An analysis of modality in some commentaries on global financial crisis 2008 2009

LIST OF TABLES P age Table 1.1: Spoken and written language7 Table 1.2: Types of context...10 Table 1.3: Major meanings expressed by modal auxiliaries...19 Table 2.1: General statistics

The main part of the study concentrates on analyzing how modalitymanifested in separate parts of the commentary texts and in types of modality:epistemic and deontic modality.

The conclusion is the review of the study in general and gives theapplication to English teaching and learning and some suggested exercises forpractice The author hopes to gain the concerns from the readers

The thesis could not be completed without the great support from my

lecturers, my family and my friends

First, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor,M.A Le Thach Anh for his readiness at all time to give me precious advice,valuable materials and enormous corrections without which the thesis wouldhave never been completed

I am also grateful to all my lectures from Department of ForeignLanguage, Vinh University for their valuable lectures, which help me much inorienting the topic

I wish to thank my loved family and good friends who love, care, supportand encourage me much during the process of the thesis

Finally, I am all too aware that despite all the advice and assistance, Ifeel that the thesis is far from perfect; it is therefore, my sole responsibilitiesfor any inadequacies that it may be considered to have

Vinh, May 15 th 2010

Tran Thi Thu Hue

TABLE OF CONTENT Pa

ge

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF TABLES AND ABBREVIATIONS vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the Study 2

3 Scope of the Study 2

4 Methods of the Study 3

5 Design of the Study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5

1.1 Discourse and Discourse Analysis 5

1.1.1 Definition of Discourse 5

1.1.2 Discourse and Text 5

1.1.3 Spoken and Written Discourse 7

1.1.4 Discourse Analysis 8

1.2 Discourse – Context 9

1.2.1 Definition of Context 9

1.2.2 Context vs Co-text 10

1.3 Concept of Modality 11

1.3.1 Definition of Modality in Discourse 11

1.3.2 Modal Meanings 12

1.3.3 Types of Modality 13

1.3.3.1 Epistemic Modality 14

1.3.3.2 Deontic Modality 17

1.3.4 How Modality is realized 18

1.3.4.1 By Modal Auxiliary Verbs 18

1.3.4.2 By Lexical Words Carrying Modal Meanings 20

1.3.4.3 Other means: Tenses, Mood and Particles 21

CHAPTER 2: AN ANALYSIS OF MODALITY IN SOME COMMENTARIES ON GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS 2008 - 2009 23

2.1 General Definition of Commentary in English 23

2.2 General Information of Analyzed Data 23

2.3 Modality in Parts of Commentary Texts 23

2.3.1 Title 23

2.3.2 Introduction Part 24

2.3.3 Body Part 25

2.3.4 Conclusion Part 26

2.3.5 Concluding Remarks 26

2.4 Modality Manifested in Some Commentaries on Global Financial Crisis 2008-2009 as Seen in Types 27

2.4.1 Deontic Modality 27

2.4.1.1 Marked by Lexical Words Carrying Modal Meanings 27

2.4.1.2 Marked by Modal Auxiliary Verbs 28

2.4.2 Epistemic Modality 30

2.4.2.1 Marked by Modal Auxiliary Verbs 30

2.4.2.2 Marked by Lexical Words Carrying Modal Meanings 31

2.5 General Remarks 37

CHAPTER 3: SOME APPLICATIONS OF MODALITY IN

ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING 39

3.1 Some Suggestions for the Learners 40

3.2 Some Suggestions for the Teachers 40

3.3 Applications of Modality in Teaching Speaking Skill 40

3.4 Applications of Modality in Teaching Writing Skill 42

3.5 Suggested Exercises for Practice 42

PART C: CONCLUSION 46

1 Review of Major Findings 46

2 Suggestions for Further Works 47

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

LIST OF TABLES

P

age

Table 1.1: Spoken and written language7

Table 1.2: Types of context 10

Table 1.3: Major meanings expressed by modal auxiliaries 19

Table 2.1: General statistics of the selected data 23

Table 2.2: Statistics of bodies of selected commentary texts 26

Table 2.3: Modality in parts of selected commentary texts 27

Table 2.4: Epitomical modal auxiliary verbs 31

Table 2.5: The rate of occurrence of four items expressing epistemic meanings 31

Table 2.6: Survey results in two types of modality 38

ABBREVIATIONS

e.g : for example

etc : et cetra

esp : especially

i.e : that is to say

ibid : in the same reference/ in the same place

S : speaker/ sender

vs : versus

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

It is obvious that in our daily life, people always have needs ofcommunication However, many people fail to interpret speaker’s messages.Nowadays, the Internet has become more and more popular as a means ofcommunication Many people search webs to find information, others giveinformation and news Many of them even give their comments on the things

in life, which they interest Online commentary in some websites or forumsare said to be a useful and typical demonstration of modality It is where theauthors often express their opinion, stances and attitude toward thementioned event

