Modal Verb Usage in Tourism Discourse

Abstract

The present contribution examines the use of modal verbs in specialised tourism discourse, with a focus on the Verona Corpus. Modal verbs play a crucial role in expressing modality and conveying information about necessity, possibility, and permission (Maci 2020; Palmer 1990). Through a comprehensive analysis of the Verona Corpus, a corpus of websites promoting the city of Verona (Italy) as a destination, this study categorises modal verbs into epistemic, deontic, and dynamic modalities (see Palmer 1990) and investigates their relative frequencies. Non-parametric statistical tests (Kruskal-Wallis) are employed to determine the significance of differences in modal verb usage, followed by a qualitative analysis. The results show statistically significant differences among the three categories of modality used in the texts: epistemic, deontic, and dynamic, whereas there are no differences between the verb groups (e.g., can, could, may, might, etc.) within the same type of modality. In addition, the use of pronouns shows an attempt at establishing an empathic relationship with the tourists but risks coming across as too artificial and persuasive.

Keywords

• tourism discourse
• modality
• modal verbs
• specialised discourse