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How do you differentiate these two meanings of this sentence:
You may slurp your soup loudly.
1. You should be careful when drinking soup, otherwise you might slurp and be impolite.
2. You are given permission to slurp your soup.
Is there a way to tell the exact implication of "may?"
As StoneyB said, it's all in the context. If a customer near your table at a restaurant learns over and says "you may slurp your soup loudly", and with a particularly harsh tone of voice, you might consider it rude.
'May' is like any other words-- when written without context (like that), it's impossible to tell. When the word is spoken, you may be able to tell by the speaker's tone of voice (is it polite, or is it rude?)
While I agree that context is important, I do not believe it is always external context. Without an external context to indicate otherwise, I would assume the second sentence is what was meant, not the first.
The reason why is that, at least in my variety of English, "may" generally defaults to its permissive sense if possible. Since "slurp" is an action, and one can conceivably be given permission to "slurp," the permissive sense makes the most sense. In order to convey the possibility sense, I would use "might," or, more likely completely recast the sentence, such as "Be careful not to slurp your soup."
Examples for when "may" cannot default to its permissive sense would be in such constructions as "may [not] be," "may [not] need," or even "may [not] want."
The problem comes when people treat isolated sentences as laboratory specimens to be examined like a logic problem.
Language exists for communication, and the communicative intent of any given utterance can usually be fathomed from its context.
May expressing possibility and may expressing permission will occur in unique communicative contexts (including a specific discourse, tone, the relationship between the speaker and hearer, the register the speaker is using, et al.) such that the intended meaning can usually be fathomed. If not, one may ask for clarification, which is a communicative strategy.
Now, was my use of may in the sentence before this one expressing possibility or permission? Only someone with limited abilities in English will pick the unintended meaning. An exception is a bothersome teenager who might pick unintended meanings as a matter of course.