As we can see, global economy has been in a badly difficult period This

is the consequence of global financial crisis which initial cause is Americanfinancial crisis at the beginning of 2008 Not only economists and leadersinvestigate the issue but also we who are suffering from its negative effects.Yet there are many famous professors and prestige economists who areworking hard to solve the issue They investigate and give their point ofview, opinions, ideas toward what is going on with the global economy viatheir research; commentaries which are update each hour on internet- amodern and useful media We may read those commentaries to understandmore what happens around the global economy in general and our country'seconomy in particular or we may be interested in linguistically aspect ofthose commentaries as a means of learning and studying English Inlinguistic view, the author is interested in the way economists; professorsexpress their attitude, opinions, feeling toward the issue is modality

For all the reasons above, we have decided to choose “An Analysis of

Modality in Some Commentaries on Global Financial Crisis 2008-2009” to

be the theme of the thesis

2 Aims of the Study

The study is carried out with the following purposes:

- To emphasize the important roles of modality in getting a successfulcommunication

- To analyze and give descriptions of modality used in English

commentaries

- To suggest some practical applications of modality in teaching and learningEnglish

3 Scope of the Study

Modality is all-pervasive in spoken and written languages; however ourresearch deals with modality manifested in written language only

There are two main types of modality: epistemic modality and deonticmodality Each type of modality is expressed in all means of communication:word form like noun, verb, adjective, and adverb, a large number of modalauxiliaries; by tenses, mood, and particles also However, with the limit of thethesis, we only work with 4 word forms and 10 modal auxiliary verbs; others areout of the scope of the thesis

The data analyzed in this thesis belongs to Mr Kenneth Rogoff Mr.Rogoff served as Economic counselor and director, research department ofthe International Monetary Fund from August 2001 to September 2003 Hehad his PhD in economics from the Massachetts Institude of Technology, aprofessor in the Department of Economic at Harvard University Mr Rogoffhas published extensively on policy issues in international finance, includingexchange rates, international debt issues and international monetary policy

In 10 commentaries analyzed in the thesis, he discusses the later period of thecrisis that is its effects and how different economic leaders deal with thistragedy With each commentary, he uses a certain types of modality and itsmarkers.

All these commentaries are taken from the website: http: // www.poject syndicate- org/commentary/shiller67

-4 Methods of the Study

The thesis is finished based on the following methods:

-The data - commentaries on global financial crisis 2008-2009- arecollected

- Analysis and synthesis of selected data

5 Design of the Study

There are three main parts in the thesis:

Part A: Introduction

In this part, the rationale, aims, scope, methods and design of the study areintroduced

Part B: Development

This part consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1: Theoretical Background

This part will review theoretical background of the study including theory

of discourse analysis and modality

Chapter 2: An Analysis of Modality in Some Commentaries on Global

Financial Crisis 2008-2009

This is the focus of the study This part shows how modality is manifested

in 10 commentaries made by the economist Kenneth Rogoff The statistics ofthe data analyzed are also stated

Chapter 3: Some Applications of Modality in English Teaching and

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 Discourse and Discourse Analysis

1.1.1 Definition of Discourse

Since discourse analysis is seen as a branch of linguistics, the term

“discourse” has been defined in many different ways

Discourse can be defined as a stretch of language consisting of severalsentences which are perceived as being related in some ways In terms of theideas they share and in terms of the jobs they perform within discourse- that

is their functions (Nunan, 1993)

According to Barbara Johnstone (2002), “Discourse usually means actualinstances of communication in the medium of language.”

While Crystal (1992, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong,

2007, p.5) suggests: “Discourse is a continuous stretch of (especially spoken)language larger than a sentences, often constituting a cohesive unit, such assegments arguments, joke or narrative.” In this thesis the notion of Cook (1995,p.198) who sees discourse as a “stretch of language perceived to be meaningfulunified and purposesive” seems to be the best to adopt

1.1.2 Discourse and Text

There are some linguists who consider the terms “discourse” and “text”are referred to one

For some linguists, the two terms seem to be used almost interchangeable

as they state:

(1) A text, or a discourse, is a stretch of language that may be longer than asentence

(Nunan, 1995, p.1)

(2) A text may be spoken or written, prose or verse dialogue or monologue Itmay be anything from a single proverb to a whole play, from a momentarycry for help to all day discussion in a committee.

(Crystal, 1992, p.72)

Meanwhile, other linguistics consider these two terms separating fromeach other

Widdowson (1979) suggests that:

One way sees it [language beyond the limit of sentence] as a text, acollection of formal objects held by the pattern of equivalence, orfrequencies, or by cohesive devices The other way sees language asdiscourse, a use of sentence to perform act of communication which cohereinto larger communicative units, ultimately establishing a rhetorical patternwhich characterizes the pieces of language as a whole as a kind ofcommunication

(Quoted in Nguyen Thi Phuong Ngoc, 1999- MA thesis)

This distinction of two terms is some how similar with Brown and Yule(1983, p.6) They state that using text as a technical term to refer to the verbalrecord of a communicative act; and that of Crystal, (1992, p.25) definingdiscourse as “a continuous stretch of (especially spoken) language larger than

a sentences, often constituting a cohesive unit, such as segments arguments,joke or narrative” and text as “a piece of naturally occurring spoken, written

or signed discourse identified for purpose of analysis It is often a languageunit with a definable function, such as a conversation, a poster.”

