examining double modal combinations in the terms of the sociolinguistic characteristics of speakers (in the US), Hasty comes to the following conclusions [Hasty 2011]:

1. The phenomenon is mostly popular among young respondents (19-29 years old), regardless of gender and their level of education.

2. Young respondents state that such combinations allow them to show their belonging to the Southern American English, as well as to express some additional shades of meaning.

3. The older generation is more accepting of the double modality than the middle-aged group.

4. The most accepting group is men without higher education.

As is seen, although some research on the sociolinguistic aspect of the phenomenon has been conducted so far, it is necessary to provide further analysis since the instances of usage have been registered far outside the South of the United States.

Sociolinguistic Analysis: Findings and Discussion

A thorough sociolinguistic analysis conducted by the author allows us to make the following conclusions.

The combination might could is recognized by both men and women, with the male group slightly outweighing, making up 61 %. The combination is used by all age groups, mostly by middle-aged speakers with higher education, which does not coincide with the findings from 2011 [Hasty 2011]. It is no surprise that most of the examples are registered in the United States (mainly in the South), however, there are also frequent cases in the countries of outer circle - India, Singapore, Sri Lanka (1) - and in the countries of expanding circle - Brazil, China (2).

Examples:

1. This might could be seen as it will be frustrating (http://tamilnn. com/?p=3746).

2. This is a tool from nodebb if you do research there you might could do in the “water cooler” category a new request and maybe help that we get a better configuration to use it also with a mobile device (https://community onion.io/topic/1632/can-t-connect-to-wifi-driving-me-insane/13).

The combination might could is found both in written and oral speech. In writing it is used in fiction to create the image of a typical southerner (mostly poorly educated, like in 1), in the media to convey additional shades of meaning, as well as in Internet discourse (various kinds of blogs, forums, social networks).

1. Cletus: [holding a pair of boots] Hey, Brandine. You might couldwear these to your job interview.

Brandine: And scuff up the topless dancin `runway? Naw, you best bring `em back where from ya got' em.

Cletus: Okay. [to the boots] Back you go, to wait for a woman o `less discriminatin' taste (http://tamilnn.com/?p=3746).

In spoken speech it most often occurs in cases of unequal communication where might is employed as a hedging device with the aim of mitigating the imposition of the utterances that are intrinsically face threatening to the listener. The combination of might could in this meaning is likely to be used by people acquiring certain roles in the conversation, for example by clerks while making offers to customers, by secretaries and by doctors while making prescriptions. Cases in spoken speech between friends, colleagues, family members are also numerous.

1. If it was mentioned in connection with, say, your thyroid thing, then you MIGHT could probably connect your confusion with that illness (https://www.medhelp.org/posts/Neurology/Sudden-flashes-of-confusion/ show/1744218).

2. Strength actually leaves gradually and if multiple cycles are close enough together then you might could avoid strength and muscle mass loss (http://anabolicminds.com/forum/steroids/202342-normal-feel-weak.html).

3. You know what might couldhelp that is losing some weight [Hasty 2011].

Doctors use this combination in order to reduce the pressure on the patient, which is achieved with the help of the first component might employed as a hedging device. For example, in (3) the doctor gently advises the patient to lose some weight.

The next combination under analysis, might would, has a similar function ofmitigating the utterance in the following unequal communicative situations:

1. I love your site! And many thanks for taking time out to put it together. I have a craft idea you might wouldwant to add to your site. The one on your site about leaf prints reminded me of a craft I remember as a kid (https://www. dltk-holidays.com/fall/leaf_prints.htm).

2. If you are a guy you might would want to use some darker colors

(https://alittlecraftinyourday.com/galaxy-painted-converse/).

As for the geography of the combination, it is registered throughout the United States, but is often employed by speakers from countries of the outer (India, Zambia) and expanding circle (Denmark).

This double modal combination is recognized by representatives of all genders and all age groups, most of them are people with higher education (71 %) or those who received their PhDs.

The combination might should is employed in both, spoken and written discourse, with equal proportions (51 % vs 49 %). Speakers are predominantly people with higher education. Remarkably, there are no instances of usage by the younger group (under 20), yet the combination is accepted by elderly speakers. It is so far the highest indicator of double modal acceptance (24 %) among the older group, which makes might should so far the most accepted and employed combination among people over 50 (in comparison with might could 22,9 % and might would 13 %).

Spoken instances are mostly extracts from conversations between friends, family members. Besides, these combinations appear in interactions between unequal partners: doctors and patients, secretaries and clients, clerks and customers and alike; might in this case serves as a hedging element, mitigating the rank of imposition and making the advice sound tentative (3). Written examples include news reports, fiction and, to a large degree, Internet posts (blogs, forums, commentaries) both from the countries of inner (2) and outer (1) circle.

1) When you have a listing of stocks to get, you might shoulddiversify them in a method that provides the greatest reward/risk ratio (Tanzania: http:// www.partnersforprosperity.org/wiki/index.php?title=User:EnosAsberry759).

