Re: Moody Moods ...

In a message dated 3/18/01 12:10:10 PM, and_yo@HOTMAIL.COM writes:

<< As yet, my conlang (Tairezazh) have only three finite verb forms; past,
present and future. There is no agreement in number of person, and I don't
wish to introduce any. I am, however, thinking about introducing a few moods
to spice up the verb charts. The forms I have already would clearly become
the unmarked indicative (since present is also unmarked the present
indicative'd be the unmodified stem of the verb), but what else to include?

The trouble is that I don't know much of moods. I'm somewhat familiar with
the German conjunctive (and the few surviving or fossilized bits of the
Swedish conjunctive), but what about other moods? Can anybody give me a
description of common moods (name and usuage in different natlangs), or
alternatively point me to a webpage with a good description?
 >>

Uhhh...first of all, don't you mean...subjunctive?  But anyway, another mood
I've heard of is...oh, geez, I can't remember the name for it.  It starts
with an "e".  But anyway, it indicates that the speaker is unsure of what
s/he's talking about.  I know it's not called "speculative"...  Anyway,
there's the subtle differences between the idea that one should do something
but isn't going to or doesn't want to, the idea that one has to do something,
the idea that one might do something in the future...  You can make an
insultative mood (for instance, in Chichewa there's a tone that you use to
indicate an insult, and it doesn't matter what you say, it becomes an insult.
 Sometimes they just whistle the tone).  Well...I'm out.  Can anybody help me
out with that first mood I remembered?

-David