This thesis supports the distinction of Raphael Salkie (1993) suggesting

that the term “text” is best used to refer to any written record of a

communicative event and discourse, on the other hand, to the interpretation

of the communicative event in context This indicates that any commentarytaken for analyzing in this thesis is best seen as a text or a discourse unit.

1.1.3 Spoken and Written Discourse

Spoken and written discourses simply mean speech and writing It hasbeen widely agreed by linguists that there are common features as well asdifferent one, between these two forms of language

Although spoken language emerged before written language, writtentexts are much more than merely “talk written down” According to Halliday(1985b) writing emerged in societies as a result of cultural changes whichcreated new communicative needs These needs could not be readily met bythe spoken language He also suggested that written language is used foraction (for example, public signs, product labels); for information (forexample fiction books, poetry and drama, newspaper features)

There is a brief distinction between spoken and written language as thetable below:

Syntax

-clauses

- are chained inadditive manner(more co-ordination)

- contain informationloosely presented insting of clauses

- are more activedeclarative forms

- are unedited andcontain incompletesentences

-are more complex (with more subordination)

-contain more information densely intocomplex clause

-are more passive declarative forms

- are edited

-there are more lexical words perclause

-nominalization tends to be used

Situation

- there is a common situation for the speaker and the hearer

- situation is obvious

- some shade of meaning are conveyed by non-verbal behavior-negotiation of meaning is allowed

- there is no common situation for thereader and writer

- situation is inferred from text-all shade of meaning are conveyed inwords

-no negotiation of meaning is allowed

Table 1.1: Spoken language and written language

To sum up, the differences between spoken and written language are notabsolute, and the characteristics that we tend to associate with writtenlanguage can sometimes occur in spoken language and vice versa Thismeans that some spoken texts will be more like written texts than others,while some written texts will be more spoken texts than others

1.1.4 Discourse Analysis

Discourse is a new branch of linguistics which grew out of the work differentdisciplines in 1960 and early 1970s, including linguistics semiotics (the study ofsigns and symbols in language) psychology, anthropology and sociology

All linguists are concerned with identifying regularities and pattern inlanguage However in the case of discourse analyst, the ultimate aim of thisanalytical work is both to show and to interpret there relationship between

those regularities and the meanings and proposed expressed through

discourse

Discourse analysis covers an extremely wide range of activities, from the

narrowly focused investigation of how words such as “oh” or “well” are used

in casual talk, to the study of the domination ideology in a culture as

represented for example, in its educational or political practices when it is

restricted to linguistic issues, discourse analysis focus on the record (spoken

or written) of the process by which language is used in some context to

express intention

(Yule, 1996, p.83)

In short, discourse analysis is concerned with the study of the

relationship between language and the context in which it is used, which is, it

involves the study of language in use: written text of all kinds and spoken

data from conversations to highly formal forms of speech

1.2 Discourse - Context

1.2.1 Definition of Context

A well-known property of lexical items in natural language is that they

are capable of conveying different meanings in different situations of

utterances See the example below:

(1) The heart-attack mustn't be moved.

(2) Your ten-thirty just cancelled.

(3) All couple of rooms has complained about the heat.

It is useful to know that a hospital is the context for (1), a dentist's office

for (2) and a hotel reception is the context for (3)

(Yule, 1996, p.22)

Context is certainly necessary element, which needed to understand

thoroughly any discourse According to David Nunan (1995): “Context refers

to the situation giving rise to the discourse, and within which the discourse isembedded.”

(Cited in M.A Nguyen Thi Van Lam & Ngo Dinh Phuong Ph.D., 2007, p.6)

There are two types of context: linguistic and non- linguistic They arecompared as in the table below:

Table 1.2: Types of context

(4) The cheese sandwich is made with white bread.

(5) The cheese sandwich left without paying.

It is obvious that co-text helps us know what the cheese sandwich in (e)is

Yule (1996, p.21) states, “Co-text is just a linguistic part of theenvironment in which a referring expression is used The physical

environment, or context, is perhaps more easily recognized as having apowerful impact on how referring expressions are to be interpreted.”

According to Brown and Yule (1983), any sentence other than the first in

a fragment of discourse will have the whole of its interpretation facilityconstrained by their co-text

In short, both context and co-text are important in discourseinterpretation, but they clearly differ from one another Context is concernedwith non-linguistic elements while co-text refers to linguistic ones

1.3 Concept of Modality

According to Nguyen Hoa, (2001, p.117) modality or interpersonalmeaning is one of four meanings of sentences: structural meaning,representational meaning, interpersonal meaning and textual meaning

1.3.1 Definition of Modality

Discourse analyses have demonstrated that modality is fundamental inthe creation of discourse; all messages choose some degrees of modality,even if it is only to make a neutral assertion For example:

(6) “The cat sat on the mat.” as compared with the heavily moralized: “I suppose it is possible the cat just may have sat on the mat.”

