French Modal Auxiliaries and Modal Constructions

@cite{kaufmann-2012} @cite{ruytenbeek-etal-2017} @cite{kratzer-1991}

French modal verbs pouvoir ('can') and devoir ('must'), plus the impersonal construction il est possible de ('it is possible to').

Semantic Properties

Devoir and pouvoir are the French counterparts of Italian dovere and potere (see Fragments.Italian.Modals). Like their Italian cognates, both are polysemous across epistemic, deontic, and circumstantial readings.

Key asymmetry relevant to @cite{ruytenbeek-etal-2017}:

• Devoir (necessity) in 2nd person declaratives (Vous devez VP) receives directive force as readily as imperatives — same RT, same response pattern (virtually 100% directive interpretations).
• Pouvoir (possibility) in 2nd person declaratives (Vous pouvez VP) receives directive interpretations less readily (~30%).
• Il est possible de VP patterns with pouvoir, not devoir.

@cite{kaufmann-2012}: imperatives have the semantics of deontic necessity modals. The devoir data confirms the reverse: deontic necessity modals in declaratives receive directive force because they share the semantic feature (deontic necessity) with imperatives.

Connection to Italian Fragment

French and Italian modal systems are cognate (Latin debēre → Fr. devoir, It. dovere; Latin posse/potēre → Fr. pouvoir, It. potere). Both show the epistemic/root ambiguity and both participate in position-sensitive flavor selection (@cite{hacquard-2006}).

structure Fragments.French.Modals.FrenchModalEntry : Type

A French modal entry. Simpler than the Italian entry (which tracks restructuring position) — here we track the available flavors and whether the modal is a personal verb or impersonal construction.

• form : String

  Citation form

• force : Core.Modality.ModalForce

  Modal force (necessity or possibility)

• flavors : List Core.Modality.ModalFlavor

  Available modal flavors

• isPersonal : Bool

  Whether this is a personal verb (conjugated for subject) or impersonal construction

• takesInfinitive : Bool

  Whether the modal takes an infinitive complement

instance Fragments.French.Modals.instReprFrenchModalEntry : Repr FrenchModalEntry

Equations

• Fragments.French.Modals.instReprFrenchModalEntry = { reprPrec := Fragments.French.Modals.instReprFrenchModalEntry.repr }

def Fragments.French.Modals.instReprFrenchModalEntry.repr : FrenchModalEntry → ℕ → Std.Format

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def Fragments.French.Modals.instBEqFrenchModalEntry.beq : FrenchModalEntry → FrenchModalEntry → Bool

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• Fragments.French.Modals.instBEqFrenchModalEntry.beq x✝¹ x✝ = false

instance Fragments.French.Modals.instBEqFrenchModalEntry : BEq FrenchModalEntry

Equations

• Fragments.French.Modals.instBEqFrenchModalEntry = { beq := Fragments.French.Modals.instBEqFrenchModalEntry.beq }

def Fragments.French.Modals.pouvoir : FrenchModalEntry

Pouvoir ('can/may'): personal possibility modal.

Dynamic/deontic: Vous pouvez partir ('You can/may leave') Epistemic: Il peut être intelligent ('He may be intelligent')

In 2nd person declaratives, the most salient reading is permission (deontic possibility) or ability (circumstantial).

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def Fragments.French.Modals.devoir : FrenchModalEntry

Devoir ('must/have to'): personal necessity modal.

Deontic: Vous devez partir ('You must leave') Epistemic: Il doit être chez lui ('He must be at home')

@cite{kaufmann-2012}: in 2nd person declaratives, devoir receives directive force as readily as imperatives because both express deontic necessity.

Equations

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def Fragments.French.Modals.ilEstPossible : FrenchModalEntry

Il est possible de VP ('it is possible to VP'): impersonal possibility construction.

Not restricted to a particular modal base — can express epistemic, deontic, or circumstantial possibility depending on context (@cite{kratzer-1991}).

@cite{ruytenbeek-etal-2017}: in the Frantext corpus, this construction is used as a direct question 70% of the time, vs only 16% as a directive. Much less conventionalized as an indirect request than Pouvez-vous VP? (71% directive).

Equations

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def Fragments.French.Modals.falloir : FrenchModalEntry

Falloir ('to be necessary'): impersonal necessity modal.

Il faut partir ('One must leave / It is necessary to leave')

Always impersonal (conjugated only as il faut). Primarily deontic/circumstantial in root uses.

