The category of Mood

The Category of Mood: Debated problems
the character of the category
the starting point of analysis
the number of moods
the existence of the Imperative Mood
the existence of the Subjunctive Mood
the nature of the forms
should/ would + infinitive

1. The Category of Mood: The Character (4)
a purely morphological category
(A.I. Smirnitsky, B.A.Ilyish and M.Y.Bloch)
a morphologico- semantical phenomenon (O. Jespersen)
semantico-syntactical phenomenon
(prof. R. Long):
distinctions between
- the actual and the hypothetical
- partly distinctions between clause patterns

1. The Category of Mood: The Character
prof. R. Long distinguishes
- the indicative
- the subjunctive
- the infinitive
- the gerundial
- the participial moods

1. The Category of Mood: The Character (4)
a psychological phenomenon:
“Mood expresses images of the twilight world of imagination”

2. The Category of Mood:
The Starting Point of Analysis
forms which are to be systematized according to their meanings
modal meanings which are to be classified according to their forms
All attempts fail
no universally acceptable scheme

2. The Category of Mood:
The Starting Point of Analysis
no correspondence between meaning and form
One and the same meaning
can be expressed variously

2. The Category of Mood:
The Starting Point of Analysis
The meaning of supposition:
I suggest our going there.
I suggest that we should go there.
I suggest that we go there.
The concessive meaning:
Whatever it be ( can be, could be, may be, might be, should be, is)

2. The Category of Mood:
The Starting Point of Analysis
One and the same external sign (form) different meanings: Were
E.g. If he were to come, I should be pleased.
He wondered whether she were in Spain.
I wish he were here.
Suppose he were here?
It is as if he were ill.

2. The Category of Mood:
The Starting Point of Analysis
Had done
in two semantically different structures:
I wish you had done it.
I said he had done it.

3. The Category of Mood: The Number of Moods
meaning 16 Moods:
The Hypothetical Mood - the Potential Mood,
The Optative Mood - the Voluntative Mood
The Permissive Mood - the Compulsory Mood
The Suppositional Mood
The Indicative Mood - the Conditional Mood
The Imperative Mood - The Irrealis
etc.

3. The Category of Mood: The Number of Moods
A.I. Smirnitsky: 6 Moods
Direct - Iindirect (Oblique Moods)
Indicative Imperative Synthetical Analytical
Sub II (Pres.)
Subjunctive I Subjunctive II (Pst)
The Conditional
The Suppositional

3. The Category of Mood: The Number of Moods
3 Moods:
- The Indicative
- The Imperative
- The Subjunctive

The Indicative Mood
Semantically - the most objective mood
Morphologically - the most developed

The Imperative Mood
expresses order, command, a stimulus;
the least developed mood resembling in form Sujunctive I and the infinitive;
Hence, some scholars do not recognize its existence.

The Imperative Mood
undeveloped
Still: very peculiar forms in syntagmatics
E.g. Have done it by the time he comes.
( the perfect form of the imperative);
Be always searching for new sensations.
(the continuous form of the imperative)

The Imperative Mood
polysemantic
develops the meanings of
condition or concession:
E.g. Make me do these things and you would destroy me. (J.London) →
If you make me do these things,
you will destroy me.

The Subjunctive Mood
the most confusing mood
In Old English:
a fully inflective Subjunctive comparable with Latin or German
denoted problematic, hypothetical and purely imaginary actions

The Subjunctive Mood
in a state of decay :
The simple Subjunctive (Subjunctive I) is being supplanted (вытеснять) by the forms:
lest he should die or that he may die
Subjunctive II is being supplanted by:
was (I wish he was in Hell.)

The Subjunctive Mood
few formal distinctions:
E.g. God bless my wife.
I wish he were here.

The Subjunctive Mood:
The existence of the category
The difference between the Indicative mood and the Subjunctive mood has practically come to be blotted out
E.g. If I wasn’t your friend, I think I’d blame you.
! O. Jespersen, L. Barchudarov:
do not recognize

The Subjunctive Mood
The existence of the category
O. Jespersen’s theory of the imaginative use of tenses:
past tenses indicate, in certain syntactic conditions, hypothesis
supposition
problemacity
E.g. He smiles as if he had never heard about it .→ before past time expressing unreality

O. Jespersen’s theory of the imaginative use of tenses
In the complex sentence
in the contaminated clause,
embracing the properties of two sub-clauses
( a predicative clause and
an adverbial clause of unreal comparison)
before past time expresses unreal comparison:
It is as if he had never been there.

O. Jespersen’s theory of the imaginative use of tenses
the absence of the Subjunctive is made up for by
- some stereotyped phrases
- grammatical idioms (so be it) - combinations of modal verbs and infinitives
- the imaginative use of past tenses (times) which become modally coloured in some patterns ( I wish he had done it)

The Subjunctive Mood: The nature of the category
Eric Partridge: the Subjunctive is not an extinct (вымирающий) mood.
a living mood
in different patterns of simple sentences, in complex sentences
E.g. God bless you.
If he knew, he would come. (a cond. cl.)
Even if he had come he wouldn’t have understood. (a concessive clause)
I wish he came. (an object clause)

The Subjunctive Mood
The nature of the category
Eric Partridge: The Subjunctive, depending upon syntactical patterns, embraces different forms:
might, came, should, had come, were, be
a semantic-syntactic- morphological category

The Subjunctive Mood
The nature of the category
M.Y. Bloch distinguishes 3 Subjunctives: - The Stipulative (Subjunctive II):
E.g. I wish he came.
- The Spective (Subjunctive I) :
E.g. God bless him.
- The Consecutive (Subjunctive III):
E.g. He would have refused.

The Subjunctive Mood
A.I. Smirnitsky’s classification of moods
most convenient for practical analysis
formal criteria
peculiar models on the level of the simple and complex sentences

The Subjunctive Mood: A. I. Smirnitsky’s classification
Subjunctive II on the level of the simple sentence :
E.g. Oh, that I were a glove upon that hand. (W.Shakespeare)
Oh, if he were here.
Oh, that he were here.
If only he were here.
Were he only here!

The Subjunctive Mood
A. I. Smirnitsky’s classification
Subjunctive II on the level of the complex sentence:
E.g. It is as if he were here.
If he were here, he would understand.
Even if he were here he wouldn’t understand.
I wish he came.

The Category of Mood
hard to represent in terms of
binary oppositions
Prof. Zandvoort:
he play :: he plays (non-fact :: fact)
one integral form of the Indicative is opposed to
one integral form of the Subjunctive