A Systemic Functional Typology of MOOD - Li (2023)

The M.A.K.
Halliday Library Functional Linguistics Series
Dongqi Li
A Systemic
Functional
Typology
of MOOD
The M.A.K. Halliday Library Functional
Linguistics Series
Series Editors
Chenguang Chang, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
Guowen Huang, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
This series focuses on studies concerning the theory and application of Systemic
Functional Linguistics. It bears the name of Professor M.A.K. Halliday, as he is
generally regarded as the founder of this school of linguistic thought. The series
covers studies on language and context, functional grammar, semantic variation,
discourse analysis, multimodality, register and genre analysis, educational linguis-
tics and other areas. Systemic Functional Linguistics is a functional model of lan-
guage inspired by the work of linguists such as Saussure, Hjelmslev, Whorf, and
Firth. The theory was initially developed by Professor M.A.K. Halliday and his
colleagues in London during the 1960s, and since 1974 it has held an international
congress every year at various continents around the world. It is well-known for its
application in a variety of fields, including education, translation, computational
linguistics, multimodal studies, and healthcare, and scholars are always exploring
new areas of application.
Dongqi Li
A Systemic Functional
Typology of mood
13
Dongqi Li
School of International Studies
Sun Yat-sen University
Zhuhai, China
ISSN 2198-9869 ISSN 2198-9877 (electronic)

The M.A.K. Halliday Library Functional Linguistics Series
ISBN 978-981-19-8820-2 ISBN 978-981-19-8821-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8821-9
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
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Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Prof. Yong
Wang. He led me to the field of systemic functional linguistics in 2013 when I was
a MA candidate and opened the door of linguistic typology for me in 2016 when
I became a Ph.D. candidate. This book would have not been finished without the
helpful guidance on the two fields he has offered me over the past few years. He
has always been ready to provide me with paternal encouragement, guidance, and
assistance, without which I would have not overcome the difficulties in academic
studies and personal life.
I also gratefully acknowledge the help provided by Prof. Matthiessen, Dr.
Mwinlaaru, Dr. Yizhe Zhao, and Dr. Siamak in the early stages of this work.
Professor Matthiessen discussed the proposal with me during a meeting break
in Shenzhen and emailed useful information to me several times. Dr. Mwinlaaru
generously emailed his doctoral dissertation and forthcoming book chapter to me.
Dr. Yizhe Zhao from Beijing Foreign Studies University mailed several books to
me. The literature I received from them is of great importance for this book. Dr.
Siamak worked with me as an informant of the Persian language.
I have always been indebted to my parents, who have always lent me their
unstinting support for each decision I made. Also, I would like to express my
thanks to my wife Juan Chen. We lived apart in different cities for five years when
I was a Ph.D. candidate and in the first year I began to work. She lent me consider-
able support, both emotionally and financially. My thanks also go to my daughter
Jiajia who was born while I was preparing the book. She has made the task less
arduous.
Finally, my gratitude is extended to Prof. M.A.K. Halliday who has enabled me
to have a different understanding about language.
v
Contents
1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Mood as a Grammatical Category. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 The Etymology of ‘Mood’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.2 Studies on Mood in Western Linguistics: From Antiquity
to the Late 18th Century. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.3 Studies on Mood in Modern Western Linguistics. . . . . . . . 4
1.1.4 Studies on Mood in Modern Chinese Linguistics. . . . . . . . 10
1.1.5 Section Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.2 A Working Definition of Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.3 Mood as a Grammatical System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.4 Mood, Mode, and Modality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.5 Systemic Functional Typology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.5.1 SFT in Relation to SFL and Linguistic Typology. . . . . . . . 19
1.5.2 Some Features of SFT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.5.3 The Research Method and Research Procedures of SFT. . . . 22
1.6 Objectives and Research Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.7 Organization of the Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2 Literature Review. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.1 Typological Studies on Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.1.1 Typological Studies on Declarative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.1.2 Typological Studies on Interrogative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.1.3 Typological Studies on Imperative Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.1.4 Typological Studies on Exclamative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.2 Systemic Functional Studies on Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.2.1 Theoretical Issues About Mood in SFL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.2.2 Descriptions of Mood of Particular Languages. . . . . . . . . . 41
2.2.3 Cross-Linguistic Comparisons and SFT of mood . . . . . . . . 42
2.3 Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.3.1 Features and Problems of Typological Studies on Mood. . . . 45
vii
viii Contents
2.3.2 Features and Problems of SFL/SFT Studies on Mood . . . . 47

2.3.3 Rationale for the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3 Theoretical Framework. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.1 Contextualizing Mood in SFL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.2 Stratification: mood and speech function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.2.1 Stratification: From Context to Language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.2.2 Intra-Language Stratification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.2.3 mood and speech function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.3 Interpersonal Metafunction: mood and Other Systems . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.3.1 polarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.3.2 modality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.4 Rank Scale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.5 Axis: mood System and Mood Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.5.1 Paradigmatic: mood System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.5.2 Syntagmatic: Mood Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.6 Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.1 Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.1.1 Language Sampling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.1.2 Data Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.2 Data Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.3 Data Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.4 Research Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5 A Systemic Functional Typology of Declarative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.1 Major Functional Elements in Declarative Mood Structure
and Their Realizations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.1.1 The Subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.1.2 The Predicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
5.1.3 The Finite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5.2 Subtypes of Declarative Mood and Their Realizations. . . . . . . . . . 115
5.2.1 The Declarative (Proper). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.2.2 The Hidatsa Subtypes of Declarative Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
5.2.3 The Exclamative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
5.2.4 The Emotion-Involved and the Assessed Declarative . . . . . 127
5.2.5 The Evidential Declarative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5.2.6 The Emphatic and the Focused Declarative. . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5.2.7 Tenor-Related Declaratives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
5.2.8 Other Subtypes of Declarative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
5.3 Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Contents ix
6 A Systemic Functional Typology of Interrogative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . 151

