1引言作为语法化的情态表达手段,英语的情态动词系统历来为学者们所关注,而且往往被认为是英语语法中“最重要、最难描写的”(Palmer,1979:preface)。虽然学者们在过去的几十年里从多种视角对英语情态动词的意 1 Introduction As a grammatical means of modality expression, English modal verb system has always been of concern to scholars, and is often considered as “the most important and most difficult to describe” in English grammar (Palmer, 1979: preface). Although scholars have interpreted Italian modal verbs from multiple perspectives over the past few decades