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Thanks to all of you who bothered to help me with data and
suggestions. For me, the following insights emerged:<br>
<ul>
<li>Apparently, there is - viz. in Cabecar - a positive
counterpart to the apprehensive, which latter has been known
chiefly from Oceanic and Australian languages. This might be a
binary paradigm with the peculiarity that languages commonly
choose to incorporate either of its values in their system.</li>
<li>A good term for the positive counterpart seems to be
approbative. It was apparently brought up by Bolinger (1957) for
English, but its use as in Kibrik et al. 1977 seems well taken.<br>
</li>
<li>Given the polarity, it is possible for such an item to have
contrastive uses.</li>
<li>An approbative or apprehensive may start out as an evaluative
item. If the speaker evaluates an unreal situation positively,
this gives rise to the inference that he would want to see the
situation happen; and analogously for negative evaluation. This
inference may become part of the meaning of the item; and in
this way, something that starts out as an evaluative may be
grammaticalized to a modal item and even a mood.<br>
</li>
</ul>
Best to all of you,<br>
Christian<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<p style="font-size:90%">Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann<br>
Rudolfstr. 4<br>
99092 Erfurt<br>
<span style="font-variant:small-caps">Deutschland</span></p>
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<td>Tel.:</td>
<td>+49/361/2113417</td>
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<td>E-Post:</td>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:christianw_lehmann@arcor.de">christianw_lehmann@arcor.de</a></td>
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<td>Web:</td>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.christianlehmann.eu">https://www.christianlehmann.eu</a></td>
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