LL-L "Morphology" 2004.01.23 (06) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 23.JAN.2004 (06) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Tom Maguire <jmaguire at pie.xtec.es>
Subject: LL-L "Morphology" 2004.01.23 (03) [E]

> From: Gaidheal <gaidheal at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Not sure how to categorize this
>
> The question before all of you: Is this French influence on English, a
> Germanic way of making the
> conditional that the Franks adopted into Latin to replace the old
imperfect,
> or simply a
> coincidence?
>
> Magno studio responsiones vestras exspecto!
>
> Beannachdan,
> Uilleam Ã’g mhic Sheumais.

Hello All,

I think the assumption that there is a French influence on English in
this case is difficult to substantiate.

I believe Reinhard has delicately put this question into a more
interesting context - that of modal verbs - relating WILL and WOULD with
MAY, SHOULD, MIGHT etc...

WILL/WOULD belong to the modals which help us to express possibility in
English. WILL expresses the future possibility in expressions like: I
WILL GO, which translates as "I have made up my mind, have the will, to
go". WOULD expresses a more uncertain possibility: I WOULD GO, which
means "I have the will to go but I am unsure of this future
possibility.".

These are paralleled in French by expressions like: "Il se peut que...",
"Peut-être...". Other dialects of Latin like Spanish or Catalan have
specific expressions, too, for possibility: "Potser que...", "Puede ser
que..."

Regards,

Tom
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