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The Expression of Modality in Tlingit: A Paucity of Grammatical Devices

2017; University of Chicago Press; Volume: 83; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1086/692975

1545-7001

Seth Cable,

Multilingual Education and Policy

This paper provides an in-depth description of the expression of modal categories in Tlingit (Na-Dene; Alaska). Epistemic, deontic, and circumstantial modal statements are examined, and for each I examine statements with strong and weak modal force. A notable feature of the Tlingit system is that—relative to other languages of the Pacific Northwest—Tlingit exhibits a striking paucity of grammaticalized modal expressions, and only a limited subset of the aforementioned modal categories can be expressed by the conventionalized, truth-conditional semantics of a statement. Nevertheless, speakers employ a variety of pragmatic strategies to communicate information about other modal categories. This situation is rather similar to that reported for Nez Perce, but different from cases such as St'át'imcets or Washo, in which modals exhibit a context-dependent meaning, allowing for a small set to denote all logically possible modal categories.