6.1 The Polar Interrogative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
6.1.1 Subtypes of Polar Interrogative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
6.1.2 Realizations of Polar Interrogative Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
6.2 The Elemental Interrogative Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
6.2.1 Subtypes of Elemental Interrogative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
6.2.2 Realizations of Elemental Interrogative Mood . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.3 The Alternative Interrogative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
6.4 The Confirmative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
6.4.1 Subtypes of Confirmative Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
6.4.2 Realizations of Confirmative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
6.5 Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
7 A Systemic Functional Typology of Imperative Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
7.1 The Jussive Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
7.1.1 Subtypes of Jussive Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
7.1.2 Realizations of Jussive Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
7.2 The Cohortative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
7.2.1 Subtypes of Cohortative Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
7.2.2 Realizations of Cohortative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
7.3 The Optative Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
7.3.1 Subtypes of Optative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
7.3.2 Realizations of Optative Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
7.4 The Oblative Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
7.5 The Hortative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
7.6 Other Types of Imperative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
7.6.1 The Prohibitive Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
7.6.2 The Permissive Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
7.6.3 The Impersonal Imperative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
7.6.4 The Mongolian Types of Imperative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
7.7 Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
8 A Systemic Functional Typology of mood System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
8.1 The Realizations of mood System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
8.1.1 The Realizations of declarative mood System. . . . . . . . . . 221
8.1.2 The Realizations of interrogative mood System. . . . . . . . . 223
8.1.3 The Realizations of imperative mood System . . . . . . . . . . . 225
8.1.4 The Realizations of Holistic mood System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
8.1.5 Intra-Language Consistency in the Realizations
of Mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
8.2 The Organization of mood System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
8.3 Semantic Dimensions for the Elaboration of mood System. . . . . . 237
8.3.1 Semantic Dimensions for the Elaboration
of Holistic mood System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
x Contents
8.3.2Semantic Dimensions for the Elaboration

of declarative mood System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
of interrogative mood System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
of imperative mood System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
8.3.5 Context-Semantics-Lexicogrammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
8.4 The Multilingual mood System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
8.5 Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
9 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
9.1 Main Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
9.1.1 Cross-Linguistic Similarities and Differences
in Mood Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
in mood System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
9.2 Contributions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
9.3 Limitations and Further Directions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
9.3.1 Limitations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
9.3.2 Further Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Appendix: The mood System of Each Language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Abbreviations and Conventions
Abbreviations of Grammatical Categories
1 First person
2 Second person
3 Third person
a Agent
abs Absolutive case
acc Accusative case
act Active voice; active nominal suffix (Nyigina)
adm Admonitive clause marker (Korean)
admi Admirative mode (Albanian)
advr Adversative (Cavineña, Hup)
aff Affirmative particle (Dagaare, Welsh)
agt Agentive marker
ah Addressee honorific (Korean)
aloc Animate locative (Hinuq)
alt.int Alternative interrogative clause marker (Hup)
ant Anterior aspect (Ute); anteriority (Fongbe)
aor Aorist tense (Armenian, Tauya, Turkish)
appr Apprehensive mode (Hup)
approx Approximative (Hidatsa)
ass Assertive (Nama Hottentot, Nenets)
asso Associative (Cavineña, Kulina)
aux Auxiliary
av Actor voice (Puyuma)
ba bǎ (Chinese)
bln Blunt speech level (Korean)
caus Causative
clf Classifier
com Comitative case
xi
xii Abbreviations and Conventions
compa Comparative
compl Completive aspect
conju Conjunction
conneg Connegative (Nenets)
cont Continuous/continuative aspect
cont.evid Contrary to evidence (Cavineña)
conte Contemplated aspect (Tagalog); contemporative mode
(West Greenlandic)
cop Copula
csm Change of state marker (Qiang)
dat Dative case
decl Declarative clause marker (Hidatsa, Korean, Somali)
def Definite marker
dem Demonstrative
des Desiderative clause marker (Mongolian)
det Determiner
dir Directional prefix (Hinuq, Qiang); direction (Ute); direct
information (Huallaga Quechua)
dtv Directive particle (Qiang)
du Dual number
dub Dubitative marker (Mongolian, Nenets)
dynm Dynamic aspect (Hup)
emph Emphatic, emphasis
emph.int Interrogative emphasis (Hup)
erg Ergative case
ev Evidential
exc Exclamative clause marker
excl Exclusive
exho Exhortative preverb (Vietnamese); exhortative particle (Pipil)
exp Experiential aspect
f Feminine gender
fm Formative (Cavineña)
fml Familiar speech level (Korean); familiar (Hindi)
foc Focus
fut Future tense/general future tense (Kulina)
g1 Gender 1 (Hinuq)
gen Genitive case
go Go purposive (Kham)
hab Habitual aspect (Mongolian); habitual participle (Hinuq)
hon Honorific
hor Hortative marker; hortatory (Maidu)
hpl Human plural (Hinuq)
hpst Hodiernal past tense (Kulina)
ifut Immediate future tense (Kulina)
iloc Inanimate location (Hinuq)
im Immediate (Dagaare)
Abbreviations and Conventions xiii
imp Imperative clause marker, imperative mode

impf Imperfect aspect
in Location ‘in(side)’ (Hinuq); inessive (Udmurt)
inch Inchoative aspect (Chinese, Hup, Mian); inchoative focus (Hup)
incl Inclusive
ind Indicative mode; indirect information (Huallaga Quechua)
indf Indefinite
indtv Indirect directive marker
inf Infinitive
infe Inferential marker (Hup, Nenets, Qiang)
ins Instrumental case
int Intentive (Maidu); intimate speech level (Korean)
intfut Intentional future tense (Hinuq)
intp Introspective prefix (Nyigina)
ints Introspective suffix (Nyigina)
ipfv Imperfective aspect
ipros Instant prospective aspect (Vietnamese)
irr Irrealis (Bardi, Mian, Ute)
lat Lative case (Hinuq)
loc Locative marker
m Masculine gender
mod Modal suffix (Ute); modal (Dagaare)
mp Mood particle (Chinese, Mongolian, Ọ̀kọ́, Vietnamese)
na Neutral aspect (Maidu)
narr Narrative enclitic (Hidatsa, Hinuq)
nec Necessitative (Nenets)
neg Negative, negation
nfrt Non-firsthand evidentiality (Kulina)
nfut Near future tense (Kulina)
nhm Non-human
nim Non-immediate (Dagaare)
nmlz Nominalizer, nominalization
nom Nominative case
nonspec Non-speculative (Hidatsa)
npst Non-past tense (Greek, Japanese)
nrld Non-realized (Mapuche)
nsg Non-singular number (first person) (Kulina); non-singular number
(Cavineña, Mapuche)
obj Object
obl Oblique case
opin Opinion
opt Optative clause marker
p Patient
part Clause (enclitic) particle
perm Permissive clause marker (Hidatsa, Mongolian)
pers Persistive
xiv Abbreviations and Conventions
pfv Perfective aspect

phpst Prehodiernal past tense (Kulina)
pl Plural number
pol Polite speech level (Korean); polite suffix (Japanese); polite
particle (Thai)
poss Possessive
pot Potential (Hausa, Nenets)
pr Promissive clause marker (Korean)
prec Precative clause marker (Mongolian, Nenets)
prep Preposition
pret Preterite tense
prf Perfect aspect
prob Probability (Kham)
prog Progressive aspect
prop Proposive (Javanese)
pros Prospective modal suffix (Korean); prospective aspect
prs Present tense
psb Possibility modality (Turkish)
pst Past tense
ptcp Participle
q Interrogative clause marker
real Realis mode (Mian, Nyigina, Teiwa)
redup Reduplication
rep Reportative marker
repe Repetitive aspect/topic-shift (Hup)
repst Recent past tense (Bardi)
requ Request marker
rpst Remote past tense
rq Rhetoric question marker
rt Retrospective mode (Korean)
sbj Subject affix, subject case
sbjv Subjunctive mode
sg Singular number
sp Structural particle (Chinese)
spec Speculative marker (Hidatsa)
spr Location ‘on’ (Hinuq)
su Suppositive clause marker (Korean)
sub Suborninative (case) (Nama Hottentot)
surp Astonishment/amazement/surprise marker (Fongbe)
tag Tag question marker
tel Telic aspect/contrastive emphasis (Hup)
top Topic marker
tr Transitive
uwpst Unwitnessed past tense (Hinuq)
vent Venitive aspect (Hup)
Abbreviations and Conventions xv
vis Visual marker (Hup, Qiang)

