A study of the semantic characteristics of the modal auxiliaries may and might in Scots

Scots has developed differently from Standard English. The use of modal auxiliaries in Present-Day Scots seems to be different from Present-Day Standard English. In this paper the semantics of MAY and MIGHT in Scots are studied. Several studies of Scots, for instance Miller (2003) and Kirk (1987), show that the use of MAY is avoided in Scots. This paper aims to reveal whether or not this MAY-avoidance can be found in late Middle Scots, especially in the second half of the period (1640-1700). All tables, figures and sample sentences in this paper are derived from several corpora, the Helsinki Corpus of Older Scots and the Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech (SCOTS) or several dictionaries, e.g. Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and Dictionary of the Scottish Language (DSL) The frequency of MAY-avoidance in late Middle Scots is calculated, using those corpora and concordance software. Firstly the semantics of MAY is summarised. In chapter 1, many modal senses of MAY/MIGHT are categorised in three main modal senses (deontic, root possibility and epistemic). Next, examples of MAY/MIGHT, which are derived from the corpora are analysed and three modal senses of MAY/MIGHT, which are defined in the previous chapter are identified the examples. In chapter3, the analysed materials are studied statistically. Three genres in the Helsinki Corpus of Older Scots, i.e. sermon, diary and handbook, are mainly treated.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

MPhil(R)

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Glasgow

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Akimoto, Jun

• PE English