Every language have some modal expression what express the possibility and necessity, for example there are modal verbs and modal adverbs in English, and modal verbs, modal adverbs and possible complement for Mandarin Chinese. However in Mandarin Chinese, some modal expressions have similar semantic functions, as ¡§¯à(neng)¡¨, ¡§·|(hui)¡¨, ¡§¥i¥H(keyi)¡¨and possible complement, it could cause confusions to the learners. Furthermore, all of these modal expressions could translated as ¡§할 수 있다¡]hal su itda¡^¡¨ in Korean, so Korean learner would feel that is very difficult. Therefore, this study will contrast the modal expressions of Mandarin Chinese and Korean, and contrast novel¡m¶É«°¤§ÅÊ(Love of the beautiful women)¡nin Mandarin Chinese and Korean, try to explain the problems what the Korean learners could have when they acquire the modal expressions in Mandarin Chinese. Palmer¡]1986¡^classify the modality as epistemic modality, deontic modality and dynamic modality. And he classify the deontic modality as permission, obligation and promise, classify the dynamic modality as volition and ability. Hofmann(1993) classify the dynamic modality as ability and capability, and Porter(2009) classify as ability and opportunity. Present paper would accept the classification of Palmer mainly and refer to the classification of Hofmann and Portner, classify the modality as epistemic modality, deontic modality and dynamic modality, the deontic modality include obligation and permission, and the dynamic modality include volition, ability, capability and opportunity. The result of the study, the counterparts of modal expressions in Mandarin Chinese and Korean is very complicated. The ¡§¯à(neng)¡¨, ¡§·|(hui)¡¨, ¡§¥i¥H(keyi)¡¨and possible complement are equivalent to ¡§¡]으¡^ㄹ 수 있다¡]eul su itda¡^¡¨ altogether, but only negation of ¡§¯à(neng)¡¨, ¡§¥i¥H(keyi)¡¨and possible complement are equivalent to the negation of ¡§¡]으¡^ㄹ 수 있다¡]eul su itda¡^¡¨ , it will cause the difficulty of Korean learners.

本研究探討漢語母子對話中，兒童使用情態動詞(modal verb)「會」的類別、人稱主詞及語用功能。受試者分成第一組(平均兩歲十一個月)與第二組(平均四歲十個月)。研究結果發現認知(epistemic)情態動詞的「會」比動力(dynamic)情態動詞的「會」晚習得，而義務(deontic)情態動詞的「會」則很少出現。其指出不同的習得順序與認知發展有關，即認知上易理解的概念比認知上較不易理解的早習得。在情態動詞「會」的人稱主詞上，兒童在動力和義務情態動詞「會」主要是使用第一人稱當主詞，然而兒童傾向使用第三人稱當認知情態動詞「會」的主詞。而兒童很少使用第二人稱當情態動詞「會」的主詞。情態動詞「會」語句的語用功能方面，動力情態動詞「會」語句包含請求、拒絕、描述、誇耀；義務情態動詞「會」語句只發現承諾的功能；而認知情態動詞「會」語句有爭辯、疑惑、推論的功能。研究結果顯示兒童能掌握情態動詞「會」語句不同的語用功能。 / This study examined Mandarin-speaking children’s different types, person subjects, and pragmatic functions of the modal hui utterances in mother-child conversations. Children were divided into Group I (mean age= 2;11) and Group II (mean age= 4;10). The results showed that the epistemic modal hui was acquired relatively late, compared with the dynamic modal hui. The deontic modal hui was a marginal use. It suggests that the different acquisition order seems to involve cognitive development, which means that the cognitively accessible concept may be acquired earlier than the less cognitively accessible one. As for the person subjects of the modal hui, children mainly used the dynamic and deontic modal hui with the first person subject; however, they tended to use the epistemic modal hui with the third person subject. Children rarely used the modal hui with the second person subject. With regard to the pragmatic functions of the modal hui utterances, it was found that the functions of the dynamic hui utterances included request, refusal, reporting, and boasting. In the deontic hui utterances, only the function of promise was found. The epistemic hui utterances served the functions of argument, puzzlement, and reasoning. The results suggest that children are sensitive to the pragmatic functional aspects of the modal hui utterances.

