The series Manuals of Romance Linguistics (MRL) aims to present a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of Romance linguistics. It will comprise approximately 60 volumes that can either be consulted individually or used as a series of books providing a detailed overall picture of the current state of research in Romance linguistics. A special focus will be placed on the presentation and analysis of the smaller languages, the linguae minores.
Modality refers to the attitudes a speaker can adopt toward the propositional content of an utterance including, among others, possibility and necessity. After introducing different theoretical perspectives on this concept, this manual presents the markers of modality (moods, modal verbs, adverbs) in Romance languages. It also addresses diachronic questions and the overlaps between modality and other grammatical categories.
Gerda Haßler, Universität Potsdam, Deutschland
