Resumen de Modality in four texts of the independence of the English and Spanish colonies

Natalia Mora López

• Nowadays, we are accustomed to listening to or watching political speeches on television.

  However, in the 18th century different means had to be used, such as pamphlets and sermons. One of the best resources to transmit some meanings subtly in these texts is modality, which shows the speaker’s attitude towards a proposition. For these reasons, this paper analyses four influential texts from the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th respectively about the independence of the British colonies (one in favour and one against) and the Spanish colonies (one in favour and one against as well), in order to compare the use of modal verbs (more specifically, can, could, may, might, must, should and ought to for English, and deber (‘must’) and poder (‘can’) in present, past, future and conditional tenses in indicative and subjunctive mood in the Spanish texts), aiming to point out how this strategy is used according to their purpose and language. From the results, it can be concluded that the English texts use modality in a higher degree than the Spanish ones, but so do those in favour of independence with respect to those against. In addition, the Spanish texts focus on the actual possibilities they have, while the English texts do also deal with hypothetical situations. Finally, the four texts emphasise the use of “we” linked to these verbs in order to unify the people and their opinions