Zullen en willen : Twee vreemde eenden in de modale bijt.

This paper offers a corpus-based investigation of the diachronic evolution of the Dutch modal verbs zullen 'shall/will' and willen 'want'. Although they show considerable differences in their developments, neither of these verbs participates in the marked tendency to regain grammatical autonomy characterizing the 'central' modals kunnen 'can', mogen 'may', moeten 'must' and hoeven 'need'. While the latter verbs from New Dutch onwards occur increasingly often without an additional main verb in the clause, this evolution is largely absent in zullen and willen. The paper attempts to offer an explanation on the basis of the developments in the semantic profile of the modal verbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]