Italian modal verbs

This file records the two core modal verbs of Italian, potere 'can, may' and dovere 'must, have to'. Each verb has a fixed force and no fixed flavor. Potere expresses an ability or another circumstantial possibility, a permission, or an epistemic possibility, and dovere the corresponding necessities, with the context of use settling the reading. French pouvoir and devoir show the same range.

References

• [Hac06]
• [Hac10]

def Italian.potere : Modality.ModalItem

potere 'can, may' is a possibility modal with epistemic, deontic and circumstantial readings, the last including ability.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Italian.dovere : Modality.ModalItem

dovere 'must, have to' is a necessity modal with epistemic, deontic and circumstantial readings, the last including goal-oriented necessity.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Italian.modals : List Modality.ModalItem

The modal verbs of the fragment.

Equations

• Italian.modals = [Italian.potere, Italian.dovere]