Modal remoteness in a grammatical description of Danish from 1901

Abstract

In the paper it is described how the Danish grammarian Hylling Georg Wiwel (1851-1910) already in 1901 anticipated the concept of ‘modal remoteness’ by analyzing the modal uses of the Danish Past tense. Subsequently it is demonstrated how the ideas of Wiwel have changed the Danish grammatical tradition with important consequences for even very recent grammars. Finally, it is discussed whether the Danish experiences have some relevance for the grammatical description of the similar Italian phenomena.