Modal

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Revision as of 00:25, 24 July 2024 by Laqme (talk | contribs) (Laqme moved page Modality to Modal)

Modals express under what conditions something happens. Toaq has four of them: she, daı, ao, and ea. When used with a complement, like âo x nä y, (where x is a CP) they work like this:

does x happen
in this world?
if it did,
would y happen?
she yes yes
daı yes maybe
ao no yes
ea no maybe

This is presented in the refgram as

indicative subjunctive
necessity she ao
possibility daı ea

Without a complement, they are given the falling tone, isn't used, and the restriction is left a mystery.