This thesis discusses the translation of deontic modal verbs from Swedish to German. The materialfor the study includes two chapters from Ribbings Etikett by Magdalena Ribbing (2016), a non-fiction book about etiquette. The source text contains the Swedish modal verbs kunna, skola, böra, måste, vilja and få. Only böra and vilja were consistently translated into the same German modal verbs: sollten and wollen. The other modal verbs have been translated into various modal verbs, showing that modal verbsgenerally do not have a one-to-one correspondent. One example is the modal verb skola that istranslated into various German modal verbs such as sollten, sollen and müssen. Also, all types of modal verbs were sometimes translated into a passive modal construction (haben/sein+zu+infinitive) or to sentences lacking modality.The translation of modal verbs mainly depends on the strength of modality. A modal verbwith a weaker degree of obligation such as sollten was often used in recommendations instead ofthe stronger müssen. Occasionally, a passive construction was chosen instead of a modal verb, inorder to avoid repetition of a certain modal verb.

This study examines the translation of three forms of reader address from English to Swedish in a gardening guidebook – the pronoun you as a second person reference and generic reference, modal verbs, and imperatives. The translation was made by the author of this study. The aim of the study is to investigate how the three forms of reader address is translated. The quantitative analysis shows that the most used form of reader address out of the three investigated are imperatives, while the pronoun you followed closely behind. While modal verbs were used frequently in the ST, the modality was not translated in the TT. The qualitative analysis shows that the pronoun you was translated into second person du, third person generic man or was omitted in the translation in almost equal measure. How the pronoun you was translated in the TT depended on how the translator interpreted the author’s target audience. Only two modal verbs occurred frequently in the ST, and in the TT they were either translated as modal verbs or into present tense. Lastly, the imperative verbs were most commonly translated as imperatives in the TT. About 10% were translated into tensed verbs. Furthermore, half of that was translated to form suggestions.

情態動詞「會」在前人的研究當中，具有許多不同的功能，例如表能力、表預知、表一般特性等不同的功能。本論文採用Monosemy View，認為「會」在語言表面上所呈現出之不同用法，並不是武斷毫無關係的，而是存在著非常密切的語意關連性。再者，透過此觀點，我們希望嘗試找出這些不同功能之間的語意關係。本研究提出三個假設如下：第一，情態動詞「會」有一個語意核心，表說話者對於句子命題的體現(realization)，有著非常高的把握；第二，情態動詞「會」在句子裡擔任一個運符(operator)的角色，其作用是將說話者對此句子的語態加諸在此句子之上；第三，本篇論文提出「會」所呈現出許多不同的功能，是經由情態動詞與句子之情態內容所交互作用的結果。 / Carrying multiple functions--such as ability, prediction and generic--the modal verb hui in Mandarin Chinese has been extensively studied by previous researchers. This thesis, following the monosemy view, claims that the various functions of hui are not arbitrary, but closely related to one another. To account for the correlation between the various functions of hui, this thesis proposes three hypotheses. First, hui denotes assurance, indicating that the speaker’s attitude towards the realization of the propositional content is full of high assurance. Secondly, hui functions as an OPERATOR of the proposition denoted by the sentence. Thirdly, hui's multiple functions are context-derived. This thesis maintains that it is the interaction between the modal verb hui and the sentence’s proposition that results in the different functions carried by hui.

This diploma thesis deals with modality in German and highlights possible problems which can arise when modal formulations are translated from German into Czech. It focuses on modal verbs, which are presented as a special verb group. Knowledge of modal verbs is the basic prerequisite for accurate translation as far as semantics, grammar and stylistics are concerned. Since the correct identification of modality in a sentence essentially influences the accuracy of a translation, modality is considered exhaustively. Data was gathered from the parallel corpus Intercorp (project of parallel corpuses of The Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague), the Coocurrency Database (CCDB) IDS Mannheim which competes with the parallel corpus InterCorp, and original German fiction texts and their Czech translations and was the subject of comparative critical analysis. These analyses demonstrate the problematic phenomena encountered when German modal formulations are translated into Czech.