Epistemic "must" in Japanese : the case of modals "hazu" and "ni chigainai"

The aim of this paper is to analyse semantics of two Japanese modals of epistemic necessity: "hazu" and "ni chigainai". The analysis shows that although both are of the same type and force, their semantics differs. While "hazu" seems to be a modal conveying certainty based on credible premises, "ni chigainai" is connected with premises loosely, and tends to be used as a modal expressing strong belief. Thus I propose to treat the latteras a modal of possibility that takes a shape of necessity on the surface level.