Speech act constructions bear a close functional relationship to modality and polarity, and also to the information packaging of clauses (Chapters 10–11). Declaratives are associated with the modal category of polarity: declaratives assert or deny the truth of a proposition. Interrogatives (questions, and also responses) are associated with identificational packaging: the information asked about is the focus. They are also associated with epistemic modality: they involve degrees of (un)certainty about an event. Imperative--hortative speech acts are associated with deontic modality: both express a future event that is being at least considered by an agent. Exclamations are associated with the mirative (expression of surprise), which in turn is associated with thetic information packaging. These functional relations between speech act, modality, and clausal information packaging are manifested in the sharing of morphosyntactic strategies between the related categories.

Modality is a category encompassing many different aspects of language use, and the literature concerned with this topic extends from antiquity to the modern age. This chapter provides an introduction to the notion of modality, discusses how it relates to other major categories such as tense, aspect and mood, and illustrates how modalities are instantiated morphosyntactically in the Germanic languages. We are specifically addressing cross-linguistic differences and similarities; for instance, only a few of the Germanic languages employ subjunctive moods productively, whereas all use modal auxiliaries. The discussion revolves around types of modality and their typical exponents with a particular emphasis on the deontic (root, event) v. epistemic (evidential, propositional) modalities and potential commonalities between them. Other central topics addressed are the notions of authority and controllability. Finally, we investigate some recent trends in the literature on speech act modality in the Germanic languages, including the potential role of complementizers.

The chapter argues that ELF users do not create new modal expressions; they rely on the rich repertoire that the English language offers to them. But those English modal expressions do not necessarily reflect the mindset of ELF users with different L1s. Rather they reflect the mindset of native speakers of English. So an attempt is made to explain the interplay of these two factors in the use of modal expressions by ELF interlocutors. It is argued that modal use in ELF is motivated by three important factors: language learning experience, effect of L1 and immediate communicative needs.