Modality and meaning

When we think of the modal verbs, there isn't anything in the way of meaning that we can extract that is not modality. Indeed we could go further and say it is impossible to define any one modal verb, we can only describe its use.

If we go to the other extreme and think of a verb that is clearly lexical such as "cut", we have a clear idea of what it means because we can visualise the action and with the possible exception of the purpose behind the action, we can feel sure that it carries no modality.

As a verb becomes more philosophical or abstract, or when it acts as a catenative or perhaps mearly when it is stative, it becomes harder to say what the verb means seperate from any modal meaning despite the fact that we feel that we may be able to define it. Apart from the fact that catenatives bridge the gap between lexical and modal verbs anyway, there are some verbs that seem to have a very clear lexical and modal component. "Remember" and "forget" come to mind. Although they are stative, there is a clear lexical meaning here. We either remember or we don't; we forget or we dont. Information either has or has not been stored in the brain. There is no intangible philosophical framework about that fact. At the same time, we use these words as catenatives and we are framing our understanding of the following verb in terms of modality.

Going back to the sub-set of verbs we have been talking about, I have difficulty trying to figure out whether verbs like "want" have a lexical as well as a modal element in their meaning, or whether their meaning is purely modal. Depending on context, I think "beg" has a lexical component. One can physically go out into the street and ask people for money, for instance. Yet it also comes on this continuum of needing to wanting to soliciting and is a catenative. On this continuum, I see soliciting as the least modal idea and needing as the most modal idea. Even "beg" can be used in a more abstract way in reported speech to describe how someone said something and this seems more modal to me. However, I would suggest that abstraction is not the whole story. Some verbs such as "emancipate" which cannot act as catenatives have abstract ideas and have a lexical component to their meaning but have no modal component at all.

How does modality differ from meaning?
How can we separate modality from the plain meaning of a verb?