MODALITIES IN CONTEMPORARY MEDIA ARABIC BETWEEN THE GRAMMATICALIZED AND THE LEXICAL CLASSES
MODALITIES IN CONTEMPORARY MEDIA ARABIC BETWEEN THE GRAMMATICALIZED AND THE LEXICAL CLASSES

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this paper is to examine the elements of linguistic expression (lexical items, circumlocutions, grammatical morphemes, syntactical features) that can be used with a modal function in present day journalistic writing in Arabic. We have chosen for this purpose to look at two opinion articles penned by contemporary Arab journalists, seeking to assess, beyond the different means and devices used to convey their subjectivity analyzed in and for themselves, whether there are any detectable common patterns in treating modality. This inquiry allowed us to conclude, albeit tentatively, that the type of modal marker used in a certain case is dependent upon a series of factors, chief among which is the position of the proposition subjected to modalization within the text: the introductory paragraphs of the articles appear to exhibit a rather limited readiness on the authors’ part to mark modality in a direct, explicit manner – the presuppositions leading to this choice not being necessarily the same – while subsequent paragraphs show a gradual increase in the explicitness of modal marking; this transition expectedly requires the use of devices of different types for each of the stages, and in reviewing these different types the distinction between modal markers that are more prone to grammaticalization and those belonging to the lexical class (inasmuch as a clear distinction can be made between the two classes, given the specificities of Literary Arabic in this respect) becomes relevant.

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