Interestingly, the concept of modality has been revived and developed inmuch recent research with in linguistics field Therefore, the term

“Modality” is defined in many different ways.

Modal expressions allow us to talk (and modal concepts allow us tothink) about states of affairs which are not present in the current situation andmay never occur in the actual world

It is clear that each language processes its own system of modality Insuch languages as English modality is expressed by process calledgrammaticalization (in the form of mood) and lexicalization (by means of

lexical items like modal verbs and modal adverbs or some other lexicalverbs)

This thesis supports for the definition: “Modality is described as the

expression of the S’s attitude, opinion toward the content of proposition thatthe sentence expresses or the situation that the proposition describes.”

1.3.2 Modal Meanings

As we have defined the term “modality” in the previous part, modality isdescribed as the expression of the S's attitude or opinion toward the content

of proposition Moreover, that it is obvious all messages choose some degree

of modality even if it is only to make a neutral assertion

Some major modal meanings include degree of certainty, possibility,volition, permission, obligation, etc There are various other meanings such

as doubt, wish, regret, design, temporal, notions of usuality

These wide ranges of modal meanings follow by:

+ Uncertainty (unlikely, uncertainty, seem, perhaps, doubt, considerable, etc.) toward certainty (certainly, in fact, exactly, the fact that, etc.)

+ Impossibility (impossible, unable, improbable, etc.) toward possibility (possible, able, may, look like, etc.)

+ Unvolition (unexpectedly, unfortunately, unluckily, etc.) towards volition (expectedly, fortunately, luckily, etc.) so on.

These modal meanings are expressed in particular types of modality as wewill show in the following part of the thesis

(Quoted in Nguyen Thi Huyen Le – B.A thesis)

Long time before Fairclough, Jerperson (1924, p.320) realizes modalityinto two sub-categories:

- One of them contains an element of will: hortative, precative, advisory,obligative, permissive, optative (realiable) promissive, intentional

- The other named “no element of will”: necessitate, assertive, presumptive,dubitative, potential, hypothetical, concessional, apodictive, conditional However his proposal are judged to have so much limitation esp containinglittle of theoretical significance, except for his recognition of two types and itsterms are used to realize “deontic” and “epistemic” modality then

Von Wright (1951) classifies modality into four types: epistemicmodality, deontic modality, and another main area of modal meanings isoften recognized dynamic modality This includes the rational categories ofreal-word ability, possibility, and intention/ willingness The last is alethic

modality, this has been the traditional concern of logicians and philosophers

and deal with absolute or logical necessity, or possibility.

Finally, it is acknowledged that modal expression may be used tocommunicate at least two broad clusters of meaning; epistemic modalmeanings, which roughly deal with the possibility or necessity of aninference drawn from available evidence, and deontic modal meaningsconcerned with the necessity or possibility of acts performed by morallyresponsible agents: obligation and permission

These two types of modality share the same features: subjectivity i.e the involvement of the speaker and non- factuality

1.3.3.1 Epistemic Modality

According to what appears to be a robust cross-linguistic generalization,epistemic modality historically developed from items that originally encodedother types of modal meanings (mostly volition, obligation and permission)this development has been linked, in other words, the development of agrammatically identifiable expression of speaker belief or speaker attitude to Finally, it is widely acknowledged that modal expression may be used to what is said

(Anna Papafragou, 2000,

p.145)

The term “epistemic modality” is derived from the Greek word meaning

“understanding” or “knowledge” refers to the type of modality that indicated

the degree of commitment by the speaker to what he says For example, ifsomeone says:

(7) She must be in love with him.

(8) She may be in love with him.

(Nguyen Hoa, 2001, p.112)

What we see in (7) is a very strong commitment by the speaker as to thetruth of what he or she is saying The speaker is quite sure that it is the casethat “she” is in love with someone else This shows a high degree ofcertainty Whereas, a weak commitment was shown by the speaker insentence (8) the degree of certainty is low The speaker thinks, but she/he isnot sure about what he/she is saying

Epistemic expressions are markers of a logical relation between thecomplement of the modal and the set of the speaker's beliefs Consequently,the appropriate use and comprehension of epistemic crucially presupposesthe ability to conceive of evidential relations between propositions whichform the content of beliefs and thus linked to the human capacity tometarepresent

(Anna Papafragou, 2000, p.7)

In short, epistemic modality is concerned with belief, truth orknowledge

Epistemic modality itself has two types: evidential and judgments

According to Quirk's classification:

This type of modality falls into sub groups

+ Evidential

The sender expresses comment on the extent to which he believes thatwhat he is saying is true There are three instances:

i They express primarily a subjective view on the truth of what is said:

certainly, admittedly, surely, undeniably, undoubtedly, unquestionably, etc.

Eg (9) Certainly they can do it if they like.

(I am certain that they can do it if they like)

ii Markers of degree of convictions as open to objective evidence:

clearly, evidently, obviously, plainly, etc.

Eg (10) Obviously, they can do it if they like

(It is obvious that they can do it if they like)

iii Markers of reality or lack of reality in what is said: actually, officially, technically, theoretically

Eg (11) Actually, they can do it if they like.

(Quoted in Nguyen Hoa, 2001, p.115) + Judgments

The second type expresses comment other than on the truth-value ofwhat is said

- They can convey the attitude of the speaker without any necessaryimplication that the judgments applies to the subject of the sentence or indeed

to the speaker

Eg (12) Fortunately, Mary has the house insured against fire.

The implication might be that Mary was fortunate in doing so, orsomeone else was fortunate as a result of Mary's action

Other markers include annoyingly, curiously, funnily, enough, happily, hopefully, luckily, naturally, surprisingly, etc.

- Additively, they can convey the speaker’s attitudes with an implicationthat the judgment applies to the subject of the sentence Consider:

(13) Wisely, Mary has the house insured against the fire.

The implication here is definitely that Mary was wise in doing so Some

other markers of this type are “rightly, wrongly”

There are a number of modal auxiliary verbs conveying judgments about

a situation, whether the situation is certain, probable, possible or impossible

for example: might, must in the following sentences:

(14) She must be very beautiful that he loves her so much.

(15) An asurb expectation, one might think.

1.3.3.2 Deontic Modality

As we mentioned in 1.3.3, deontic modality is used to refer to the type of

modality that contains an element of will This type of modality is concernedwith action For example:

(16) You must work harder.

(17) You ought to work harder.

(18) You need to work harder.

(Nguyen Hoa, 2001, p.113)

Although the degrees of urgent is not the same, three sentences in someaspects perform an action that is “working harder” rather than express thebelief that something is so

In this type of modality, the sender is not committed to the truth orfactuality of some proposition like epistemic one, but to the necessity ofsome course of action

According to Kratzer (1981a), whereas epistemic modality is possibility –based, deontic necessity – based

Deontic modal meanings concerned with the necessity or obligation ofacts performed by morally responsible agents, Eg obligation and permission

(Cited in Anna Papafragou, 2000, p.3)

Here are some examples:

- Necessity: (19) It is necessary to talk to him.

- Possibility: (20) It is not possible to get a refund for used beddings.

- Obligation: (21) Employees must feed the animals twice a day.

- Permission: (22) Whoever has finished may go.

From those meanings, we divide deontic modality into subdivided:

- Directives (possibility and necessity)

- Commisives (promises and undertakings)

- Others: volitives, evaluatives

1.3.4 How modality is realized.

Modality is often thought of as the province of the closed class of modal

auxiliaries (must, can, will, may, shall, could and others) However, modality can

be realized by a large number of lexical words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)which carry the same or similar meanings to the modal auxiliaries, even carry a

various meanings, for example: unfortunately, wisely, indeed, in fact, etc.

This is a brief introduction of modal realization:

1.3.4.1 By Modal Auxiliary Verbs

10 modal auxiliaries are considered pure deontic meanings but then some

of them express other meanings, epistemic meanings: can/ could, will/ would, shall/ should, may/ might, must and ought to.

Eg

(23) Steps must also be taken to recapitalize and re-regulate the financial system (Deontic)

(Inflation is now the lesser evil)

(24) You must be very tired (Epistemic)

(Nguyen Hoa, 2001, p 21)

Via two examples above, it is commonly the case in English that a singlemodal expresses both deontic and epistemic modality Therefore, in somecases we confuse between two meanings: deontic and epistemic becausemany modal auxiliary verbs have different meanings in different contexts asthe following example:

(25) You must be very careful.

It can be “You are obliged to be very careful.” or “I conclude that you are very careful.”

An other case also happens with may as in the sentence below:

(26) He may go home.

It can be “He is allowed to go home.” or “It is not certain if he leaving.”

As Joos’s words (1964, p.195) within the modal system, English does notdistinguish between duty and logic

The table below presents major meanings in both deontic and epistemicmodality expressing by modal auxiliaries:

Types of

modality

Modalmeanings

Table 1.3: Major modal meanings expressed by modal auxiliaries

Among them may and can are typically used to communicate two distinct types of possibility: may expresses factual possibility and can theoretical possibility Epistemically, may and may not are all used while can does not concern at all, only can not has epistemic meanings as the following

example:

(27) *Tom can be home.

Tom cannot be home (epistemic)

≈ It is possible that Tom is not home.

In her “Modality: Issues in the Semantics- Pragmatics Interface” (2000, p.88) Anna Papafragou mentions negation in modality expression She shows:

“It is often pointed that epistemic modals, unlike root (deontic) modals,always scope outside negation” Let’s see some examples:

(28) You may not enter (deontic)

‘You are not allowed to enter.’

* ‘You are allowed not to enter.’

(29) You may not to be given these opportunities again (epistemic)

‘It is possible that you will not be given these opportunities again.’

* ‘It is not possible that you will be given these opportunities again.’

