Chapter 7. Mood selection in complement clauses in Persian
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Narges Nematollahi
Abstract
Similar to Romance and Balkan languages, Persian makes a formal distinction between indicative and subjunctive moods in its complement clauses. This paper proposes several generalizations about the distribution of the two moods, and evaluates the current theories of mood selection against Persian data. The proposal is that indicative appears when the complement is propositional, i.e., of type <st>, and when one of the two other conditions holds: (1) the matrix predicate entails the content of the complement clause is in attitude holder’s context set, in which case the indicative mood makes no special semantic contribution, OR (2) the content of the complement clause or its negation is in speaker’s context set, in which case indicative signals the epistemic commitment of the speaker. Subjunctive, on the other hand, is selected when the conditions for the indicative are not met. As such, I argue that mood selection in complement clauses in Persian makes references to (1) the semantic type of the complement, (2) the semantics of the matrix predicate in terms of (non)veridicality, and (3) the speaker’s stand about the complement.
Abstract
Similar to Romance and Balkan languages, Persian makes a formal distinction between indicative and subjunctive moods in its complement clauses. This paper proposes several generalizations about the distribution of the two moods, and evaluates the current theories of mood selection against Persian data. The proposal is that indicative appears when the complement is propositional, i.e., of type <st>, and when one of the two other conditions holds: (1) the matrix predicate entails the content of the complement clause is in attitude holder’s context set, in which case the indicative mood makes no special semantic contribution, OR (2) the content of the complement clause or its negation is in speaker’s context set, in which case indicative signals the epistemic commitment of the speaker. Subjunctive, on the other hand, is selected when the conditions for the indicative are not met. As such, I argue that mood selection in complement clauses in Persian makes references to (1) the semantic type of the complement, (2) the semantics of the matrix predicate in terms of (non)veridicality, and (3) the speaker’s stand about the complement.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Anaphoric potential of pseudo-incorporated bare objects in Persian 12
- Chapter 2. Persian quantifiers and their scope 44
- Chapter 3. Why-stripping in Persian 81
- Chapter 4. Middle Persian Ezafe 100
- Chapter 5. Ezafe and the article 130
- Chapter 6. Ezafe as a linking feature within DP 154
- Chapter 7. Mood selection in complement clauses in Persian 180
- Chapter 8. Three types of verb stem levelling in Tat 210
- Chapter 9. A null stem analysis of Persian copular verbs 231
- Chapter 10. Semi-anticausatives 263
- Chapter 11. The nature and licensing of hi:tʃ elements in Persian 282
- Language index 307
- Name index 309
- Subject index 313
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Anaphoric potential of pseudo-incorporated bare objects in Persian 12
- Chapter 2. Persian quantifiers and their scope 44
- Chapter 3. Why-stripping in Persian 81
- Chapter 4. Middle Persian Ezafe 100
- Chapter 5. Ezafe and the article 130
- Chapter 6. Ezafe as a linking feature within DP 154
- Chapter 7. Mood selection in complement clauses in Persian 180
- Chapter 8. Three types of verb stem levelling in Tat 210
- Chapter 9. A null stem analysis of Persian copular verbs 231
- Chapter 10. Semi-anticausatives 263
- Chapter 11. The nature and licensing of hi:tʃ elements in Persian 282
- Language index 307
- Name index 309
- Subject index 313
