Tensed modal forms in non-finite contexts

Abstract

Unlike English, the Nordic languages have non-finite forms of certain modal verbs (e.g. kunne/kunna ‘can inf.’), and these modals can be embedded under other modals, as in the Swedish example in (1) (see e.g. Thráinsson & Vikner 1995, Eide 2005). In Danish, the embedded modal verb sometimes takes a seemingly finite (or tensed) form in this context, for an expected infinitival form; see (2a). Seemingly finite forms sometimes also appear in infinitival clauses, as in (2b). Characteristic for these examples is that the finite form for infinitive involves a modal verb like skal ‘shall’ or må ‘must’. The finite form is never obligatory but alternates with the expected infinitival form, and the use of finite forms have been debated in Denmark. See e.g. Barbiers 2005 and Corrigan 2006 for data from Dutch and British dialects where modals embed modals. The Danish part of the ScanDiaSyn survey included several sentences to test the possibility of a finite or infinitival form of a modal. Some of the results are presented below; see further Pedersen (2009) for a full overview of the data. I refer to modal forms like må ‘must’ as tense forms, although this is not necessarily correct; see section 3 for some discussion.