vol Volitional (Japanese)
volu Voluntative clause marker (Mongolian)
ø Empty
Abbreviations of Interpersonal Functional Elements
Basic Interpersonal Functional Elements
Ad Adjunct The interpersonal functional element that does not have the
potential to become Subject. It is realized by an adverbial group
or a prepositional phrase.
Com Complement The interpersonal functional element that has the potential of
being Subject but is not. It is typically realized by a nominal
group.
Fi Finite The interpersonal functional element that functions to make a
proposition finite and arguable by giving it a point of reference.
Sub Subject The interpersonal functional element that is responsible for the
validity of a proposition and for the success of a proposal.
Pr Predicator The interpersonal functional element that specifies the process
type and other aspects, e.g., phase, voice, etc., of a clause.
Vo Vocative The interpersonal functional element identifying the addressee
of the clause as a move in dialogue.
Expanded Interpersonal Functional Elements
CI Complement Indicator The functional element that indicates certain properties

(number, gender, and person) of Complement.
EM Emotion Marker One type of Mood Negotiator that expresses the speak-
er’s emotions, moods, and attitudes.
EmM Emphasis Marker One type of Mood Negotiator that indicates the speak-
er’s emphasis on the content or a certain part of the
content of a proposition or a proposal.
EvM Evidentiality Marker One type of Mood Negotiator that encodes the informa-
tion source of a proposition.
FM Focus Marker One type of Mood Negotiator that indicates the focus of
a proposition.
IW Interrogative Word The functional element that specifies the entity that the
questioner wishes to have supplied. One type of Mood
Negotiator that marks the elemental interrogative.
xvi Abbreviations and Conventions
MN Mood Negotiator The interpersonal functional element that marks the

mood type of a clause. Some specific types of Mood
Negotiator serve to mark the specific mood type of a
clause. The Emphasis Marker, for instance, marks an
emphatic clause.
PlN Proposal Negotiator One type of Mood Negotiator that shows the negotiabil-
ity of a proposal.
PnN Proposition Negotiator One type of Mood Negotiator that makes a proposition
negotiable by inviting the listener to confirm its truth
value.
TM Tenor Marker One type of Mood Negotiator that indicates the tenor of
the relationship between the speaker and the addressee
in terms of social status, social distance, etc.
SI Subject Indicator The functional element that indicates certain properties
(number, gender, and person) of Subject.
Abbreviations of Grammatical Classes
lexico- v Verb
iw Interrogative word
ad Adverb
au Auxiliary
p Particle
c Clitic
-grammar seq Sequence
st Structure/construction
re Reduplication
pr Prefix
s Suffix
a Affix
i Inflection
Operators in Realization Statements
Operator Meaning of operator Example

↘ Be realized by ↘+Mood Realized by inserting the
Mood
+F Insert Function +Mood Insert the Mood
Abbreviations and Conventions xvii
Operator Meaning of operator Example

−F Delete Function −Fi Delete the Finite
F Expand Function Mood Expand the Mood by
(F, F) (Sub, Fi) decomposing it to include the
Subject and the Finite
F^F Sequence Functions Sub^Fi Sequence the Subject before
the Finite
#^F Position Function first #ÎW Position the Interrogative
Word initially
F^# Position Function last MN^# Position the Mood Negotia-
tor at the end of the clause
F:feature Preselect feature Sub:2 The Subject is preselected for
the feature ‘second person’;
The Subject is constrained to
have the feature
Fːclass Realize Function by MNːp Realize the Mood Negotiator
grammatical class by particles
F::item Specify Function as lexico- TM::qǐng Specify the Tenor Marker as
grammatical item qǐng ‘please’
F/F Conflate Functions IW/Sub Conflate the Interrogative
Word with the Subject
F.F Fuse Functions Fi.Pr Fuse the Finite and the
Predicator
<F> Function be optional <Sub> The Subject is optional
*F Reject Function *Fi ‘modality’ Reject the Finite that
expresses modality
Graphic Conventions in System Networks
x System:
a if ‘a’, then ‘x’ or ‘y’
y
a x Disjunction in entry condition:

if ‘a’ or ‘b’, then ‘x’ or ‘y’
b y
a x Conjunction in entry condition:

if ‘a’ and ‘b’, then ‘x’ or ‘y’
b y
xviii Abbreviations and Conventions
xI Simultaneity:
if ‘a’, then simultaneously ‘x’ or ‘y’ and ‘m’ or
y ‘n’
a Exception:
m i,t
if ‘x’, then ‘n’, and so not ‘m’
nT
m Delicacy ordering:
x if ‘a’, then ‘x’ or ‘y’; if ‘x’, then ‘m’ or ‘n’
a n
y
Capitalization Labels Used in Systems and Realization

Statements
Capitalization Convention Example

Small capitals Name of system mood, speech function,
modality
Initial capitals Name of structural function Mood, Subject, Finite, Predi-

(functional element) cator, Mood Negotiator
Lower case, or lower case Name of option in system indicative, ‘imperative’
with single quotes
List of Figures
Fig. 1.1 The mood system of English. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Fig. 2.1 The mood system of English extracted from An Introduction
to Functional Grammar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Fig. 2.2 The mood system of English from Martin (1992)
(adapted from Martin 1992: 44) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Fig. 2.3 The semantic system network for mood of English
in Fawcett (2009) (adapted from Fawcett 2009: 60). . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Fig. 3.1 The global and local semiotic dimensions of SFL
(adapted from Matthiessen et al. 2010: 38) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Fig. 3.2 Stratification (adapted from Halliday
and Matthiessen 2014: 26) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Fig. 3.3 The realizational relationship between mood
system and speech function system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Fig. 3.4 mood in the matrix of stratification and metafunction. . . . . . . . . . . 64
Fig. 3.5 The mood system of English. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Fig. 5.1 Number of primary tense and aspect of each language. . . . . . . . . . 98
Fig. 5.2 Language classification along the parameters
of realizations of Finite and morphological type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Fig. 5.3 Number of declarative moods of each language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Fig. 5.4 The declarative mood system of Hidatsa, based
on Boyle (2007). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Fig. 5.5 The declarative mood system of Hup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Fig. 6.1 The possible positions of confirmative mood in mood system. . . . 176
Fig. 7.1 Mood Negotiators for jussive mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Fig. 7.2 The imperative mood system of Mongolian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Fig. 8.1 The mood system of Persian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Fig. 8.2 The mood system of Hidatsa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Fig. 8.3 Number of mood options of each language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Fig. 8.4 Semantic dimensions for the elaboration
of declarative mood system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
xix
xx List of Figures
Fig. 8.5 The hierarchy of grammaticalization of major types