This is exceptional with the case must when it expresses deontic meaning Example (30) You must not be late (deontic)

‘You are required not to be late’

* ‘You are not required to be late.’

1.3.4.2 By Lexical Words Carrying Modal Meanings

There are a crowd number of these items including four word classes:nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs Contrast to modal auxiliary verbs, theseitems mainly express epistemic meanings with a very small chance fordeontic ones

 Adverbs

They are apparently, of course, inevitably, certainly, exactly, etc and many

adverbs convey the attitude of the sender to what is mentioned such as:

fortunately, interestingly, naturally, seriously, etc See the examples:

(31) Interestingly, the USA faces a number of similar challenges.

(32) Certainly, the government must also find better ways to help

homeowners and their lenders work out efficient bankruptcy proceedings (Busted Bailout)

 Nouns: certainty, ability, possibility, likelihood, expectation, theory, etc.

Below are some examples:

(33) On the other hand, if regulators take their time to “get it right,”

there will be a huge shadow of uncertainty hanging over the financial system.

(The Great Contraction of 2008-2009)

(34) But investors are learning the hard way that no country’s

possibilities and resources are limitless.

 Adjectives: serious, considerable, viable, certain, able, true, sure,

improbable, possible, likely, etc Examples:

(35) Perhaps, but it is far from obvious.

(36) …but the system seems unable to move quickly in this direction.

(Is China Really Immune to the Crisis?)

 Verbs Carrying Modal Meanings: doubt, believe, appear, seem,

wonder, supposed, convince, show, indicate, guess, think, etc

Palmer (1986) called these verbs “modal lexical verbs” with complementclauses (i.e dependent clauses that function as object to such verbs), mostlyverbs with a 1 st person subject They can be used performatively to indicatethe attitude and opinions of the writer

(Nguyen Hoa, 2001, p.117) Examples: (37) The idea, I guess, was that the emirate’s government would

stand behind every loan, no matter how risky (The Limits of Dubai)

(38) Little wonder that academics across the political spectrum

have expressed considerable skepticism.

(39) I, for one, am not convinced.

(Busted Bailout)

Put together, other word classes express modality more frequently thanmodal auxiliaries whereas verbs and adverbs are considerable more frequentthan nouns and adjectives

1.3.4.3 Other Means: Tense, Mood and Particles

Time is a universal, non - linguistic concept with three divisions: past,present and future, by tense we understand the correspondence between the

form of verbs and our concept of time While mood relates the verbal action

to such condition as certainty, obligation, necessity, possibility, the futuretense is closely related to modality no matter for present or past Futurity andmodality are closely related and future time is rendered by means of modalauxiliaries or semi- auxiliaries and others

However, for the limitation of the thesis, we only focus on modalauxiliaries and four word classes carrying modal meanings as main means toexpress modality in data analyzed

CHAPTER 2: AN ANALYSIS OF MODALITY IN SOME COMMENTARIES ON GLOBAL CRISIS 2008 - 2009

2.1 General Definition of Commentary in English

Commentary is defined by American Century Dictionary as 1) a descriptiveaccount of an event or performance as it happens or 2) explanatory notes

Other definition: Commentary is the writer’s opinion or comment aboutsomething Synonyms include opinion, insight, analysis, interpretation,inference, personal response

2.2 General Information of Analyzed Data

As we mentioned before, all the commentary texts analyzed andsynthesized in this thesis are written by Mr Rogoff and all are taken fromwebsite: http: // www.poject - syndicate- org/commentary/shiller67 Acommentary text may be short or long, it depends on the importance of theproblem mentioned For the global crisis, there are many things around it;therefore, the commentaries analyzed in this thesis all have a medium lengthfor the author to express his stance

Below is the table with some general statistics of the selected data:

Inaverage

Table 2.1: General statistics of the selected data

2.3 Modality in Parts of Commentary Texts

2.3.1 Title

In a commentary text, the title briefly introduces the main content of thewhole commentary It is also the first sign to interest the reader by theauthor’s attitude to the issue mentioned in the text From the title of the

commentary text, the reader may see the modality the writer expresses in thetext, and decide to continue it or not, to support or deny what the writer pointsout in the commentary.

Modality is manifested by all means of modal auxiliary verbs, lexicalwords carrying modal meanings, tenses, mood and particles However, oursurvey shows that there is no realization of modality expressed by eithermodal auxiliaries or lexical words carrying modal meanings But it isexpressed by other means: tenses, mood, and particles We realize that 4/10(40%) titles we are studying are interrogatives as follow:

1 Goodbye to the Dollar?

2 From Financial Crisis to Debt Crisis?

7 Do Central Banks Have an Exit Strategy?

8 Is China Really Immune to the Crisis?

Other titles are phrases, statements which state directly the author’sstances, attitude about the problems As the limitation of the topic, our studydoes not concern with this type of expression of the modality

10 introductions are 26 out of 380 cases and takes 6.84% However,compared with the length of the text, it is remarkable Actually, the rate ofoccurrences of those means is not equal between the 10 commentaries Tomake it clear, let us see two extracts for illustration:

(1) As the world’s financial leaders meet in Washington this month at the World Bank-International Monetary Fund annual meeting,

perhaps they should be glad there is no clear alternative to the dollar as

the global currency standard If the euro were fully ready for prime time,

we might well be seeing its dollar exchange rate jump to over 2.00, and not just to 1.65 or 1.70, as it seems poised to do anyway You can’t treat your customers as badly as the United States has done lately if they can go

elsewhere.

