Subjectivity: Between discourse and conceptualization.

This brief ‘conceptual’ paper offers some reflections on the status of ‘subjectivity’ in language. Section 1 highlights the differences and correlations between a few of the major current concepts of subjectivity, notably the ‘general’ ones by Traugott (1989) , Traugott and Dasher, 2002 ) and Langacker (1990, 1999, 2008) , and the specific one(s) as postulated in the context of the analysis of modal expressions ( Nuyts, 2001, 2012 ). Section 2 then zooms in on the ‘functional’ role in language use of the modality-related – or probably more accurately, attitude-related – dimension, focusing on its discursive status. Section 3 , finally, returns to the issue of how the major notions of subjectivity discussed in Section 1 relate, and how this can only be understood with reference to both the conceptual and the discursive status of the phenomena at stake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]