of imperative mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Fig. 8.6 The multilingual mood system: Part i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Fig. 8.7 The multilingual mood system: Part ii. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Fig. 8.8 The multilingual mood system: Part iii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Fig. 8.9 The multilingual mood system: Part iv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
List of Tables
Table 1.1 Etymology of ‘mood’ and ‘mode’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Table 1.2 Comparison of terminology in SFL and other traditions. . . . . . . 15
Table 1.3 Different types of clauses recognized in SFL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Table 3.1 Modalization and modulation (from Halliday 1994: 91). . . . . . . 63
Table 3.2 Compositional hierarchies in English (from Halliday
and Matthiessen 2014: 21) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Table 3.3 Finite verbal operators in English (from Halliday 1994: 76). . . . 70
Table 4.1 The geographical, genetic, and typological information
about the languages in the sample. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Table 4.2 Data sources of the languages described. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Table 5.1 The Finite in Cavineña (cf. Guillaume 2008) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Table 5.2 Realizations of Finite ‘negative’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Table 5.3 Realizations of Finite ‘tense’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Table 5.4 Realizations of Finite ‘aspect’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Table 5.5 Intra-language consistency in the realizations of Finite . . . . . . . 113
Table 5.6 Types of evidential declaratives and their realizations . . . . . . . . 131
Table 5.7 Sentence enders in Korean (cf. Sohn 1999: 234–237). . . . . . . . . 137
Table 5.8 Polite particles in Thai (cf. Smyth 2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Table 5.9 Mood Negotiators for affirmative and negative declarative. . . . 142
Table 6.1 Realizations of polar interrogative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Table 6.2 Mood Negotiator: polar interrogative realized by particles . . . . 158
Table 6.3 Basic Interrogative Words in different languages
and their positions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Table 6.4 Dimensions of variation in the realizations of elemental
interrogative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Table 6.5 Structural contrasts between MN: polar
and MN: elemental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Table 6.6 Proposition negotiators for tagged confirmative. . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Table 7.1 Mood Negotiators for cohortative mood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Table 7.2 Subtypes of hortative mood and their realizations. . . . . . . . . . . . 206
xxi
xxii List of Tables
Table 7.3 Some options in the imperative mood system of Nenets

and their relationship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Table 8.1 The grammatical classes in the realizations
of declarative mood system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
of interrogative mood system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
of imperative mood system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Table 8.4 Realizations of holistic mood system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Table 8.5 Major grammatical classes deployed in the realizations
of holistic mood system in languages of different
morphological types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Table 8.6 Intra-language consistency in the realizations of mood. . . . . . . . 231
Table 8.7 Correlations between realizations of mood
and morphological types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Table 8.8 The assessment system of Dagaare (cf. Mwinlaaru 2018) . . . . . 240
Table 8.9 Interactant-oriented semantic dimensions in the languages
of East Asia and Southeast Asia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Table 8.10 Semantic dimensions for the elaboration of mood system. . . . . . 252
Table 8.11 Some facets of the socio-cultural context of Hup,
Cavineña, Kulina, and Hidatsa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Table 8.12 The correlation coefficient between the number
of mood options (NM) and the number of classes
(NC)/the number of realization statements (NR). . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Table 8.13 English equivalent expressions for some mood options . . . . . . . 258
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Mood as a Grammatical Category
Mood has long been an essential grammatical category in linguistic description

and analysis, “concerning central and highly sophisticated domains of the lin-
guistic system” (Nuyts 2016: 1). It has attracted continuous attention from many
branches of linguistics, e.g., linguistic philosophy, syntax, semantics, pragmat-
ics, linguistic typology, systemic functional linguistics, discourse analysis, etc.
Nevertheless, it is often used confusingly in linguistic studies and is far from being
a well-established grammatical category despite the large body of literature. As
van der Auwera and Aguilar (2016: 9) note, “after more than 2000 years our dis-
cipline has not reached a better understanding of what is fundamental to modal-
ity and mood”. The terminological confusion about mood dates to the seventeenth
century or even earlier days and remains in recent literature (Charleston 1941;
Foley and Valin 1984; Portner 2009, 2018). The book will begin with a survey
of the uses of the term ‘mood’ in linguistic studies. As a general background of the
current book, the survey will cover the etymology of ‘mood’, studies on mood in
Western linguistics from antiquity to the late eighteenth century, studies on mood
in modern Western linguistics, and studies on mood in modern Chinese linguistics.
1.1.1 The Etymology of ‘Mood’
According to The New Oxford Dictionary of English (NODE, Pearsall 1998)

and The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (Onions, Friedrichsen, and
Bruchfield 1982), the Modern English word ‘mood’ has two entries. mood1 refers
to “a temporary state of mind or feeling” (NODE). This sense of ‘mood’ comes
from the Old English word mōd which is of Germanic origin. mood2 refers to
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 1
D. Li, A Systemic Functional Typology of mood, The M.A.K. Halliday Library
Functional Linguistics Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8821-9_1
2 1 Introduction
Table 1.1 Etymology of ‘mood’ and ‘mode’

Origin Old/Middle English Modern English
Germanic mōd ‘mind, spirit; courage’ mood1 mood
as a variant of moode mood2
Latin: modus ‘measure, manner’ moode ‘manner, form of verb’ mode
“a category of verb use, typically expressing fact (indicative mood), command

(imperative mood), question (interrogative mood), wish (optative mood), or con-
ditionality (subjunctive mood)” (NODE). The second sense of ‘mood’, which is
the grammatical sense of this word, goes back to the mid-sixteenth century, when
it was used as a variant of another Modern English word ‘mode’. The grammatical
sense of the word ‘mode’ was acquired in late Middle English and originates from
the Latin word modus.
The etymology of ‘mood’ and ‘mode’, as is shown in Table 1.1, accounts for
why both words are used as a linguistic term. For example, Bloomfield (1935) and
Hockett (1958) use ‘mode’ only (van der Auwera and Aguilar 2016). Most schol-
ars, however, use ‘mood’ more often to avoid the problematic ambiguities ‘mode’
may present. Following in this tradition, we will use the term ‘mood’ to refer to
the object under study. Meanwhile, we will also use the term ‘mode’ in another
way (Sect. 1.4).
1.1.2 Studies on Mood in Western Linguistics: From

