Deontic priority in the lexicalization of impossibility modals

Abstract

This paper presents a new cross-linguistic generalization in the domain of modality and explores its explanation in terms of communicative efficiency. Based on original data elicitation, we observe that, if a language lexicalizes any impossibilities, then it lexicalizes deontic impossibility. Our computational modeling suggests that this priority for deontic flavor is accounted for under the communicative efficiency model if a bias for deontic flavor is included in terms of utility values. Our results contribute to the empirical landscape of modal semantic typology and the growing literature on the role of bias in the communicative efficiency analysis for cross-linguistic lexicalization patterns.