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On English modals, modal meaning and argument structure

A response to Fong

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2020

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Extract

In an interesting paper, Fong (2020) raises objections to my approach to English modals (and modality in general) which he views as too general and not fully compliant with the postulates of Construction Grammar. In this response paper, I intend to explain in some depth the benefits of my approach, as well as the reasons why Construction Grammar, in particular Cognitive Construction Grammar (Goldberg, 1995, 2006, 2019), needs to be interrogated and adapted as a conceptual framework to explain language learning and processing.

Type
Shorter Article
Information
English Today , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , June 2022 , pp. 105 - 113
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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