Antiquity to the Late 18th Century
Gray (1939: 166) maintains that “conventional grammatical terminology was

established, in the main, by the grammarians of Greece, notably in the summary
of Dionysios Thrax”. This is true of mood. Van der Auwera and Aguilar (2016)
make a comprehensive survey of the uses of the term ‘mood’ in Western linguis-
tics before the nineteenth century. According to their survey, mood as a gram-
matical category can be traced back to Dionysios or even earlier Greek scholars.
Dionysios, in his Tekhnē grammatikē ‘Art of grammar’ (Kemp 1986), conceives
of mood (enklísis) as an attribute of the Greek verb and recognizes five moods,
namely defining, imperative, optative, subjunctive, and infinitive. Though he does
not make clear what mood is, obviously, his notion of mood is concerned with
verb morphology. This is the most conventional use of this term. We will term
Dionysios’ notion of mood as ‘verbal mood’.
There is a second use of mood which can be traced back to another Greek
scholar Protagoras. Citing Laertius (see Laertius (1950), with an English transla-
tion by Hicks), van der Auwera and Aguilar (2016) note that Protagoras is the first
to divide the parts of discourse into four, viz. wish, question, answer, and com-
mand. They also notice Hicks, the translator of Laertius (1950), claims that the
1.1 Mood as a Grammatical Category 3
four terms approximately correspond to optative, indicative (question and answer),

