英语情态动词意义的不确定性

情态动词作为情态的主要体现形式，历来受到不同学者的研究与探讨。虽然对情态动词的研究数不胜数，并且不同的学者从不同的角度对情态动词的意义进行了研究，但对于情态动词意义不确定性的研究却很少。Coates把情态动词分为推测性和非推测性情态动词两大类别，并且极为重视对情态动词意义不确定性的研究，她把不确定性划分为渐近、歧义和重合三种类型。文章根据这一划分，从语义学角度探讨英语情态动词意义的不确定性，以促进语义学、应用语言学及外语教学的发展。

Indeterminacy of English Modal Verbs' Meaning

As the main embodiment of modality,modal verbs have been studied and discussed by many scholars. Many studies have been done on English modal verbs and on their meanings from different aspects, but there are much fewer studies on the indeterminacy of English modal verbs＇ meanings. Coates divides English modal verbs into Epistemic and Root mo- dais, and puts much emphasis on the study of indeterminacy of English modal verbs. She classifies indeterminacy into gradienee,ambiguity and merger. Based on this classification,this paper tries to discuss the indeterminacy of English modal verbs＇ meaning from the aspects of semantics,hoping to promote the development of semantics, applied linguistics and the teaching and learning of foreign languages.