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ArticleInterdisciplinary Studies of Translation http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/tfll.2025.12.021

A Corpus-based Study of the Distributional Features of Modal Verbs in Chinese and English New Year Messages

Shicong Ma, Jilin Fu*, Rui Zhao

School of Foreign Studies, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066000, Hebei, China.

*Corresponding author: Jilin Fu

Published: December 31, 2025

Abstract

This study shows how modal verbs are distributed in Chinese New Year Messages and their English translations, using a method based on corpora. The author built a Chinese-English parallel text corpus.The author checked modal verbs by how often they show up and what their modal value is. Our findings show that the original Chinese texts prefer modal verbs with a high value, and the word yao appears frequently. This shows that the tone of these texts is pretty clear and firm. On the other hand, the English translations have a higher total number of modal verbs overall, but they mostly use modals with a median value, the most common one being will. This difference in how modal values are spread suggests that when translators pick modals, it works as a way to adjust how strong the modality feels. It softens the sense of obligation and certainty, but still keeps the main point that the text tends to communicate. Looking more closely, this shift proves how the modality systems of Chinese and English are different, and also what external communication needs. Translated texts often choose a more balanced discourse style that suits international audience. This study gives practical, data-based ideas about how modality is used when translating political kinds of discourse.

Keyword

Modal verbs; Modal value; Parallel corpus-based analysis

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Copyright

© 2025 by the author(s).
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not modified or adapted.
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How to cite this paper

A Corpus-based Study of the Distributional Features of Modal Verbs in Chinese and English New Year Messages

How to cite this paper: Shicong Ma, Jilin Fu, Rui Zhao. (2025). A Corpus-based Study of the Distributional Features of Modal Verbs in Chinese and English New Year Messages. Translation and Foreign Language Learning, 1(5), 872-876.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/tfll.2025.12.021