A Multifactorial Analysis Of The Variation Patterns Of Obligation And Necessity Modal Verbs Must And Have To In China English

Must and have to are the modal verbs expressing the meaning of obligation and necessity.Different in form but similar in meaning and function,they are the two variants under the same variation rules.Based on the China English part(EAVECN)of a self-compiled corpus EAVE,this study combined quantitative analysis and qualitative interpretations,explores the variation patterns of must and have to in China English,the differences of usage characteristics between China English and native English varieties,and the mechanism for the choice of must and have to by Chinese English speakers,which can be reflected from the above variation patterns and characteristics.Results reveal that:(1)The variation patterns of must and have to in China English in general are similar but not identical to those in native English varieties.(2)Among the 9 linguistic factors explored in this study,8 factors:subject referent animacy,subject person,voice of the verb,modal verb sense,verb type,subject referent number,subject number and sentence type constrain Chinese English speakers’ choice of must and have to.These results are the same with those of British English and a little different from those of American English.5 linguistic factors:modal verb sense,subject referent animacy,subject person,verb type and voice of the verb constrain American English speakers’choice.The study also found each linguistic factor yields different constraining effect on speakers of different English varieties.(3)The above results show that the mechanism for the choice of must and have to by Chinese English speakers is similar but not identical to those of native ones.In parlance of the Competition Model,Chinese English speakers and native English speakers have similar cues(the linguistic factors)when make a choice.However,the same cue has different constraining effect on speakers of different English varieties.The results of the present study are beneficial to enrich the variation theory of modal verbs,and provide a helpful method for the future study of the same kind.