Die Opazität epistemischer Modalverben im Deutschen: Funktion, Form und empirische Fassbarkeit

This study examines the variants of the modal verbs “können” [can], “mögen” [may], “müssen” [must], “sollen” [should], “wollen” [want], and “werden” [will], with a focus on the function of the epistemic modality. Their linguistic forms of realization can serve to express personal inferences or references to the statements of third parties. Besides theoretical definitions, the emphasis is on the empirical intelligibility of the phenomenon.