The Category of Mood

M O O D is the most controversial category. It expresses the character of connection between the process denoted by the verb and the actual reality, either presenting the process as a fact that really happened, happens or will happen, or treating it as an imaginary phenomenon, i.e. the subject of hypothesis, speculation, desire. It follows from this that the functional opposition underlying the category as a whole is constituted by the forms of oblique mood meaning, i.e. those of unreality, contrasted against the forms of direct mood meaning, i.e. those of reality, the former making up the strong member, the latter – the weak member of the opposition.

In traditional grammar three moods are singled out: The Indicative, The Imperative, The Subjunctive. The three moods correspond to three principal modal meanings: the meaning of fact, the meaning of urge, the meaning of potentiality.

The Indicative Mood is used to show that the speaker represents an action as an actual fact. The Imperative form of the verb is traditionally referred to as the Indicative Mood. It is used to express the modal meaning of urge. In form it coincides with the infinitive stem, so it is a synthetic form. But the emphatic and negative forms of the Imperative are analytical. The Imperative has one person (second). However, Ильиш claims that there is no category of person in the Imperative since the second person does not oppose any other person. The Imperative has no number, tense or aspect distinctions. Generally it is used in one-member sentences. Though the Imperative has no category of Tense it has a temporal meaning of future, more or less immediate.

As to theoretical grammar not all grammarians recognize the Imperative Mood as a separate one. They deny it the status on the grounds that it has no specific morphological characteristics. Ильиш points out that in form it coincides with the infinitive, Блох puts it that in form it coincides with the Spective Mood which belongs to the Subjunctive Mood. The aforesaid mood is represented by the following examples:

Be what may. God forgive us. It is important that he arrive here as soon as possible. My orders are that the guards draw up… As to the participation of the Imperative Mood in the above-mentioned, Блох proves it by the transformation of imperative constructions. Be off! > I demand that you be off etc Semantical observation of the constructions with the analyzed verbal form shows that within the general meaning of desired or hypothetical action, it signifies different attitudes towards the process denoted by the verb (desire, supposition, speculation, suggestion etc). Thus, the analyzed forms present the mood of attitudes, which is traditionally called Subjunctive One. Блох suggests that this mood should be called SPECTIVE, employing the Latin base for the notion of “attitudes”. The counted above form-types can be used with modal verbs such as MAY / MIGHT, SHOULD, LET: May it be as you wish. Orders were given that the searching group should start out at once. Let me try it. Etc. Being the functional equivalents of the pure Spective Mood, these form-types are characterized by a high frequency occurrence, they are more universal stylistically than the pure spective form, and Блох names them as MODAL SPECTIVE. Considering the forms of the subjunctive referring to the past order of the verb we should identify the specific form of the conjugated BE as the only native manifestation of the categorial expression of unreal process. If I were in your place, I’d only be happy.

It is only the first and third persons singular that have suppletive marking feature WERE, the rest of the forms coincide with the past indicative. Usually this form-type occurs in complex with the principal clause with WOULD / SHOULD marker. Thus, the most characteristic construction in which the two form-types occur in such a way that one constitutes the environment of the other is the complex sentence with a clause of unreal condition. The subjunctive form-type used in the conditional clause is the past-unposterior; the subjunctive form-type used in the principal clause is the past-posterior. The subjunctive past unposterior is called by some grammarians SUBJUNCTIVE TWO. Блох suggests that the term SUBJUNCTIVE be reserved for denoting the mood of unreality as a whole. The term SPECTIVE cannot be used here for the simple reason that the analysed mood-form does not express attitudes. Even though it were raining, we’ll go boating on the lake. [We don’t know whether it will be raining or not, but even in case it is raining we will go boating] – concession. She was talking to Bennie as if he were a grown person. [She was talking to Bennie as she would be talking to him if he were a grown person] – comparison As we see, the subjunctive form under analysis in its various uses does express the unreality of action which constitutes a condition for the corresponding consequence. So, as Блох proposes, the appropriate term for this form of the subjunctive would be STIPULATIVE. Or, the subjunctive form-type which is referred to on the structural basis as the past unposterior, on the functional basis will be referred as stipulative. As to the form-type of the subjunctive presenting past-posterior its most characteristic use is connected with the principal clause of the complex sentence expressing a situation of unreal condition: the principal clause conveys the idea of its imaginary consequence, thereby also relating to unreal state of events. Apart from complex sentences, the past posterior form of the subjunctive can be used in independent sentences, though, these sentences are based on the presupposition of some condition, the consequence of which they express. He would be here by now: he may have missed his train. > He may have missed his train, otherwise (i.e. if he hadn’t missed it) he would be here by now. As it can be beheld, the subjunctive form-type in question essentially expresses an unreal consequential action dependent on an unreal stipulating action, so, relying on Latin etymology, Блох considers the term CONSECTIVE the most appropriate. So, the subjunctive, the integral mood of unreality, presents the two sets of forms according to the structural division of verbal tenses into the present and the past. These form-sets constitute the two corresponding functional subsystems of the subjunctive, namely, the spective (the mood of attitudes) and the conditional (the mood of appraising causal-conditional relations of processes). Each of these, in its turn, falls into two systemic sub-sets, so that on the immediately working level of presentation we have the four subjunctive form-types identified on the basis of the strict correlation between their structure and their functions: THE PURE SPECTIVE, THE MODAL SPECTIVE, THE STIPULATIVE CONDITIONAL, THE CONSECTIVE CONDITIONAL.

<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
The category of aspect.	\|	VERBALS. The category of representation.

Не знайшли потрібну інформацію? Скористайтесь пошуком google:

Генерація сторінки за: 0.004 сек.