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from II - Verbal Modality
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 February 2021
Modal verbs form a closed class of verbs in German(ic) to the extent that have a very particular origin and property: they come from a preterit stem, have ablaut, and behave correspondingly in modern contexts. Their shift of interpretation between root and epistemicity is due to aspectual contexts. In contrast to all other verbs, verbal clusters (modal verb embedding another verb) are built without the preposition TO. Modal verbs with an epistemic reading have a syntax radically different from that of roots: they cannot be embedded, but appear only as heads of clusters.
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