MSAs are different from MAs in that the former contribute modally to the already modalized utterances while the latter individually communicate modality.Hence, the supplementary roles of MSAs are not the same as the central ones of MAs in conveying modality.The supplementary roles of MSAs can be strengthening, weakening, adding or other aspects.Again, this picture would be clearer if genre or text types were probed.
The use of MSAs for modality supplementing can be approached through a number of angles.In discourse, the speaker or writer knows what the hearer or reader is, and need adjust the interpersonal function of the speech or writing concerned.Such adjustment is related to many factors, like addresser-addressee relationship, setting, speech community, and genre (or text type).Thus, the deployment of MSAs is related to interpersonal meanings, but affected by a number of factors.
Also, MSAs may vary in number and type in different genres or text types.The investigation of how MSAs are deployed in proportion to generic demands can contribute to the understandings of the multi-layered or multi-angled modality in discourse, and this hopefully can enrich the research of SFL on modality.
2.4 Summary
This chapter reviews the previous studies of modality.First, it introduces the arguments over modality as a complex linguistic system.Linguists have debated much on the scope and content, the form-notion correspondence, and the roles of modality.Because of the arguments, it is possible for linguists to adopt a variety of approaches to modality.
There are basically five approaches to modality, namely, the truth-condition correspondence approach, the cognitive approach, the pragmatics approach, the functional representation approach, and SFL.These five approaches reveal a variety of aspects related to modal devices, especially MVs and MAs, e.g.scalar quantity, pragmatic functions, cognitive involvement and interpersonal construal.
There are four major defects in the previous studies on modality.One of these defects is that most linguists just approach modality through their own theoretical perspectives without drawing inspirations from other linguistic schools or thinking about the interactions or co-functions of the factors resulting in the use of modal devices.Also, as has been observed, MVs and MAs are just two devices that express modality, and under some circumstances, they tend to be combined with each other, or with other devices such as clauses, lexical verbs, modal nouns and modal adjectives.Therefore, while studying MVs or MAs, people should not neglect the other modal devices that co-occur with them, either.None of the five approaches treats modality supplementing through MSAs in detail and at length in association with text types, modes of communication and other relevant factors, though some linguists have explored the co-occurrences of MV + adverb (or MA)to some extent.
As a suggestion for the improvement over the previous studies on modality, this chapter proposes that MSAs be studied in terms of modality supplementing.For this purpose, genres or text types as well as interpersonal meanings should be considered.It may be found that modality supplementing in discourse is necessary in many cases, and that MSAs are the products of generic demands as seen from a variety of angles or perspectives.Hence, this dissertation may need to consider multiple perspectives in order to establish a theoretical framework for the study of MSAs.This theoretical framework, namely, a multi-dimension functional approach to MSAs, will be proposed and expounded in the next chapter.
This chapter gives the definition of MSAs and makes a brief introduction to the lexicogrammatical patterns and functions of MSAs.A detailed lexicogrammatical account of interpersonal meanings by means of MSAs will be given in Chapter 5, such as value and stance.These interpersonal meanings mirror the nature of genres and the impacts of contextual factors, and in turn, genres and contextual factors give birth to these interpersonal meanings.
It has been stated that the research about MSAs can extend the previous studies on modality.Thus, what is going to be done next is to present a comprehensive picture of how MSAs come into being under the multi-dimension functional approach to be adopted, what interpersonal meanings MSAs can realize, in what lexicogrammatical forms MSAs occur to realize the interpersonal meanings involved, and how MSAs are distributed in different genres.These explorations are intended to reveal what modality supplementing roles MSAs play in discourse, as well as the close relationships between interpersonal meanings and MSAs.