The exact current semantic value of the modal verb SHALL is still unascertainable, due to its numerous shades of meaning, which have gradually been taking shape since the shadowy early history of modal auxiliaries and have come through the centuries up to the present time. Nonetheless, grammarians have always attempted to set some clear-cut distinctions between SHALL and its counterpart WILL, which originated from a different semantic context, but has met SHALL on the grounds of futurity. To prevent the fortresses of their categorisations from being attacked, grammarians have sometimes forced actual use into the boundaries of rational rules and at times they have even trespassed the limits of social discrimination so as to brand some SHALL- or WILL-clauses as typically Scottish, Irish or American. Starting from this premise, the present paper has a double-folded aim; first I will analyse the syntactic and semantic features of SHALL as it occurs in a 19th century corpus, in an attempt to further dispel the mist still shrouding the history and development of this verb. Secondly, the analysis on real occurrences will allow me to discuss the socially biased remarks made by grammarians in the previous centuries and not yet totally abandoned. The data sampled for this study are derived from a subset of the corpus Changing Times (1993) containing about 15,000 original articles selected from The Times and The Sunday Times over 200 years of world history, from 1785 to 1992. The articles encompass accounts of events, letters, eye-witness reports and also personal reminiscences on a wide range of historical themes such as Trade and Industry, the Great War, the British Empire, the Second World War, the French Revolution, the Rise of Communism, the Rise of America, Moving European Boundaries, Women’s Rights, World Conflicts, Special Events and finally the Irish Question. For the purpose of my study, I will analyse the 188 articles dealing with the Irish Question in the 19th century; undoubtedly, 19th century Ireland was a source of social and political upheaval widely echoed in English newspapers. The declaration of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801, Daniel O’Connell’s Association for promoting Roman Catholic emancipation in the 1820s, the “Young Ireland” movement in the 1840s, the disastrous famine of 1846-51, the Home Rule League of Charles Stewart Parnell in the 1870s, William Gladstone’s efforts to remedy the situation in the final quarter of the century and finally the birth of the Irish Nationalist Movement Sinn Fein are only some of the many topics dealt with in the articles selected for the present analysis. Since a large number of them are copies of reports and commentaries previously published by Irish newspapers, such as The Cork Examiner, The Waterford Chronicle, and The Constitution, the English language as it was used in 19th century Ireland appears to be adequately represented alongside that of native English speakers.
The modal verb SHALL in the 19th century between grammar and usage
FACCHINETTI, Roberta
2000-01-01
Abstract
The exact current semantic value of the modal verb SHALL is still unascertainable, due to its numerous shades of meaning, which have gradually been taking shape since the shadowy early history of modal auxiliaries and have come through the centuries up to the present time. Nonetheless, grammarians have always attempted to set some clear-cut distinctions between SHALL and its counterpart WILL, which originated from a different semantic context, but has met SHALL on the grounds of futurity. To prevent the fortresses of their categorisations from being attacked, grammarians have sometimes forced actual use into the boundaries of rational rules and at times they have even trespassed the limits of social discrimination so as to brand some SHALL- or WILL-clauses as typically Scottish, Irish or American. Starting from this premise, the present paper has a double-folded aim; first I will analyse the syntactic and semantic features of SHALL as it occurs in a 19th century corpus, in an attempt to further dispel the mist still shrouding the history and development of this verb. Secondly, the analysis on real occurrences will allow me to discuss the socially biased remarks made by grammarians in the previous centuries and not yet totally abandoned. The data sampled for this study are derived from a subset of the corpus Changing Times (1993) containing about 15,000 original articles selected from The Times and The Sunday Times over 200 years of world history, from 1785 to 1992. The articles encompass accounts of events, letters, eye-witness reports and also personal reminiscences on a wide range of historical themes such as Trade and Industry, the Great War, the British Empire, the Second World War, the French Revolution, the Rise of Communism, the Rise of America, Moving European Boundaries, Women’s Rights, World Conflicts, Special Events and finally the Irish Question. For the purpose of my study, I will analyse the 188 articles dealing with the Irish Question in the 19th century; undoubtedly, 19th century Ireland was a source of social and political upheaval widely echoed in English newspapers. The declaration of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801, Daniel O’Connell’s Association for promoting Roman Catholic emancipation in the 1820s, the “Young Ireland” movement in the 1840s, the disastrous famine of 1846-51, the Home Rule League of Charles Stewart Parnell in the 1870s, William Gladstone’s efforts to remedy the situation in the final quarter of the century and finally the birth of the Irish Nationalist Movement Sinn Fein are only some of the many topics dealt with in the articles selected for the present analysis. Since a large number of them are copies of reports and commentaries previously published by Irish newspapers, such as The Cork Examiner, The Waterford Chronicle, and The Constitution, the English language as it was used in 19th century Ireland appears to be adequately represented alongside that of native English speakers.
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