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def Fragments.French.Modals.allModals : List FrenchModalEntry

Equations

• Fragments.French.Modals.allModals = [Fragments.French.Modals.pouvoir, Fragments.French.Modals.devoir, Fragments.French.Modals.ilEstPossible, Fragments.French.Modals.falloir]

def Fragments.French.Modals.lookup (form : String) : Option FrenchModalEntry

Equations

• Fragments.French.Modals.lookup form = List.find? (fun (x : Fragments.French.Modals.FrenchModalEntry) => x.form == form) Fragments.French.Modals.allModals

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.pouvoir_is_possibility : pouvoir.force = Core.Modality.ModalForce.possibility

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.devoir_is_necessity : devoir.force = Core.Modality.ModalForce.necessity

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.ilEstPossible_is_possibility : ilEstPossible.force = Core.Modality.ModalForce.possibility

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.falloir_is_necessity : falloir.force = Core.Modality.ModalForce.necessity

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.pouvoir_is_personal : pouvoir.isPersonal = true

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.devoir_is_personal : devoir.isPersonal = true

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.ilEstPossible_is_impersonal : ilEstPossible.isPersonal = false

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.falloir_is_impersonal : falloir.isPersonal = false

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.pouvoir_polysemous : pouvoir.flavors = [Core.Modality.ModalFlavor.epistemic, Core.Modality.ModalFlavor.deontic, Core.Modality.ModalFlavor.circumstantial]

Both personal modals are polysemous across all three flavors.

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.devoir_polysemous : devoir.flavors = [Core.Modality.ModalFlavor.epistemic, Core.Modality.ModalFlavor.deontic, Core.Modality.ModalFlavor.circumstantial]

def Fragments.French.Modals.FrenchModalEntry.forceFlavors (m : FrenchModalEntry) : List Core.Modality.ForceFlavor

The set of force-flavor pairs expressed by a modal entry.

Equations

• m.forceFlavors = List.map (fun (x : Core.Modality.ModalFlavor) => { force := m.force, flavor := x }) m.flavors

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.devoir_has_deontic_necessity : { force := Core.Modality.ModalForce.necessity, flavor := Core.Modality.ModalFlavor.deontic } ∈ devoir.forceFlavors

Devoir expresses deontic necessity — the same force-flavor pair as the imperative speech act's primary flavor.

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.pouvoir_has_deontic_possibility : { force := Core.Modality.ModalForce.possibility, flavor := Core.Modality.ModalFlavor.deontic } ∈ pouvoir.forceFlavors

Pouvoir expresses deontic possibility — permission, not obligation.

The imperative speech act has deontic content (primaryFlavor .imperative = .deontic). Devoir in a 2nd person declarative shares this flavor. This is why Vous devez VP receives directive force as readily as imperatives — the deontic feature is the semantic basis for directive compatibility, not the sentence type.

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.devoir_shares_imperative_flavor : Core.Modality.ModalFlavor.deontic ∈ devoir.flavors ∧ Semantics.Modality.Assert.primaryFlavor Core.Discourse.IllocutionaryMood.imperative = Core.Modality.ModalFlavor.deontic

Devoir shares a modal flavor with the imperative speech act: both have deontic as a primary flavor.

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.pouvoir_devoir_force_contrast : pouvoir.force = Core.Modality.ModalForce.possibility ∧ devoir.force = Core.Modality.ModalForce.necessity

Pouvoir also has deontic as an available flavor, but its force is possibility (permission), not necessity (obligation). The force distinction explains why Vous pouvez VP gets fewer directive interpretations than Vous devez VP: permission is weaker than obligation.

French and Italian modals are cognate and share key properties: same force (necessity/possibility), same flavor polysemy.

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.devoir_dovere_same_force : devoir.force = Core.Modality.ModalForce.necessity

Devoir and dovere share the same force.

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.pouvoir_potere_same_force : pouvoir.force = Core.Modality.ModalForce.possibility

Pouvoir and potere share the same force.

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.french_modal_duality : devoir.force = Core.Modality.ModalForce.necessity ∧ pouvoir.force = Core.Modality.ModalForce.possibility

French necessity and possibility modals form a dual pair.

theorem Fragments.French.Modals.devoir_pouvoir_same_flavors : devoir.flavors = pouvoir.flavors

Both personal modals have the same flavor inventory.