wanna modal?

MollyB   Sat Dec 29, 2007 8:26 am GMT
Is "wanna/want to" becoming a semi-modal?
Guest   Sat Dec 29, 2007 8:55 am GMT
I don't think so. It is negated like a normal verb, by placing "don't" before it, not like a modal verb, for which you place "not" after it.
Travis   Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:12 am GMT
No, I would agree with MollyB - it would be classed as a quasimodal, like "have to", "be going to", "have got to", and so on....
Guest   Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:26 am GMT
I wanna go.
I wanna not go.
You wanna go?
You wana not go?

It works modally.
Guest   Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:48 am GMT
why there is no shorter form for NEED TO (needa?)
I needa go.
I don't needa go.
You needa go?
You don't needa go?
Guest   Sat Dec 29, 2007 11:21 am GMT
There is but it just isn't written so. It never came to the speakers in the whim.
wannabe modal   Sat Dec 29, 2007 6:47 pm GMT
Isn't wanna still conjugated in the third person singular:

I wanna go.
He ?wantsta? go.

Does this disqualify it as a modal?
Travis   Sat Dec 29, 2007 7:12 pm GMT
The term is "quasimodal" - it is not a classical present-preterite modal, but it still has a modal-like grammaticalized function nonetheless.
MollyB   Sat Dec 29, 2007 11:03 pm GMT
<Does this disqualify it as a modal? >

Don't forget I said "is it becoming a semi-modal". I didn't say it was one.