Abstract
The analysis of a sample of spontaneous speech of children between two‐and‐a‐half and five shows that the expression of modality was one of the main points of growth. Modal expressions dealing with human action and capability were well established, but those which express objective probability were mainly used by older children. The use of modalities concerned with hypothetical reasoning and social obligations were only beginning to appear.

This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit: