Re: Moody Moods ...

Andreas Johansson sikayal:

> 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?
Mood systems can be very complex and very diverse, so there's all sorts of
things you could do.  Here's a short list of moods that I know of and have
used:

optative: indicates a wish or desire--"If only I could eat rhutabega!"

imperative: indicates a command or necessity: "Eat rhutabega" or "I must
eat rhutabega."

conditional: indicates that the action is contingent upon something else:
"I would eat rhutabega [if...]"

volitive: indicates desire: "I want to eat rhutabega"

potential: indicates that an action is possible, or impossible in the
negative: "I can [am able to] eat rhutabega"

debitive: indicates that an action is obligated or necessary: "I should
eat rhutabega"; "I must eat rhutabega"

dubitive: indicates that the speaker is unsure about the action: "I might
eat rhutabega"

There are others, but these are all of the ones I can think of for now.

Jesse S. Bangs jaspax@u.washington.edu
"It is of the new things that men tire--of fashions and proposals and
improvements and change.  It is the old things that startle and
intoxicate.  It is the old things that are young."
-G.K. Chesterton _The Napoleon of Notting Hill_
Conlanger code: CLI> l%p+++ cS:R:N:H a++ y n18d:6 X+++ A-- E-- L-- N2.5
Idmp k++ ia-- p+ m++ o+++ P d++ b++ Yivríndil