Studying modality through targeted construction storyboards

This chapter details how modality can be studied using targeted construction storyboards, both within a language as well as a cross-linguistic tool. We discuss the insights as well as challenges of using storyboards in general in fieldwork, and underline its usefulness to investigate the semantics of modal expressions. We illustrate this method by introducing two storyboards, The delicious lunch and The poetry contest, designed to elicit specific modality types and modal force, and through its application to Tabari (Caspian, Indo-Iranian; Iran). Through discussion of the results on modality in Tabari, our findings reinforce the view that targeted construction storyboards are an important tool in semantic fieldwork, and we advocate for its use in research on modality in particular.