(Goodbye to the Dollar?) (2) A huge struggle is brewing within the G-20 over the future of the

global financial system The outcome could impact the world – and not

only the esoteric world of international finance – for decades to come (From Financial Crisis to Debt Crisis)

2.3.3 Body

As the continuance of the title and the introduction part of the text, thebody of the commentary takes the largest space of the commentaries For thefact that body is usually the longest part of commentary texts, largestpercentage of modal cases is mainly observed in it Of all 380 occurrences ofmodality in 10 commentary texts, 317 are in the bodies, and it takes morethan 83.42% On investigating the body parts, we see that nearly one case ofmodal realization occurs per one sentence Though it does not inhabit in everysentence, it appears densely in many complex sentences that Mr Rogoff uses

to give comment on the problem That can be consecutively exemplified inthe following instances:

(3) Indeed, it is virtually impossible to resolve the current mess without

some kind of compass pointing to where the future system lies

(Brave New Financial World)

(4) Instead, as the credit crunch and housing price decline continue, an epic

mortgage bailout appears increasingly likely, possibly costing US taxpayers

a trillion dollars or more.

(Goodbye to the Dollar?)

To develop the topic, the author will use modal markers at a high rate toshow his stance about what happens around the global economy in the context

of financial crisis The table below shows the statistics of the bodies analyzed:

Table2.2: Statistics of bodies of selected commentary text

2.3.4 Conclusion Part

The conclusion is the final part of the commentary text; it summarizes theentire author’s point of views There are 37 cases of modality in theconclusion parts with 9.73 % of all the realizations of modality in the dataanalyzed Within the realization of modality in 10 conclusion parts, modal

auxiliaries take 66.67%, while other four types of word class (perhaps, possible, possibilities, certainly, hope, convince, indeed) take only 33.33%.

This result tells us about the writer’s intention in using modal verbs to committhe actions from the others to resolve the tragedy rather than to express thefeelings or the attitude to the truth of the problem For example, the financial

leaders in the conclusion part of Goodbye to the Dollars:

(5) “As central bankers and finance ministers ponder how to intervene to

prop up the dollar, they should also start thinking about what to do when the

time comes to pull the plug.”

2.3.5 Concluding Remarks

To sum up, nearly all of modality cases occur in the body parts of thecommentaries However, with the limited length: the longest introductioncontains 4 sentences and the longest conclusion has 5 sentences, the

introduction and the conclusion take a remarkable proportion with 16.57 %where as the title does not contain any cases of modality expressed by thosemarkers studied in the thesis This can be shown in the following table:

Parts of the

Totaloccurrences

Table 2.3: Modality in parts of selected commentary texts.

2.4 Modality Manifested in Some Commentaries on Global Financial Crisis 2008-2009 as Seen in Types.

2.4.1 Deontic Modality

Generally, the study shows that deontic modality is mainly expressed byvariety of auxiliary verbs with small number of lexical items

2.4.1.1 Marked by Lexical Words Carrying Deontic Meanings

Deontically, there are only some cases of verbs namely auxiliaries”: need, have to and some adjectives and adverbs expressingnecessity: necessary, necessarily, essentially All of them take a modestproportion in all items expressing modality with 7.37% As far as deonticmodality concerned, they take 17.95% vs 82.05%, which belongs to modalverbs The following are some examples:

(6) Most of the world’s largest banks are essentially insolvent, and

depend on continuing government aid and loans to keep them afloat.

(Inflation is Now the Lesser Evil) (7) Certainly, a key part of the solution is to allow more banks to fail,

ensuring that depositors are paid off in full, but not necessarily debt holders.

(ibid.)

2.4.1.2 Marked by Modal Auxiliary Verbs

- Can/ Could

In all 127 cases modal auxiliaries expressing modality, can holds up

10.24% and could with 11.81%.

+ Permission = be allowed to, be permitted to.

+ Ability: some one has a certain ability to do something, in other words be able to, be capable to

Eg (8 )Yet, high- risk individuals can often go decades without having a

problem.

=> Yet, high- risk individuals are often be able to go decades without

having a problem

Whereas ability can brings in the implication of willingness as follow:

(9) Can you do me a favour?

Or Could you do me a favour?

+ Possibility

Can – theoretical possibility (contrast may- factual possibility)

Could – both theoretical and factual possibility

Eg (10) The outcome could impact the world for decades to come.

(Brave New Financial World)

+ willingness, volunteering: commit some one to do something

- Shall/ Should: should takes 10.24% in modal auxiliaries expressing deontic

meaning while shall is not employed in any case.

+ advice, suggestion

Example: (11) The fund’s main role should be in monitoring.

