Modality in the Albanian language: A corpus-based analysis of administrative discourse

Abstract This article investigates modality as a central linguistic category in Albanian, arguing that it is a foundational element in how institutional authority, obligation, and procedural certainty are codified and framed linguistically in administrative discourse. Modality, which expresses the speaker’s stance toward a proposition – covering obligation, possibility, necessity, permission, and evidentiality – is examined through both theoretical and empirical lenses. Building on frameworks from Jespersen to Kratzer and Palmer, the study traces the evolution of modality from mood-based approaches to formal semantic and discourse-functional models. The empirical analysis draws on ALDOC (Albanian Documents Corpus), a 1.5-million-token collection of institutional texts. Using LancsBox 6.0, the article examines modality as realized through verb moods (indicative, subjunctive, and imperative), modal verbs (duhet, mund, and do), modal particles (nuk, mos, po, and jo), and fixed modal expressions (e.g., është e nevojshme and është e pamundur ). Findings show a strong preference for deontic and epistemic modality, reflecting the legalistic and depersonalized nature of administrative discourse. The study reveals that Albanian institutional texts employ a narrow, formal set of modal resources to ensure objectivity and clarity. Informal or subjective expressions are systematically avoided. This corpus-based analysis contributes to Albanian linguistics and cross-linguistic modality studies, emphasizing the need for typological and pragmatic integration in the study of institutional language.