Modality and Subordinators

This book connects two linguistic phenomena, modality and subordinators, so that both are seen in a new light, each adding to the understanding of the other. It argues that general subordinators (or complementizers) denote propositional modality (otherwise expressed by moods such as the indicative-subjunctive and epistemic-evidential modal markers). The book explores the hypothesis both on a cross-linguistic and on a language-branch specific level (the Germanic languages). One obvious connection between the indicative-subjunctive distinction and subordinators is that the former is typically manifested in subordinate clauses. Furthermore, both the indicative-subjunctive and subordinators determine clause types. More importantly, however, it is shown, through data from various languages, that subordinators themselves often denote the indicative-subjunctive distinction. In the Germanic languages, there is variation in many clause types between both the indicative and the subjunctive and that and if depending on the speaker’s and/or the subject’s certainty of the truth of the proposition.

Kristin Melum Eide, The department of Scandinavian studies and comparative literature, NTNU, Trondheim:
The author of this book fearlessly approaches the seemingly chaotic mess of complementizers in Germanic languages. The study focuses in particular on Scandinavian, English and German, but provides examples from Dutch, Icelandic, Frisian, Romance and a number of other languages. Armed with data from a range of typological studies and also carrying out a couple of her own, the author defends the idea that Germanic complementizers come in three different varieties, where one of the types (consisting in complementizers like THAT and WHETHER) denotes propositional modality. This type of modality therefore bears crucial resemblance to propositional mood like subjunctive and indicative, according to the author, and is akin to verbal mood inflections as well as verb placement (verb-first and verb-second) in signifying the values Realis and Irrealis. The book contains a plethora of new data, providing a platform for the reader to entertain the quite innovative and fresh ideas put forth by the author. I would recommend this book to anyone working with mood, or modality, or complementizers; or anyone ready to take a fresh look at the semantics of verb placement.