double modal
noun1
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences A sequence of two modal verbs, such as "might could", an impossible construction in standard English, but one used in some dialects, especially Southern US English.
- The first instances of double modals date back to the seventeenth century.2019, Irina S. Lebedeva, Svetlana N. Orlova, “Semantics and pragmatics of the double modal ‘might could’”, in Training, Language and Culture, volume 3, number 2, →DOI:
- Synonyms
- stacked modal
- Related terms
- modal stacking