De-auxiliarization without de-modalization in the Dutch core modals: a case of collective degrammaticalization?

This paper reports on a remarkable pattern of re-autonomization, hence, possibly, degrammaticalization, occurring in three core modals in Dutch, viz. kunnen ‘can’, mogen ‘may’ and moeten ‘must’, a process in which the deontic and directive uses of these verbs seem to play a special role.