Subjectification

Subjectification is a diachronic process whereby an element or a construction develops new senses that require speaker-reference, i.e. that lead to subjectivity (e.g. Langacker 1990, Traugott 1995).

Example
The development of epistemic senses of modal verbs such as English may from purely deontic senses is a prominent example of subjectification (Traugott 1989).

Synonym
A synonymous term is subjectivization (Stein & Wright 1995).

Other languages
German Subjektifizierung