Investigating modality in two selected political speeches on covid-19 pandemic

Abstract EN

In grammar and semantics, modality is marked by linguistic devices that indicate the degree to which an expression is possible, probable, likely, certain, permitted, or prohibited.

The simplest way to explain modality is to say that it has to do with the stance the speaker adopts towards some situation expressed in a speech utterance.

Modality thus reflects the speaker's attitude towards the situation being described.

This paper discusses modality in two selected political speeches on Covid-19 pandemic: Joe Biden's speech on the fight against Covid-19 and Federal Chancellor Merkel's address to her nation on the spread of Covid-19.

The paper aims to detect the types of modality employed and investigate their differences as well as significance in the chosen texts.

This study consists of two parts.

The first focuses on the concept of discourse, discourse analysis, modality and its types according to (Simpson's (1993) model of modality) as well as its categories and subcategories.

The second part shows the practical investigation which involves the statistical analysis of modality, discussion of the results and the conclusions that the study arrives at.