(Super-sizing the IMF is Wrong) + obligation and logical necessity: should is often felt to convey obligation of

a weaker type than must as the following example:

(12) Fiscal policy should ideally focus on tax cuts and infrastructure

spending.

(Inflation is now the Lesser Evil)

- May/ Might

Deontically, may and might take up 10.24% and 5.51% in all auxiliaries

expressing deontic modality

+ permission = be allowed to

In this sense, may is more formal than can However may not is not used

frequently

+ prohibition: may not

+ possibility (usually factual) = It is possible that

Examples: (13) The Yuan may well supplant the dollar in the second half of this century.

(Goodbye to the Dollar?)

(14) Silicon Valley might never have been born.

- Must : In all modal auxiliaries expressing deontic modality, “must” takes

only 7.09% However, its appearance is not equal in every commentary It

appears densely in the commentary Do Central Banks Have an Exit Strategy?

Let’s see some examples:

(15) But eventually central banks must pull the plug.

(16) Weak bank must be allowed to fail or merge.

(17) Today’s financial film equity and bond holder must bear the main

cost

+ Strong obligation: this is the highest degree of obligation or compulsion (=

be obliged to)

Example: (18)…that G-20 leader must ask themselves when they meet in

Pittsburgh later this month

(From Financial Crisis to Debt Crisis?)

It obliges the subject of the sentence to do something Whereas a semi-auxiliary like have to does not have a strong deontic meaning like must See the example:

(19) Central banks have to start fistering consolidation, rather

than indiscriminately extending creit.

(Do Central Banks Have an Exit Strategy?) + Prohibition: mustn’t It is stronger than may not

It is clear that must has no past tense or past time form for deontic

(20) The government may also need to consider injecting funds more

directly into the mortgage sector while the private sector reconstitutes itself.

(Busted

Bailout)

(21) But if officials fail to adjust as the crisis unfolds, then Buiter’s

charge may seem less extreme

(Do Central Banks have an exit Strategy?)

(22) An absurb expectation, one might think.

(The Limits of Dubai)

Major modal auxiliaries used to express epistemic meanings, mainlyprobability, are summarized in the table below:

Modal auxiliary verbs Similar meanings Percentage of certainty

25%

Table 2.4: Epistemic modal auxiliary verbs

2.4.2.2 Marked by Lexical Words Carrying Modal Meanings

The table below provides the rate of occurrence of four lexical itemsexpressing epistemic meanings:

As we can see from Table 2.5, nouns take only 6.39% in all with 14times occur Normally, in written language, the writer tends to nominalizewords and write in formal style Although this is a kind of writing whichspecialize for a field however, the author of the commentaries analyzed in thethesis would like to use other word class rather than nouns, as we will see inthe following part of the study.

Eg

(23) The good news is that most governments do see the need to

implement significant new regulation on financial firms.

(The Great Contraction of 2008-2009)

(24) This is a strong charge, especially given the huge uncertainties that

central banks and treasury officials have been facing.

(Do Central Banks have an Exit Strategy?)

 Adjectives

Adjective is one of the main means that Mr Rogoff uses to expressepistemic modality It takes a considerable portion in four classes of lexical words,nearly 25.57% and takes 14.73% in all of items analyzed in the study

In which, Mr Rogoff uses a number of adjectives which carry

“uncertainty” meaning such as: unlikely, impossible, unable, improbable andadjectives which convey the truth- value of what is said with obvious,inevitable, realistic, real, clear, true, certain It is because he is giving hiscomment on the issue and that it is necessary to point out the truth, give theexact information about the crisis He provides the reality of economythrough these adjectives

Eg

(25) Some shrinkage of the industry is inevitable.

(26) The environmental degreation is obvious even to casual observers.

(Do Central Banks have an Exit Strategy?)

As far as the truth-value of what is commented is concerned, the authoruses a number of adjectives that carry “uncertainty” meaning such as:unlikely, impossible, unable, and improbable From the fact that the globaleconomy is now facing many problems coming from the global financialcrisis that are far more long- lasting effects, especially with global credit.Moreover, with the developing process at the time he looked into the issue, noone can make a brighter context for our economy That is why he uses many

“uncertainty” adjectives This can be shown clearly through the examples:

(27) Indeed, it is virtually impossible to resolve the current mess without

some kind of compass pointing to where the future system lies

(28) Many borrowers, unable to get funding on reasonable terms

domestically, were forced to take hard- currency loans from abroad, creating disastrous burdens when the ruble collapsed.

(Brave New Financial World)

 Adverbs

Unsurprisingly, adverbs take the highest portion among all of 4 lexicalwords expressing epistemic modality with 42.86%

These adverbs appear in many positions of the sentence:

+ At the beginning of the sentence

Eg.(29) Unfortunately, Dubai ultimately proved subject to the laws of

financial gravity.

(The Limits of Dubai 2008-2009)

+ At the middle of sentence

Eg (30) Who, exactly, would the Treasury employ to fingure all this out?

( Busted Bailout)