Modality & Fictional Point of View

Dr. Sarah Yahya

Linguistics & Literature
6th January 2023
 OUTLINE
(1) Modality
(2)Discourse Structure of fictional
prose
(3) Different models of point of view
– Modality and point of view
(4) A checklist of point of view
 (1) Modality

a. Definition

b. Types

c. Grammatical means to convey modality

d. Beyond Modality: Evaluative Devices

 (1) Modality (Cont.)

a. Definition:

Expresses an opinion or an attitude

towards the situation or event
described by an utterance.
 (1) Modality (Cont.)
(b) Types: (Toolan, 1998)
– Probability

– Obligation

– Willingness

– Usuality
• Subjective vs. Objective modality
 (1) Modality (Cont.)
(b) Types: (Simpson, 1993)
– Epistemic Modality: (possibility)
– Perception Modality: (human perception)
– Deontic Modality: (duty; obligation)
– Boulomaic Modality: (desire)
• Unmodalized: Categorical assertion
• Strongest degree of speaker commitment
 (1) Modality (Cont.)
(c) Grammatical means to convey modality:
– Modal auxiliaries

– Modal adverbs

– Lexical modal verbs

– Adjectives and nouns

– Adjectives and participles (be…that / be…to)

 (1). Modality (Cont.)
(d). Beyond Modality: Evaluative Devices:
– Evaluative verbs

– Evaluative adjectives and adverbs

– Generic sentences
• Assert something to be a general truth
 (2) Discourse Structure of Point of View

• Introduction
• Three levels of Discourse
– Types of Narrators
– Implied Author
– Implied reader
• Collapsing Discourse Levels Together
 (2)Discourse Structure of Point of View

• Introduction
– Novel: the most complex genre in
terms of discourse structure

– Leads to complexity in terms of point of view

– The distinction between what is

described and the perspective from which it is
described
(2) Discourse Structure of Point of View

• Three levels of Discourse:

– Author message Reader
– Narrator message Narratee
– Character message Character

– Three levels & six participants means more

viewpoints to be taken into account
 (2)Discourse Structure of Point of View

• Types of Narrators:
– I-Narrators
• A character; limited; unreliable
– Third-person Narrators
• Not a character; the dominant narrator type; narrator
and the author could be the same person; omniscient. If
limited or unreliable: foregrounded
 (2)Discourse Structure of Point of View

• Lack of fit between assumptions of authors and

third-person narrators & assumptions of readers and
what they assume during reading leads to:
• Implied author:
– The author implied by our understanding of the text
• Implied reader:
– The reader we have become in order to read
and interact sensitively to the text
 (2)Discourse Structure of Point of View

• Collapsing Discourse Levels Together

–Narrator-narratee level

– Collapsing between two levels at one

side

–Viewpoints can be collapsed

 (3)Different Models of Point of View

(i) Uspensky- Fowler’s- model of point

of view
(ii) Simpson’s Modal Grammar of point
of view
(i) Uspensky-Fowler’s Model of Point of
View
– Point of view on the ideological plane
• Beliefs and value systems
– Point of view on temporal plane
• Relationship of time as signaled in the narrative
– Point of view on the spatial plane
• The viewing position, the camera angle adapted in a text
– Point of view on the psychological plane
• Mediation through the consciousness of the teller of the story
 Point of view on the temporal plane
• It is about the way relationships of time are signalled
in narrative.

• Temporal point of view envelops a whole series of

stylistic techniques such as repetition, analepsis
(flashback) and prolepsis (prevision or flashforward).

• Much of what is analysed under the umbrella term

‘temporal point of view’ is to do with temporal
organisation as it relates to narrative structure.
 Modality &Point of View
• Simpson’s Modal Grammar of Point of View:
– Spatial point of view
– Temporal point of view
– Ideological point of view
– Psychological point of view
• The main focus of the model
(modality & point of view)
 Point of view on the spatial and
psychological planes
Spatial point of view is about the narrative
‘camera angle’ and is a device which has
obvious grammatical exponents in deixis
and in locative expressions.

Uspensky classifies the references to the

reflector’s senses, thoughts and feelings
where ‘the authorial point of view relies on
an individual consciousness (or perception)’
as point of view on the psychological plane.
... she stared down at the group – there were nine of them
now – with controlled fascination. The man had collapsed
his extendable pole and had rested it against the railings.
One of the others was bringing a tray of coffees from the
takeaway shop on Horseferry Road. What could they ever
hope to get that they didn’t already have? And so early in
the morning. What sort of satisfaction could they have
from this kind of work? And why was it they looked so
alike, these doorsteppers, as though drawn from one
tiny gene puddle of humanity?
(McEwan 1998: 94–5)
 Modality &Point of View: Psychological
point of view

Category A narratives Category B narratives

• positive • Narratorial mode

• Negative • Reflector mode
• neutral – Positive
– Negative
– neutral
 Modality &Point of View
• Category A narratives: 1st person
narrator

–Positive shade: Deontic, boulomaic

–Negative shade: Epistemic, perception

–Neutral shade: categorical assertion

 Modality &Point of View
• Category B narratives: Third-person narrator
• Narratorial mode: narrated from a
floating viewing position.
• Reflector mode: narration confined to a single
character’s consciousness.
• Each mode includes the three shades as
Category A narratives.
 A Checklist of Point of View
• Linguistic Indicators of Point of View:
– Schema oriented language
– Value-laden expressions
– Given versus new information
– Indicators of a character’s thoughts or
perceptions
– Deixis
– Social deixis
– Sequencing &Organization of actions &
events
– Ideological point of view