5.2 First-Person Epistemic Parentheticals in PDE 131As epistemic markers, modal verbs thus may be used to express a range of
meanings from certainty or confi dence to the opposite extreme. As expressions
of confi dence they function emphatically to strengthen the force of an utter-
ance (e.g., know ); more often, however, they express uncertainty or tentative-
ness and hence serve to weaken or soften the force of an utterance (e.g., think )
(Corum 1975 : 136; Quirk et al. 1985 : 1114; Coates 1987 : 115– 116). While
modal verbs can be compared with modal auxiliaries, for example may with
I think or must with I conclude , there exists no absolute equivalence between
the two forms, because modal verbs, while functioning grammatically as
modal operators, express more lexical meaning than the corresponding modals
(cf. Quirk et al. 1985 : 1113). Modal verbs compare more closely with modal
adverbs, for example, I know with certainly or I believe with probably/ maybe
(Urmson 1952 : 487; Perkins 1983 : 98; Quirk et al. 1985 : 1114; see Chapter 6
on I admit/ admittedly ).
5.2.2 Subjective Meaning
A distinction is often made between “objective” and “subjective” epistemic
modality (see Lyons 1977 : 797– 801). Subjective epistemicity is “a conclu-
sion drawn by the speaker from his own knowledge of the state of the world
at the time of speaking,” while objective subjectivity is “a logical conclusion
drawn by others on the basis of their observation” (Watts 1984 : 131).^5 The
essence of the former is “to express the speaker’s reservations about giving
an unqualifi ed, or categorical ‘I- say- so’ to the factuality of the proposition”
(Lyons 1977 : 799). Modal verbs such as think and believe are considered mark-
ers of subjective epistemic modality (Coates 1987 : 115; Perkins 1983 ; Nuyts
2001 ). Perkins ( 1983 : 101, 103) points out that if a speaker “wishes to make
the modality of his utterance explicitly subjective, he may use a modal lexical
verb with a fi rst person subject, although he is obliged here to specify further
the nature of the subjective epistemic state.” In their parenthetical use, modal
lexical verbs are thus explicitly subjective (Benveniste 1971 : 224).^6
In a study using the Santa Barbara corpus of spoken American English ,
Scheibman ( 2002 ) begins with the assumption that language is primarily used
subjectively to express speaker point of view (15). While she admits that the pres-
ence of I does not always necessarily imply subjectivity, she fi nds that fi rst- person
5 In Present- day English, most modal adverbs, such as possibly , evidently , seemingly , supposedly ,
certainly , and clearly , express objective epistemic modality, as do many nominal/ adjectival/
participial impersonal constructions, such as it is {likely, possible, certain, alleged, conjectured,
inferred} that or there’s a possibility that , while modal auxiliaries and some modal adverbs,
such as maybe and perhaps , are neutral.
6 There is not complete unanimity about the highly subjective nature of modal lexical verbs (see
Narrog 2012 : 30– 31).