When we want to express what is possible or what we are able to do (and vice versa), we can use a variety of grammatical structures, which vary considerably from language to language. In this diploma I describe how possibility, ability or capability are expressed in modern Japanese with the help of the verbal phrase koto ga dekiru and the potential verbal form. Firstly, I explained the concept of modality in general, with an emphasis on dynamic modality which also includes the expression of possibility or ability. Afterwards I focused on how modality is perceived in modern Japanese, yet again concentrating on dynamic modality. Both the verbal phrase and the potential verbal form are presented in detail from a semantic and a grammatical perspective. Namely, the meaning of the verb dekiru in its root and modal sense and the formation of possible sentences with the help of the verb itself and the verbal phrase koto ga dekiru. Then I explain the formation of the potential verbal form, its main grammatical features, and the different types of potential sentences. The final part of my diploma includes a corpus analysis where I compared several Japanese verbs that appear in first-year Japanese classes. Each verb was put into both constructions and searched in the Japanese corpus. I compared how many times a particular verb appears, and which form is predominant in which written genre.
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