and imperative. In a similar vein, Allan (2001) believes the four terms correspond
to optative-imperative, interrogative, indicative, and imperative, respectively.
There are debates over whether Protagoras and Dionysios were discussing the
same thing (see van der Auwera and Aguilar 2016). We will argue that Dionysios
was talking about verb morphology and Protagoras was discussing sentence types.
Protagoras’s notion of mood will be termed as ‘sentence mood’ in the book.
A third use of mood, like the other two mentioned, goes back to Greek gram-
marian Apollonius Dyscolus. Van der Auwera and Aguilar’s survey shows
Apollonius, in his Peril syntaxeos ‘About the construction’ (Lallot 1997), consid-
ers mood (enclísis) as ‘disposition of the mind’ or ‘mental disposition’. He accepts
Dionysios’s terminology and classification of mood, while he goes one step fur-
ther by providing a definition of mood. Moreover, according to van der Auwera
and Aguilar (2016, citing Lallot 1997), Apollonius’ use of mood is a “psychologi-
cal” interpretation of this term and can be understood as “modality”. In this sense,
Apollonius’ notion of mood can be taken as an origin of another common use of
this term: to connect mood to modality. We will use the term ‘notional mood’ to
refer to Apollonius’ notion of mood.
The three main uses of the term ‘mood’, viz. ‘verbal mood1’, ‘sentence mood’,
and ‘notional mood’, were accepted by later grammarians and borrowed in
descriptions of other languages. In the sixth century, according to van der Auwera
and Aguilar (2016), Latin grammarian Priscian accepted Apollonius’ view on
mood by defining mood as different inclinations of the mind. He also accepted
Dionysios and Apollonius’ classification of mood when describing Latin. Since
Latin differs from Greek in verb morphology, it is of no surprise that such borrow-
ing unavoidably brought about some problems.
In the Middle Ages, according to van der Auwera and Aguilar (2016), gram-
marians’ view on mood was basically consistent with that of Apollonius and
Priscian. Besides, in the field of logic, three more uses of the term modus
appeared, one of which refers to the necessity, possibility, impossibility, and con-
tingent of a proposition. This sense of meaning, as noted by van der Auwera and
Aguilar (2016), to some extent corresponds to what we now call ‘modality’. This
is a more recent origin of ‘notional mood’ than Apollonius.
During the fifteenth and the sixteenth century, as van der Auwera and Aguilar’s
survey reveals, more problems arose as Spanish, German and French grammari-
ans applied the notion of ‘verbal mood’ and the classification of mood in Greek
and Latin to descriptions of their own language. Meanwhile, new ideas on mood
kept emerging. For example, in the sixteenth century, the concept of ‘sign’ was
created, which refers to “a formal marking of the mood other than the morphol-
ogy of the verb” (van der Auwera and Aguilar 2016: 18). Besides, the potential
mood expressed by modal verbs was recognized by grammarians as a new type of
1 The terms ‘verbal mood’, ‘sentential mood’, and ‘notional mood’ are borrowed mainly from
Portner (2009). See also Jespersen (1924), Harnish (1994), and Portner (2018).
4 1 Introduction
mood. New ideas on mood, as pointed out by van der Auwera and Aguilar (2016:
19), indicate “the Priscian tradition was gradually losing importance”. Building on
an investigation by Michael (1970), van der Auwera and Aguilar (2016) also note
that on the one hand some grammars published between 1586 and 1801 argue that
English has no moods because the English verb has no diversity of endings. On
the other hand, some grammars claim that English has many moods since it has
auxiliary verbs. The controversy indicates there was no agreed definition of mood
at that time, either in terms of meaning or form.
The seventeenth and the eighteenth century saw studies on both ‘notional
mood’ and ‘sentence mood’. Concerning the ‘notional mood’, according to van
der Auwera and Aguilar’s survey, Wilkins (1668) formulated the concept of ‘sec-
ondary mode’. He considers the primary modes as the traditional ones, such as
indicative, imperative, etc. The secondary modes, which function to make the sen-
tence to be a modal proposition, include meanings expressed by modal verbs, such
as ‘possibility’, ‘liberty’, ‘inclination of the will’, and ‘necessity’. The secondary
modes (moods) are what we are grouping together under the heading of modality.
The practice of relating mood to modality has been more commonplace in mod-
ern Western linguistics. Concerning the ‘sentence mood’, according to van der
Auwera and Aguilar (2016), Harris (1993) includes interrogative into the category
of mood. He also connects mood types to text types.
1.1.3 Studies on Mood in Modern Western Linguistics
In last section, drawing on the survey by van der Auwera and Aguilar (2016), we
have summarized three uses of the concept of mood in Western linguistics from
antiquity to the late eighteenth century, namely ‘verbal mood’, ‘sentence mood’,
and ‘notional mood’. In this section, we will make a survey of studies on mood in
modern Western linguistics. The survey, unsurprisingly, will show that all the three
approaches to mood are adopted and developed in modern Western linguistics.
Verbal Mood
Verbal mood, as the most conventional view on mood, is widely held in modern
Western linguistic studies. Most studies between the late nineteenth century and
the mid-twentieth century conceive of mood as verbal inflection, but there have
been controversies concerning the meaning expressed by verbal mood.
Sweet (1891) defines moods of a verb as the grammatical forms that express
different relations between subject and predicate. He first distinguishes the imper-
ative mood that expresses commands and the indicative mood that expresses
statements. Then, he further divides a statement into a fact, a thought, and a wish,
which are expressed by indicative mood, subjunctive mood, and optative/subjunc-
tive mood, respectively. He admits that English only has indicative and subjunctive
as inflectional moods, but the formal distinction between them is slight and the
sense of the distinction in function between subjunctive and indicative has almost
died out in English. The few distinctions that English makes between fact-state-
ments and thought-statements are mainly expressed by auxiliaries rather than
verbal inflections. He also formulates the concepts of periphrastic mood (includ-
ing conditional mood, permissive mood, and compulsive mood) and tense mood
to refer to meanings realized by auxiliaries and preterite tense, respectively. On
the one hand, Sweet (1891) accepts Dionysios’ notion of mood, taking mood as
a verbal category. On the other hand, he acknowledges the differences between
English and Latin and Greek in the expressions of mood. Also, his notion of mood
is broader than previous ones.
Sonnenschein (1916) also takes mood as a verbal category. For him, a mood is
a group of tenses which have a similarity of meaning. He recognizes three moods:
the indicative speaks of a matter of fact, the imperative expresses what is desired
by the speaker, and the subjunctive expresses the meaning that something “is to be
done” and “shall be done”. Like Sweet (1891), he also admits that the subjunctive
is not so much used in Modern English as it was in Old English and its meaning
is expressed by other ways, but it still can be recognized through the meaning it
expresses.
Jespersen (1924) asserts that mood is a syntactic category rather than a notional
one. He disagrees with Sweet (1891) on the definition of mood. In his view, moods
express certain attitudes of the mind of the speaker toward the contents of the sen-
tence. These attitudes are shown in the forms of the verb. His notion of mood
reminds us of that of Apollonius. He recognizes three moods, viz. indicative, sub-
junctive, and imperative. He disagrees with those grammarians who try to connect
mood with modality. Therefore, he introduces the concept of ‘notional mood’ to
refer to the meaning of modality and offers a list of more than twenty types of
