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Linglib.Theories.Semantics.Modality.Narrog

Narrog's Semantic Map of Modality and Mood #

@cite{narrog-2010} @cite{narrog-2012} @cite{heine-1995}

@cite{narrog-2010}'s two-dimensional semantic map classifies modal meanings along two orthogonal axes:

  1. Volitivity (horizontal): whether a modal meaning involves the speaker's or subject's will. Deontic obligation/permission and boulomaic wish/desire are volitive; epistemic possibility, ability, and evidentiality are non-volitive.

  2. Speaker-orientation (vertical): the degree to which the modal meaning is anchored in the speech situation. Event-oriented modality (ability, circumstantial) is at the bottom; speaker-oriented modality (epistemic assessment, deontic imposition) is in the middle; mood and illocutionary force modulation (imperative, hortative) are at the top.

The central diachronic claim: modal meanings always shift upward — toward increased speaker-orientation — independently of the volitive/non-volitive dimension. The well-known deontic → epistemic shift is just one instance.

@cite{narrog-2012} adds a third dimension: performativity — whether the utterance constitutes the modal act or merely describes it. This dimension is orthogonal to speaker-orientation and is precisely what Traugott's subjectivity cline fails to distinguish (§2.4, ch. 3).

Bridges #

Whether a modal meaning involves the will of the speaker or subject.

@cite{narrog-2010} §3.1, building on Jespersen ([1924] 1992) and @cite{heine-1995}: "the element of will" is the most fundamental distinguishing element between different kinds of mood.

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      Degree of anchoring to the speech situation.

      @cite{narrog-2010} Figure 1: the vertical axis ranges from event-oriented (bottom) through speaker-oriented modality (middle) to mood / illocutionary force modulation (top).

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          Bridge to Traugott's subjectivity cline.

          The vertical axis of Narrog's map aligns with Traugott's cline: event-oriented = nonSubjective, speaker-oriented = subjective, mood = intersubjective (imperatives direct the addressee).

          Caveat: @cite{narrog-2012} ch. 3 argues this bridge is an oversimplification. Traugott's cline conflates speaker-orientation with performativity: deontic obligation (performative, face-threatening) and epistemic assessment (descriptive, not face-threatening) both map to subjective, but they differ fundamentally in their pragmatic effects. See performativity_invisible_to_traugott.

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            A region in Narrog's 2D semantic map of modality and mood.

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                def Semantics.Modality.Narrog.instDecidableEqNarrogRegion.decEq (x✝ x✝¹ : NarrogRegion) :
                Decidable (x✝ = x✝¹)
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                  A position in Narrog's full 3D space: volitivity × orientation × performativity.

                  @cite{narrog-2012} §2.4: "subjectivity" decomposes into speaker-orientation (who is the modal source) and performativity (whether the utterance constitutes the modal act). The 2D map captures the first two dimensions; the full 3D space adds the third.

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                        Project to the 2D semantic map (dropping performativity).

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                          Map Narrog's 2D region to Kratzer's modal flavor classification.

                          Mood-level regions (imperative, hortative) are illocutionary rather than truth-conditional, so they have no clean Kratzer flavor.

                          @cite{narrog-2012} §2.4: this bridge makes explicit Narrog's claim that his 2D map classifies the Kratzer parameterization space — the combination of volitivity and orientation determines whether the conversational background is epistemic, deontic, or circumstantial.

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                            The flavor bridge is consistent with the volitivity bridge: if a region maps to a flavor, that flavor's volitivity matches.

                            Performativity is invisible to the Traugott bridge: deontic obligation (volitive, speaker-oriented, performative) and epistemic assessment (non-volitive, speaker-oriented, descriptive) both map to the same SubjectivityLevel.subjective, even though they differ radically in face-threatening potential and pragmatic effects.

                            This is @cite{narrog-2012}'s central critique of Traugott's unidirectional subjectification: the cline conflates two independent dimensions (speaker-orientation and performativity), collapsing distinctions that matter for understanding both synchronic typology and diachronic change.

                            Derive face-threatening potential from the 3D position.

                            An utterance is face-threatening when it is performative (creates rather than describes the modal state), volitive (involves the will), and speaker-oriented or higher (directed at the addressee).

                            @cite{narrog-2010} §4.2: strong obligation is cross-linguistically avoided with 2nd-person subjects precisely because it occupies this region — performative + volitive + speaker-oriented.

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                              Canonical positions for major modal types.

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                                        Weak obligation is NOT face-threatening (descriptive, not performative).

                                        Imperatives are face-threatening (performative + volitive + mood > eventOriented).

                                        Strong and weak obligation differ ONLY in performativity — they share volitivity and orientation. The Traugott bridge cannot distinguish them because it drops performativity.

                                        §6. Cross-Linguistic Modal Changes #

                                        Diachronic modal change data and directionality theorems are now in Theories.Diachronic.ModalChange, which imports this file and uses NarrogRegion and SpeakerOrientationLevel to formalize the claim that modal meanings always shift upward in the semantic map.