The Co-occurrence of Modal Verbs and Modal Adjuncts in the Realization of modality in an English literary work

摘要

The present paper examines the phenomenon of co-occurrence of modal verbs and modal adjuncts in the realization of modality in an English literary work written by a Chinese author. While the cooccurrence of modal verbs and modal adjuncts in the same clause is widely observed, few studies have investigated the patterns and the effects of their coexistence following Systemic Functional Linguistics. The present paper is a text-based study to address this issue from a Systemic Functional approach. It intends to answer the following questions: Are there any patterns of co-occurrence in relation to the types of modality? What, if any, effects could be realized if the modal verbs and modal adverbs co-occur in the same clause? The study finds that the co-occurrence of modal verbs and modal adjuncts in the realization of modality in a clause is by no means random. The insertion of a modal adjunct in a clause with a modal verb has the tendency to change the intensity as well as the nature of the author's assessment.