notional moods. He highlights the significance of verbal forms in descriptions
of mood. As he maintains, “there are many ‘moods’ if once one leaves the safe
ground of verbal forms actually found in a language” (Jesperson 1924: 321).
Since the 1930s, a consensus has been reached that mood being a verbal cat-
egory indicates the status of the event conveyed by the verb. It inflects the fac-
tuality or actuality of the event. Distinctions are commonly made between
‘indicative’ and ‘subjunctive’, ‘real’ and ‘unreal’, ‘realis’ and ‘irrealis’. For exam-
ple, Bloomfield (1935) makes the point that English modes (moods) distinguish
various approaches of an action to its actual occurrence. Morphologically, English
distinguishes ‘real’ and ‘unreal’. Syntactically, English recognizes a whole series
by the particularity of irregular (auxiliaries) verbs. Gray (1939) expresses a sim-
ilar view. For him, the category of mood, as an aspect of the verb, denotes the
manner in which action or state is performed or exists. The indicative expresses a
fact or what is alleged to be fact and the subjunctive denotes a contingency which
may or may not be realized. He also reports that languages vary in the number
of moods. The Indo-European languages have four principal moods: indicative,
subjunctives, optative, and imperative. In contrast, Semitic has a jussive mood
and Hebrew has a cohortative mood. Gonda (1956), like Jespersen (1924), is of
6 1 Introduction
the opinion that it would be advisable to distinguish between mood and modal-
ity. In his view, moods are verb forms which intimate speaker’s view of the rela-
tion between the process and reality. Zandvoort (1957) points out that the English
subjunctive expresses will or wish, possibility and unreality (irrealis). For Hockett
(1958), modes (moods) show differing degrees or kinds of reality, desirability, or
contingency of an event. Quirk et al. (1985) do not give a clear definition of mood.
They take mood as one of the five criteria for distinguishing finite verb phrases
from non-finite verb phrases and point out that mood, as the attribute of finite
verbs, indicates the factual, non-factual, or counterfactual status of the predica-
tion. Bussmann (1990) defines mood as a grammatical category of verbs which
expresses the subjective attitude of the speaker toward the state of affairs described
by the utterance. In his view, the indicative mood is the neutral one and the sub-
junctive and the imperative are for expressing unreal states and commands, respec-
tively. In a similar vein, Thieroff (2010) regards mood as a morphological category
of the verb that expresses modalities such as orders, wishes, (non-)factivity, (non-)
reality and the like.
Sentence Mood
Since the 1960s, there has been considerable interest in sentence mood. Mood is
used to refer to sentence types and the speech acts realized by different sentence
types. This use of mood is mainly observed in studies of linguistic philosophy,
semantics, pragmatics, systemic functional linguistics, and linguistic typology.
Stenius (1967), for instance, makes a distinction between sentence-radical and
modal element. The former signifies the descriptive content of the sentence and
the latter signifies (sentence) mood. The same descriptive content can be indica-
tive mood, imperative mood, or interrogative mood. He also distinguishes between
grammatical mood and semantic/logical mood. For example, an interrogative
mood, when used as questions, is both a grammatical interrogative and a logical
interrogative; but when it is used as commands, it is a grammatical interrogative
but not a logical one. Lewis (1970) holds a similar view on mood.
Lyons (1968), as with Stenius (1967), uses mood to refer to sentence types. For
him, if the sentence is used to express simple statements of fact, it is unmarked
and in indicative mood or declarative mood. If the sentence indicates speaker’s
commitment with respect to the factual status of what he is saying, it is marked
and can be in imperative mood or interrogative mood. It is interesting that Lyons
(cf. Lyons 1977, 1995) later changed his view on mood. He maintains “it was mis-
leading to suggest that the difference between declarative and interrogative, like
the difference between indicative and imperative, is a matter of mood” (Lyons
1977: 747). Lyons (1995) further makes it clear that the terms ‘declarative’, ‘inter-
rogative’, and ‘exclamative’ belong the domain of sentence type while the terms
‘imperative’, ‘optative’, ‘indicative’, ‘subjunctive’, ‘dubitative’, and ‘evidential’
subclassify sentences according to mood. The change indicates that the conven-
tional view on mood was still of enormous influence.
Halliday (1970) considers the system of mood as the expression of the speak-
er’s choice of role in the communication. Different types of mood realize different
speech functions. For example, when making a statement with declarative mood,
the speaker is taking upon himself the role of declarer and inviting the hearer to
take on the complementary role.
Huddleston (1971), from a pragmatic perspective, makes a distinction between the
grammatical mood of a sentence and the illocutionary force of an utterance. In his
view, the terms ‘declarative’, ‘interrogative’, ‘imperative’, and ‘exclamative’ are four
types of sentences classified according to their grammatical mood, whereas the terms
‘assertion’, ‘question’, ‘order’, ‘exclamation’, etc., are used to refer to illocutionary
force of different speech acts. He suggests that mood is a matter of competence and
illocutionary force is a matter of performance and the two systems do not completely
coincide. Pragmatic studies on mood also include Kasher (1974), Davidson (1979),
and Lappin (1982). They all consider moods as different sentence types.
Harnish (1994, 2001) defines mood as sentence form with a function and differ-
entiates sentences as indicative, yes/no interrogative, wh-interrogative, imperative,
and exclamative. He asserts that mood is a category that lies at the intersection
of phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, not merely a matter of mor-
phology. Formally speaking, moods are described in terms of syntactic structure,
which includes word order, syntactic categorization, intonation contour, and occa-
sionally lexical items. Functionally speaking, sentences are described in terms of
their literal and direct illocutionary force potential (pragmatics) and their mean-
ings (semantics).
The twenty-first century sees more studies on sentence mood. Anderson
(2007) sees mood as subcategory of finiteness associated with speech act. In his
view, mood variation is a property of finite clauses. Following in the tradition, de
Schepper and de Hoop (2012) recognize the three main sentence moods in language
as the imperative, declarative, and interrogative mood. Moreover, they also recog-
nize some other sentence moods that have less obvious markings, such as com-
missive, expressive, declaration, and suggestion. Along the same line, Aikhenvald
(2010) defines mood as a grammatical category expressing a speech act. Declarative
is the form of statement, interrogative that of question and imperative that of getting
an addressee to act. He uses the term ‘grammatical mood’ to cover these meanings.
Dixon (2012) similarly suggests that mood indicates type of speech act. The three
commonly used moods in every language are imperative (indicating a command),
interrogative (indicating a question), and declarative (indicating a statement).
Notional Mood
Since the 1980s, there has been a growing body of literature on the topic of
notional mood. It has become commonplace to relate mood to modality.
The first scholar to mention is Huddleston (see Huddleston 1984a, 1984b;
Huddleston and Pullum 2002). He takes mood as an inflectional system of verb.
Semantic contrasts made in mood system by terms ‘indicative’, ‘subjunctive’,
and ‘imperative’ involve ‘factuality’ versus ‘non-factuality’, ‘assertions’ versus
8 1 Introduction
‘non-assertions’, ‘main clauses’ versus ‘subordinate clauses. Moreover, he believes

