maymust

Maymust is a term used in theoretical linguistics and modal logic to describe sentences that appear to combine the meanings of may (permission or possibility) and must (obligation or necessity) within a single expression. It is not a standard category in mainstream grammars, but a descriptive label used to discuss mixed-modality phenomena in language and semantics.

Two primary analyses are common. In a strong reading, maymust asserts that a proposition P is both permissible and obligatory. Formalizations often take this as the conjunction of modalities: ◇P ∧ □P, meaning P may occur and P must occur. In a weaker reading, maymust signals an interaction of contexts, agents, or sub-clauses, so that different worlds or participants assign different modal values to P rather than one global truth value.

Use and cross-linguistic relevance: Mixed modality appears in policy rhetoric, legal language, and cross-linguistic data where speakers use sequences of modals or rely on discourse structure to convey overlapping permissions and duties. Computationally, maymust can be modeled with multi-modal logics or with pragmatic semantics that keep track of competing modalities.

Limitations and discussion: Because the readings can clash or be ambiguous, many linguists prefer to separate may and must or to rephrase for clarity. Maymust remains a topic of interest for examining how permission and obligation interact in natural language and formal semantics.