The Modals as Pragmatic Softening Devices： Evidence From Late Modern English Grammar and Manner Books

In this research, the author considers the evidence provided by a corpus of Late Modem English grammars for our understanding of the development of the modals as politeness markers. It is possible to see how the modals and their accompanied senses are explained in an official （and often either prescriptive or proscriptive） perspective. This is another aspect which cannot be ascertained from the usage based on corpora which seem to be popular as sources of evidence in historical pragmatics. In this sense, this research brings some novel perspective to this aspect of academic study. It is possible to notice that the significations involves concept or senses which extend across a semantic--pragmatic domain which includes politeness. We can see that certain softening senses are key elements to mark polite usage. The main data used come from the descriptions of the modal auxiliary verb in a corpus of grammar books from the period. Usage and manner books are also consulted as a secondary resource. The manner book in particular is quite helpful for our understanding of how linguistic politeness was regarded at the time. Such texts also help us to find a certain network of senses which are related to polite expressions.