Wenn ich ein Vöglein wär … Der Status der Emotionalität im Modalfeld des Deutschen
The Status of Emotionality in the German Modal Field

Summary/Abstract: The analysis of the verbal forms of moods in the folk song „Wenn ich ein Vöglein wär“ makes evident that the German subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) does not only function as a modus irrealis; it also informs about the emotion(s) of the lyrical I. The coherence between the epistemic modality and emotionality gets more obvious in the parody of the folk song by Heinrich Heine. The semantic function of the diminutive suffix -lein adds informations about emotions. This makes it clear that emotionality is also a subjective statement of the speaker’s views on the verbalized facts. Therefore emotionality can be understood as a kind of modality.

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