Pragmatic Ambiguity: The Thetic Function of Modality

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Lodz Papers in Pragmatics 5 (2):191-199 (2009)
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Abstract

Pragmatic Ambiguity: The Thetic Function of Modality The aim of this paper is to present an overview of the pragmatic aspects of ambiguity present in deontic sentences, which may have three pragmatic functions: a prescriptive or a descriptive or a constitutive function. This type of ambiguity is investigated on the lexical, phrasal, and sentential level. The discussion focuses on the deontic constructions of the German verb sollen and the English shall as they are used in legal texts. It also includes comments on the thetic function of the Latin imperative mood and the subjunctive mood.

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10.2478/v10016-009-0009-7

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Paolo Di Lucia
Università degli Studi di Milano

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Grundzüge der theoretischen Logik.D. Hilbert & W. Ackermann - 1928 - Annalen der Philosophie Und Philosophischen Kritik 7:157-157.
Norms, truth and logic.Georg Henrik von Wright - 1983 - In G. H. von Wright (ed.), Practical reason. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. pp. 130-209.
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Zur Ontologie des idealen Sollens.Herbert Spiegelberg - 1958 - Philosophisches Jahrbuch 66:243.

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