Modality in Regulatory Texts: A Corpus-based of SHALL in Immigration Law

The main aim of the present study is to explore recent developments in the behaviour, frequency and distribution of the core modal shall in English legislative texts, through a contrastive textual analysis of UK statutory laws and EU regulations and directives. A pragmatic analysis of shall implies the investigation of associated modals with similar deontic modal meanings expressing obligation, permission and prohibition (Palmer 1979, 2003; Coates 1983). Therefore, the study also examines, although to a lesser extent, the modals may, must, and the semi-modal be to. The functions of these deontic modals vary, consequently so does their distribution in the texts.