Re: Grammatical Summary of Kemata

Quoting Rune Haugseng <haugrune@...>:

> > > -ma, (can)
> >
> > Capacitive.
> >
> > > -koi, (hope to)
> >
> > Optative (though optative is more "I wish to").
>
> I thought subjunctive meant "wish" and optative "hope", or the other
> way around.
Not really.  The problem is that "subjunctive", "optative",
"jussive", etc. are all labels that we use to make grammars
of languages readable.  They are useful for conveying information,
but they do not have any meaning in and of themselves.  The term
"subjunctive" is a case in point.  In Greek, this can  imply
volition ("want"), permission ("may"), possibility ("can, might")
or admonition ("should") and more.  In English, the subjunctive
tends to be more restricted:

  (a) The judge suggested that he be put in confinement.
  (b) The judge suggested that he is put in confinement.

The subjunctive in (a) implies that the judge wants some particular
action to occur; the indicative in (b) implies that the judge thinks
that a particular set of cirumstances is the case, but does not
comment on whether that is a good or a bad thing.

(Not all English speakers distinguish between these two;  the
lack of such a distinction seems to be especially common in
Britain as opposed to any of her former colonies.)

=====================================================================
Thomas Wier <trwier@...> <http://home.uchicago.edu/~trwier>

             "...koruphàs hetéras hetére:isi prosápto:n /
Dept. of Linguistics  mú:tho:n mè: teléein atrapòn mían..."
University of Chicago "To join together diverse peaks of thought /
1010 E. 59th Street   and not complete one road that has no turn"
Chicago, IL 60637     Empedocles, _On Nature_, on speculative thinkers

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