Helgoländisch mut: von finitem Modalverb zu epistemischer Partikel

Abstract

In the Frisian dialect of Heligoland sentences are found which apparently contain two finite verbs, the modal verb mut ‘must’ in the verb second position and a full verb in the verb final position. It will be argued that the original 3rd person present form mut developed into an epistemic particle, so that the inflection shifted to the former infinitive. The grammaticalization of this particle, its spread from deliberative questions to declarative clauses and its epistemic status are discussed in some detail. The epistemic particle mut in Heligolandic is compared to similar particles occupying the verb second position in West and North Germanic languages.