Publications

This chapter addresses a number of gaps in the description of English binominal NPs with a type noun (TN) and a second noun (N2) with lexical functions. So far the literature has concentrated mainly on NPs with the surface order ‘TN + N2’, neglecting NPs which manifest as a surface string with reversed N2 – TN order. We thrash out a functional-structural account of all the nominal constructions with lexical functions featuring these two surface ...

This paper develops a framework capable of analysing modal qualifications coded by both canonical modal markers and grammaticalized expressions within a semiotic grammar approach (McGregor 1997). We focus on grammatical constructions that developed from complement constructions containing the shell nouns need, way, chance, doubt, question and wonder, often preceded by a negative quantifier. We range the different types of modal qualification in ...

Based on qualitative and quantitative corpus research, this chapter argues that constructions with chance(s) in Present-day English enrich Talmy’s (1988) greater modal system in various ways. Firstly, in their modal uses they are equivalent to core modal auxiliaries and encode especially dynamic and epistemic meanings. We maintain that the partial decategorialization of chance allows for more fine-grained expression of modal meanings by bringing ...