1

Do the following sentences have a deontic or epistemic meaning?

  • He must be studying now.
  • He mustn't be studying now.
Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

From the Linguistic modality entry on Wikipedia:

In English as in many other languages, some of the same words are used for deontic modality as for epistemic modality, and the meaning is distinguished from context: He must be there by now (epistemic) versus He must be there tomorrow at noon (deontic).

(emphasis mine)

So each sentence could be either deontic or epistemic based on context.

Improve this answer
4
  • 1
    I wonder if, with must, the progressive "studying" is used more often with the epistemic, and the bare infinitive with the deontic. I wouldn't say "She must be studying" when I meant "She should really study now, not be wasting time by watching TV."
    – TimR
    Commented Nov 13, 2014 at 17:27
  • @TRomano still context-based. Counterexample to your example: "She must be studying by 10pm or she's grounded".
    – Digital Chris
    Commented Nov 13, 2014 at 17:57
  • Agreed. That "by 10pm" makes all the difference.
    – TimR
    Commented Nov 13, 2014 at 18:43
  • In BrE, the epistemic meaning of ""He can't be studying now".
    – tunny
    Commented Nov 13, 2014 at 20:26

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .