| This Ph.D. dissertation proposes that a well-formed case grammar analysis of main verbs is a valuable aid in interpreting the meaning of the English modal verbs under whose scope they occur. The case grammar analysis is based on the work of Cook (1989), and the modal auxiliary representation is based on the work of Cook (1978).; In this information-theoretic investigation the theoretic work is being applied to the analysis of real world language extracted from a natural language database, the Francis corpus. The use of KWIC indices has allowed the accumulation of over 3000 sentences of selected modal auxiliaries in the context of main verbs. These sentences serve as a testbed for the analysis of the meaning of the modal auxiliaries scoping over main verbs.; The representation of the modals best suited to the case analysis was found in treating the modals as having discrete differences, discriminating Root and Epistemic modals. The Epistemic modal was taken to be a one-place intransitive predicate which can be paraphrased to show necessity, possibility, or inference. The Root modal had two forms with different meanings. Root{dollar}sb1{dollar} was characterized as a deontic modal showing permission, obligation, and suggestion or strong recommendation. Root{dollar}sb2{dollar} was considered to have a meaning of ability, or capability which often had a physical overtone. Both Root modals were investigated as two-place transitive predicates.; The case grammar classification of three verb types was used to discriminate different modal auxiliaries. In this approach, the Root modals that were investigated were found to occur only with Action verbs having an agent case role. Epistemic modals were found to occur with State, Process, and Action verbs. Ambiguity was shown to occur only in the context of Action verbs. In that case contextual, pragmatic knowledge was used to disambiguate the meaning of the modal auxiliary.; The conclusion of this investigation is that case grammar is a valuable tool in discovering the meaning of modal auxiliary verbs in English. This finding will be useful in the areas of Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), and Natural Language Processing (NLP). |
