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There are four types of deontic modality, which can be expressed by the following modal expressions:

  1. Can
  2. Need not
  3. Must not
  4. Must

Out of these, 1, 3, and 4 respectively corresponds to the following nouns:

  1. Permission
  2. ???
  3. Prohibition
  4. Obligation

Is there a simple word that corresponds to type 2?

Daniel
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sawa
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    There are actually many more than four types of deontic modality. Every modal auxiliary has at least one, and sometimes more than one deontic sense (can can mean deontic permission or deontic ability). As for the deontic sense of need not, it means Not (Necessary p), just like don't need to or don't have to, and there doesn't appear to be a neat English term to refer to that logical situation. There often isn't; that's why Deontic gets used. – John Lawler Dec 08 '11 at 19:32
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    Can expresses ability, doesn't it? For permission, the verb is may. – Marthaª Dec 08 '11 at 19:42
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    If you prefer. Of course, preferences differ, and usages even more so. – John Lawler Dec 08 '11 at 19:50
  • Suggestion? Information? – Terry Li Dec 08 '11 at 20:33
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    Aren't Can and Need Not the same? Or do you mean Should vs Should Not – Michael Brown Dec 08 '11 at 20:43
  • @MikeBrown I agree with you. – Terry Li Dec 08 '11 at 20:48
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    Not the @JohnMLawler? (Checks your /users/ page....) Oh, my! Very nice to see you here! – msh210 Dec 08 '11 at 20:52
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    @msh210: Don't talk John up too much! We need to get him to talk down to our level so we can understand what he tells us! (seriously, John, we are honoured). Like when I found I was rubbing shoulders with some of the world's greatest crossword setters at fifteen squared – FumbleFingers Dec 08 '11 at 21:49
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    Gimme a break, please. Sometimes somebody asks a question that links straight to a course, or a section of a course, or something I put on alt.usage.english a long time ago. I think I like the format here pretty well, but I'm always happy to get feedback on being clear and useful. That's the job, after all. – John Lawler Dec 08 '11 at 22:41
  • What is the difference between must not and need not? – Erick Robertson Dec 09 '11 at 07:10
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    @ErickRobertson: Plenty, I am sure. – Kris Dec 09 '11 at 09:05

6 Answers6

18

Optionality - noun form for the quality of being Left to choice; not compulsory or automatic.

Apparently this word has become significantly more common over the past 50 years.

FumbleFingers
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  • Chris's answer turned out to be even better to me. Yours is still next best. – sawa Dec 09 '11 at 05:11
  • Yeah, and to keep the endings the same (which is nice), use option. – Ryan Haber Dec 09 '11 at 15:29
  • @Ryan: Per my comment to Terry's answer, I think option and election would look a bit odd alongside OP's other nouns, because they're both firmly established in somewhat different usages. – FumbleFingers Dec 09 '11 at 17:20
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    @FumbleFingers: I agree that election doesn't fit. It has a range of meanings with a shared underlying connection, but its common usage is so strong that to mean it as option is foolish. – Ryan Haber Dec 09 '11 at 19:09
  • @FumbleFingers: Option, on the other hand, strikes me as particularly good. The items of a well-formed list should be the same part of speech, at least, so that each item fulfills the same grammatical role. Option satisfies that requirement, and also has the benefit having the same ending, so there is a certain assonance. Finally, it expresses perfectly something that you may, not need not do. "There is permission to sing. There is the option to sing. There is a prohibition on singing. The is an obligation to sing." Perfect! – Ryan Haber Dec 09 '11 at 19:12
  • @Ryan: Hmm. The wording of this notice implies permission. Which you can happily replace with prohibition, obligation, or even optionality. But I don't feel comfortable with The wording of this notice implies option. – FumbleFingers Dec 09 '11 at 19:19
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Unnecessity would fit the bill, if only it weren't obsolete. However, needlessness is not obsolete. To avoid the contrived aura, you may desire to go for a longer phrase and just use absence of necessity or lack of necessity. Or, consider using a positive-oriented word: optionality.

I gave FumbleFingers an upvote on optionality and wanted to point out that it is not only significantly more common than it was fifty years ago, it has even become more common than any of the other options:

On that basis, I think optionality deserves the cake on this issue.

Community
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Daniel
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Remission has a sense of exemption from doing something. So either of the two could serve the purpose.

Kris
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    Awesome. That is the word I was looking for. Remission was not in my vocabulary, but yes, I know the word exemption, and I think that is the perfect fit. – sawa Dec 09 '11 at 05:13
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    Remission in this sense is typically found only in legalese. We also see some occurrences in administration documents in the corporate and academic fields. I do not know if it is used as such in general literature or speech, though. – Kris Dec 09 '11 at 05:34
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    Can I expect a comment about the down vote, please? – Kris Dec 09 '11 at 07:25
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    -1: I wasn't the original downvoter, but remission doesn't mean exemption in any normal context. And as @John comments to OP, there are many "shades" of deontic modality - to me, exemption largely steps outside the entire continuum, rather than indicating the degree to which something "ought to be true". – FumbleFingers Dec 09 '11 at 13:23
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    No, but Kris is correct that "remiss" and "remit" do not, in ordinary (or even non-legal formal) usage mean "need not". I don't know about legal usage. – Ryan Haber Dec 09 '11 at 15:28
  • @Ryan: Remission has several different meanings, but I think the main difference between the legal and medical usage is largely to do with "permanence". A legal remission is a "once and for all" setting aside of a burdensome obligation. But if you're in remission medically speaking, the implication is that your problem is actually expected to come back. – FumbleFingers Dec 09 '11 at 17:54
  • OP thinks exemption serves the purpose. – Kris Dec 10 '11 at 07:32
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When need is used in the positive form it signifies necessity. In the negative form it signifies lack of necessity.

Irene
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    I was wondering if it is possible to say that in a single word. It looks like optionality or needlessness would give that meaning. – sawa Dec 08 '11 at 19:47
  • @sawa: I agree. I gave you the term used in grammar books. But I think you chose the correct answer wisely. – Irene Dec 08 '11 at 19:53
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What about elective?

Elective: not compulsory; optional ; possible but not necessary; left to personal choice

You need to take this course = You are required to take this course (required course)

You needn't take this course = This course is elective to you (elective course)

Terry Li
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  • The big problem with this one is when you want a noun form for the quality of being concerned with elective matters. I was a bit iffy about putting up optionality, but it's positively commonplace by comparison with electivity – FumbleFingers Dec 08 '11 at 21:19
  • @FumbleFingers Elective could be a noun form itself as in "free electives". What do you think of it? – Terry Li Dec 08 '11 at 21:32
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    Yes, I do think it's reasonable to "force" these adjectives into noun roles (you could do the same with optional). It's just they seem a bit out of place when the other three in the list are "natural" nouns formed using the -tion suffix, which we can't do with either of our offerings. Well, you could have election, I suppose, but standard usage for that word makes it a bit awkward. I certainly couldn't get away with option! :) – FumbleFingers Dec 08 '11 at 21:42
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Other synonyms to consider:

  • noncompulsory
  • nonobligatory / nonobligational
  • discretionary / discretional
  • voluntary
Paul Chernoch
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