Modal particles have been intensively studied in German and a few other European languages, but investigations of
modal particles from little-known languages are rare. This paper examines in detail the morphosyntactic and the semantic
properties of the Sanzhi Dargwa (Nakh-Daghestanian) modal particle =q’al. It is shown that the particle possesses
the morphosyntactic properties that are commonly assumed for modal particles. The particle is then analyzed as presupposition
trigger that interacts with focus and marks clauses as declarative sentences. It triggers two presuppositions, namely
uncontroversiality and contrast/correction. Furthermore, it can express finiteness. The analysis suggests that accounting for
modal particles as grammatical rather than lexical items with head status seems promising for further research.