2) If you find that «one», you might shouldstrongly consider it (US: https://www.wellspringcbd.com/which-cbd-should-i-buy).

3) Even in the `60's there was a book called AND THE POOR GET CHILDREN. You might shouldsee if there's a copy available on Amazon. It's a thin book and written for the general public who do not like to read academic research (http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2016/01/over-half-of- all-mississippi-babies.html).

The next combination under analysis, will can, can also be attested in different countries of inner and outer circles, yet the majority of them are registered in the UK: out of all the instances attested in the inner circle, cases in the UK make up more than 50 %. Remarkably, a number of attested cases are found in the countries of expanding circle: it may testify to the fact that although we regard this combination as `typically British', we see that its usage is gradually expanding.

Predominantly we find the usage of will can in written speech (82 %): mostly in mass media discourse, especially news reports around the UK. Spoken examples are mostly extracts from all kinds of interviews, those of officials (1), MPs representatives (2) and alike.

1) A: I think Brexit will can be a massive boost to British fishing but it's going to require a concerted strategy to get it right and it won't all happen overnight (https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/grimsby-news/brexit- food-parcels-grimsbys-future-3623764).

2) Cllr Carl Marshall, Durham County Council's Cabinet member for economic regeneration, said anyone driving through the city will cannot fail to notice the arrival of the tower crane (https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/ news/north-east-news/crane-taller-leaning-tower-pisa-17764979).

All attested cases have the same meaning, where the first component will implies a future action and the second, the dynamic modal can, shows the possibility of this action. The whole combination denotes a future action that will probably be fulfilled.

Last but not least we analyzed the combination might will, the one which seems to be of a different kind, employing two epistemic verbs at a time: might showing the lowest degree of certainty and will implying the highest degree of certainty. We came to the conclusion that in most cases the combination has a meaning of a possible (might) future action (will) (1, 2):

1) «Eliminating stars unlikely to have planets and pre-selecting those that might will save a ton of time,» he said (https://www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/2019/06/190625093310.htm);

2) If you're not feeling sleepy, these specially designed audio tales might willhelp you nod off (https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and- life/life/stories-that-tuck-you-in-506159202.html).

Another meaning of might will is widely attested on the territory of the US (primarily) where it is employed in cases of unequal communication in the meaning of tentative advice or recommendation: the epistemic might implying the lowest degree of certainty and serving as a hedging element and the verb will in its lexical meaning want. The combination is used in order to avoid the pressure on the speaker and to minimize the threatening of the interlocutor's negative face (3).

3) If you bother to show up at the polls, you might will simply mark your X on a name you recognize, or vote for “You know, buddy'' (https:// www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/election-not-top-of-mind- for-st-john-s-costco-shoppers-1.3252288).

The majority of cases belong to written speech, Internet discourse; primarily news articles both in inner and outer circles.

Conclusion

1. Double modal combinations show a tendency towards a growing frequency in different geographical areas (registered instances in inner, outer circles as well as occasional examples in some countries of expanding circle);

2. This grammatical phenomenon is accepted and employed by different age and gender groups;

3. Grammatical double modality is used in various types of discourse: written, spoken, fiction, mass media, Internet discourse.

We assume that to date it would be wrong to consider cases of double modality as a mistake of poorly educated people. Such combinations allow speakers to express additional shades of meaning, identify themselves as Southerners or serve as means of politeness or hedging devices.

We thus observe an expansion of the phenomenon which testifies to the fact that the English language is evolving, and the findings and the material of this article may be used in teaching practical and theoretical grammar while discussing modality.

Список литературы / references

1Battistella, E. L. The Syntax of the Double Modal Construction // Linguistica Atlantica. 1995. URL: https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/la/article/ download/22489/26146 (дата обращения: 15.09.2020).

2Di Paolo, M. Double modals as single lexical items // American speech. 1989. 3(64), 195-224.

3Hasty, D. J.We might should oughta take a second look at this: A syntactic reanalysis of double modals in Southern United States English. 2012. URL: https://msu.edu/~hastyjam/images/Double%20Modal%20Reanalysis.pdf (дата обращения: 22.09.2020).

4Hasty, J. D. I Might Not Would Say That: A Sociolinguistic Study of Double Modal Acceptance // University of Pennsylvania: Working Papers in Linguistics: Selected Papers from NWAV 39. 2011. 2(17), 91-98.

5Labov, W. Language in the Inner City: studies in the Black English Vernacular. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1972.

6Leech, G. Modality on the move: The English modal auxiliaries 1961-1992. De Gruyter, 2003.

7Mishoe, M., Montgomery, M. The pragmatics of multiple modal variation in North and South Carolina // American Speech. 1994. 1(69), 3-29.

8Montgomery, M., Stephen, J., Nagle, S. Double modals in Scotland and the Southern United States: Trans-Atlantic inheritance or independent development? // Folia Linguistica Historica, 1993. 91-107.

9Palmer, F R. Mood and Modality. Cambridge: University Press, 1986.

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