Some multiple musings (about modals), as you might could expect...

Many of you helped me out by taking surveys, and several of you asked what the research was about. This post will help to clarify what I was interested in:

There's a feature of Southern American English (and a few other varieties, like Northern England English, Scottish English, Irish English, some Caribbean varieties) that is very noticed by outsiders but overlooked by insiders: multiple modals. A modal is a verb that indicates the likelihood, ability, possibility, etc. of a verb. For example, I can do that, expresses the idea that the speaker has the ability to do something. In contrast,  I might do that means there is a possibility that the speaker will (or will not) do something. If you are familiar with the stand-up comedy of Jeff Foxworthy, you'll remember his brother saying, 'I used to could dance. If you give me a minute, I might could again.' I never could figure out as a youngster why these were funny. They sounded perfectly normal to me, and I know lots of people who said/say/will say phrases like that. I never got the joke (not the only time that's happened, but that's a different post!)

In most varieties of English, you can only have one modal in a clause (can, could, may, might, should, will, would are the main ones, with must, ought to, and shall also usually included, but less common in some varieties, and used to also is counted by some people). But, interestingly, Southern American Englishes (and the others I mentioned) allow more than one. It is very common to hear I might could do that, You should oughta go, He might will do it next week, etc. Now, not everyone likes all the combinations (might could and might should are very common), and I'm sure some of you have heard my voice in my surveys using these. Your reactions were probably mixed, some were good, some were terrible. But, I'm willing to bet that you liked some of them.

One question that arises is why we have these. One plausible explanation is that the English of the mountains and American South were heavily influenced by the English of the Scotch-Irish immigrants, who had this feature in their speech and it continued. But, the combinations used in the American South and Northern British varieties are different (I'll provide a link to a website below that you can check for yourself!). This is probably a factor, but I would be willing to add that the phrases are very useful also, and this contributes to the fact that we still use them.

For example, a good friend of mine told me a great anecdote that perfectly captured how the multiple modal can be useful. While she was in high school, she naturally wanted to go to school dances and activities. Her popularity and general nice personality meant that she was asked out by potential dates. Now, depending on how she felt about the potential suitor, she would respond, 'Well, I might can go.' This would secure a way to go (can), but would also leave open the possibility of not going (might). This way, she might be able to accept an invite from someone she might want to go with more! Very useful, it would seem.