Modality in Specialized Texts

This volume contains a selection of papers presented at an international conference held in Bergamo (5-6 May 2000), which focussed on the semantic and pragmatic values of modality in specialized texts legal, economic, academic and medical. The assembled contributions give an overview of the range of scholarly approaches to modality. They convey the theoretical background and provide in-depth analyses of specialized texts on a synchronic as well as on a diachronic level.

Autorentext

The Editors: Maurizio Gotti is Professor of English Language and Linguistics, Director of the Language Centre and Director of CERLIS, the research centre on specialized languages, at the University of Bergamo.
Marina Dossena is an Associate Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of Bergamo (Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures).

Inhalt
Contents: Irma Taavitsainen: Evidentiality and Scientific Thought-Styles: English Medical Writing in Late Middle English and Early Modern English Gualtiero Calboli: Verbal Moods in Latin Juridical Language Gabriella Del Lungo Camiciotti: The Expression of Volition in Late Medieval English Wills Maurizio Gotti: Semantic and Pragmatic Values of Shall and Will in Early Modern English Statutes Marina Dossena: Committed Wittingly, Willinglie and of Purpose: Exclusiveness and Intensification in Early Modern English Legal Texts Roberta Facchinetti: Conditional Constructions in Modern English Legal Texts Giuliana Garzone: Deontic Modality and Performativity in English Legal Texts Giuliana Diani: Modality and Speech Acts in English Acts of Parliament Jan Engberg: Entwicklungslinien in der Verwendung von sollen in deutschen Gesetzestexten Dorothee Heller: Ist Modalität normierbar? Zum Gebrauch der Modalverben in DIN-Normen Luisa Chierichetti: La modalidad deóntica en el Código Civil español. Apuntes para una comparación con el Codice Civile italiano Carolina Figueras Solanilla: Modalidad y género discursivo: la diligencia policial como tipo de texto específico Ken Hyland: Definitely a Possible Explanation: Epistemic Modality in Academic Argument Davide Simone Giannoni: The Disciplined Scholar: Deontic Modality in Editors' Instructions to Contributors Peggy Katelhön: Evidentialität in wissenschaftlichen Texten Polly Walsh: Prediction and Conviction: Modality in Articles from The Economist Belinda Crawford Camiciottoli: Understanding Modality in Economic Texts Pauline Webber/Huon Snelgrove/Philippa Mungra: The Use of Modality in Different Medical Text Genres.