Abstract
This chapter provides a synchronic and diachronic description of the Dutch modal moeten, which means ‘must’ in Modern Dutch. The synchronic description combines Narrog’s (2005) distinction between volitive and non-volitive modality with Hengeveld’s (2004) approach to modality, which subcategorizes modal distinctions according to their domains and their targets. It is shown that moeten can be used to express all of these distinctions, although it is rare in the function of objective epistemic modality. The diachronic description focuses on deontic moeten and post-deontic non-modal meanings. It consists of two parts, the first describing the Old Dutch moeten ‘may’ and its development into an expression of optative illocution in Middle Dutch, as well as its semantic shift to modal necessity. In this context Nuyts’ (2011, 2013) claim, according to which moeten has been undergoing a process of degrammaticalization from Middle Dutch onward, is critically evaluated. The second part of the diachronic description of moeten is dedicated to a 20th century innovation which consists of the use of moeten in an imperative-like construction. The chapter ends with a synthesis of the changes undergone by moeten from Old Dutch onward making use of the Functional Discourse Grammar approach to grammaticalization (Hengeveld this volume).