there exist analytic mood systems which are differentiated by auxiliaries rather
than by verbal inflections. English has no inflectional mood system but only an
analytical one. Furthermore, he asserts mood is a grammatical category whereas
modality is a semantic category and the distinction between them is like that
between tense and time, or aspect and asepectuality. He claims mood is the gram-
maticalization of modality within the verbal system. For Huddleston, modality is
a rather broad term covering a wide range of meaning and it is expressed by a
wide range of syntactically diverse means including mood. In English, modality is
mainly expressed by analytic mood.
Chung and Timberlake (1985) make the point that mood characterizes the
actuality of an event by comparing the event(s) world to the reference world.
Languages commonly distinguish two morphological moods, namely realis and
irrealis, which express factual and non-factual events, respectively. The realis
mood basically is equivalent to indicative and the irrealis to subjunctive mood,
conditional mood, hypothetical mood, etc. They discuss two basic parameters of
non-factuality, namely the epistemic mode and the deontic mode. The two modes
are what are termed as ‘modality’ in other studies (cf. Bybee 1985; Palmer 1986).
In other words, Chung and Timberlake (1985) also hold the view that moods
express modalities.
Bybee (1985) provides a rather broad definition of mood, regarding mood as
a marker on the verb that signals how the speaker chooses to put the proposition
into the discourse context. She admits the definition is “intentionally formulated
to be general enough to cover both markers of illocutionary force” and “markers
of degree of commitment of the speaker to the truth of the proposition” (Bybee
1985: 165). Thus, both the semantic domain of evidentiality and epistemic modal-
ity are included under her definition of mood. Unlike Chung and Timberlake
(1985), she excludes deontic modality and markers of ability, desire, and intention
from the domain of mood. As regard the relationship between mood and modal-
ity, she maintains that “modality designates a conceptual domain which may
take various types of linguistic inflection, while mood designates the inflectional
expression of a subdivision of this semantic domain” (Bybee 1985: 169). She
divides moods into two main groups: those that express illocutionary force, such
as imperative, optative, admonitive, prohibitive, and interrogative, and those that
indicate commitment to truth of assertion, which include subjunctive, dubitative,
probable, potential, and conditional. Bybee later (cf. Bybee et al. 1994; Bybee and
Fleischman 1995) made it clear that modality is the conceptual domain, which
covers a broad range of semantic nuances, such as jussive, desiderative, inten-
tive, hypothetical, potential, obligative, dubitative, hortatory, etc., and mood is the
inflectional expression of modality.
Palmer (1986), like Huddleston (1984a, 1984b), is of the opinion that mood is a
grammatical category and modality a notional or semantic one, and the distinction
between the two terms parallels that between tense and time, number and enumer-
ation, gender and sex. Mood, together with modal verbs, particles, and clitics, is
one of the ways to mark modality. Palmer later (cf. Palmer 2001, 2009) further
expounded his idea about the relation between mood and modality. He takes
modality as a broad semantic domain, within which a major distinction is made
between proposition modality and event modality. The former mainly includes
epistemic and evidential modality and the latter mainly includes deontic and
dynamic modality. In contrast, mood is one of the two ways (the other one being
modal system) in which languages deal grammatically with modality. In other
words, mood and modal system are two grammatical means to express modal-
ity. They are two grammatical sub-categories within the wider category modality.
Concerning mood, according to Palmer (2001, 2009), a binary distinction can be
made between indicative and subjunctive or between realis and irrealis.
Similarly, Davidsen-Nielsen (1990) holds a view that mood is grammatically
expressed modality. A nuance he makes is that the concept of mood should not
only include morphologically signaled constructions, but also syntactically sig-
naled ones such as modal auxiliaries. Saeed (1997, 2016) also maintains that mood
refers to the distinctions marked by verb endings which form distinct conjuga-
tions and modality is encoded in the grammar of mood. For Bhat (1999), mood
is concerned with the actuality of an event. It mainly falls into two types: epis-
temic moods and deontic moods. Besides, he also subsumes interrogative and
imperative under the term ‘mood’ and asserts that interrogative is an extension of
epistemic moods and imperative an extension of deontic moods. De Haan (2006)
defines mood as a morphological verbal category which expresses the modal value
of the sentence. Mood is the grammaticalized expression of modality. Depraetere
and Reed (2006) and Magni (2010), as with Huddleston and Palmer, argue that
modality can be coded in various ways, such as verbal inflections, auxiliary verbs,
adverbs, and particles, and mood is the grammatical coding of modal meaning in
verb inflection. Depraetere and Reed (2006) maintain that English has impera-
tive, subjunctive, indicative as inflectional moods, while Magni (2010) argues that
Modern English has a modal system, but no mood.
Versatility View
We have sketched the three main approaches to mood in modern Western lin-
guistics. We notice that, instead of using the term to designate a single semantic
domain, more and more studies recognize the versatility of this term. Hengeveld
(2004), for instance, notices that mood is used for the morphological category that
covers the grammatical reflections of a large semantic area, and there are hardly
any successful definitions of this term since “all definitions proposed leave cer-
tain distinctions unaccounted for” (Hengeveld 2004: 1190). He argues that mood
is related at least to two semantic areas: the area of illocution and the area of
modality. Along the same line, Narrog (2005, 2010, 2012) makes a terminologi-
cal distinction between ‘mood’ and ‘clause mood’. The former is used to refer to
specific linguistic forms in verb inflection whose primary function is to express
modality; the latter, in contrast, covers clause types, such as declaratives, interrog-
atives, imperatives, etc. For him, moods are grammaticalized modality and clause
moods are grammaticalized speech acts. These two categories are closely related
10 1 Introduction
to each other and some clause moods, such as polar interrogatives, imperatives,
conditionals, fall under the definition of modality. In like manner, Krug (2009) and
Mitchell (2009) maintain the term ‘mood’ can be applied to both inflectional dis-
tinctions and clauses types. Portner (2009) distinguishes three usages of the term
‘mood’: verbal mood, notional mood, and sentence mood. For him, verbal mood
shows subjective attitude of the speaker toward the state of affairs reflected in verb
forms; notional mood refers to “something which is fundamentally the same as
verbal mood, but which does not fit the strict definition” (Portner 2009:159); sen-
tence mood has something to do with clause types and sentential forces. In his
recent monograph on mood, Portner (2018) only uses the terms ‘verbal mood’ and
‘sentence mood’ but he describes the meaning of notional mood under the term
‘verbal mood’.
1.1.4 Studies on Mood in Modern Chinese Linguistics
Thus far, we have focused on studies on mood in Western linguistics. In this sec-
tion, we will sketch studies on mood in modern Chinese linguistics to see how this
term is used in descriptions of languages other than English. The picture here is
even more complicated. In addition to the three uses observed in Western linguis-
tics, the term is applied to more semantic domains.
Ma’s Comprehensive Grammar (Ma 1898) is the first grammar of the Chinese
language. In this book, Ma (1898) reports that mood (yǔqì) in western languages
varies with verbal inflections, whereas in Chinese, mood is expressed by mood
particles, which are unique to the Chinese language. Moods expressed by mood
particles, for him, can be subsumed under two categories: the certain mood and
the uncertain mood. According to Zhao and Shi (2011), Ma considers moods
expressed by mood particles in Chinese as the equivalents of those expressed by
verbal inflections in Western languages. Thus, Ma’s notion of mood is the most
conventional one, viz. verbal mood.
Li (1924) categorizes moods of Chinese sentences into five types according to
their functions: the declarative mood, the dubitative-suggestive mood, the inter-
rogative mood, the exclamative mood, and the imperative mood. These moods, in
his view, are expressed by sentence-final mood particles. Obviously, Li’s notion
of mood is sentence mood. Li’s notion of mood is widely accepted in modern
Chinese linguistic studies and probably is the most conventional one (see Hu
1962; Huang 1984; Huang and Liao 1991; Xing 1992; Qian 1995; Xing 1996; Sun
1999; Zhang 2002; Shao 2007; etc.). This is because the Chinese verb lacks inflec-
tions and the concept of verbal mood can hardly apply to the Chinese language.
Most of these studies classify moods in Chinese into four, namely declarative,
interrogative, imperative, and exclamative.
Studies on notional mood include Hu (1987), He (1992), and Qi (2002a,
2002b). Hu (1987), for example, groups semantic domains covered by the term
‘mood’ into three: the speaker’s feelings and emotions, the speaker’s subjective
attitude toward the contents conveyed by the sentence, and some specific informa-
tion conveyed to the hearer (what the speaker wants to do through the sentence).
He uses the terms ‘emotional mood’, ‘attitudinal mood’, and ‘volitional mood’
to refer to the three semantic domains respectively, among which the attitudinal
mood and the volitional mood roughly correspond to notional mood and sentence
mood. Likely, He (1992) asserts that modality2 (mood) is the speaker’s attitude
toward the contents of the sentence. He classifies modality (mood) into three:
the functional modality (mood), such as declarative, interrogative, imperative,
and exclamative; the judging modality (mood), such as epistemic, deontic, and
dynamic; the emotional modality (mood). He’s emotional mood is similar to the
emotional mood in Hu (1987), and the functional mood and judging mood corre-
spond to sentence mood and notional mood, respectively. Along the same line, Qi
(2002a, 2002b) distinguishes two types of mood: the functional mood and the voli-
tional mood. The former corresponds with sentence mood and the latter notional
mood.
Hu (1987), He (1992), and Qi (2002a, 2002b) all provide a rather broad defi-
nition of mood, which not only includes the meanings covered by sentence mood
and notional mood, but also the semantic domain of speaker’s emotions. The prac-
tice to define mood broadly even dates to the 1940s. Wang (1943, 1944), for exam-
ple, in his two monographs on Chinese grammar, Modern Chinese Grammar and
Chinese Grammar Theory, is of the opinion that emotional moods3 (yǔqì), which
are mainly indicated by intonations and emotional particles (yǔqìcí), express (the
speaker’s) various types of emotions (qíngxù). He reports twelve emotional moods
in Chinese, each of which is expressed by one emotional particle (yǔqìcí), and he
divides them into four groups: certain emotional moods (including determina-
tion,4 explanation, and emphasis), uncertain emotional moods (including inter-
rogation, rhetorical question, hypothesis, and conjecture), volitional emotional
moods (including command, urgency, and resignation), and exclamative moods
(including indignation and persuasion). Moreover, he reports eight other types
of emotional moods which are expressed by emotional tertiaries (adverbs) (yǔqì
mòpǐn). Meanings expressed by emotional adverbs in Chinese are mainly indi-
cated by intonations in English and thus it is very hard to find their counterparts
in English and other Indo-European languages. Wang (1943, 1944), therefore,
provides another interpretation of the term ‘mood’, namely ‘emotional mood’.
Lü (1944) offers an even broader definition of mood. For him, broadly speaking,
mood includes the semantic domains of yǔyì (meanings covered under this term
2 The Chinese term yǔqì (语气) is commonly translated as ‘mood’, but He (1992) translates yǔqì (
语气) as ‘modality’, which is more commonly translated as qíngtài (情态) in Chinese. Thus, his
use of ‘modality’ here should be understood as ‘mood’.
3 As mentioned in Footnote 2, the Chinese term yǔqì (语气) is commonly translated as ‘mood’.
Wang (1994) himself translated it as ‘emotional mood’. Accordingly, he translated yǔqìcí (语气
词) as ‘emotional particle’ instead of ‘mood particle’.
4 The translations in the brackets are given by Wang (1944) himself.
12 1 Introduction
include those denoted by terms like ‘affirmative’, ‘negative’, ‘realis’, ‘irrealis’,

etc.), yǔshì (this term approximately corresponds to ‘tone’) and the narrow sense
of this term. Mood in narrow sense, according to Lü (1944), refers to the differ-
ent speech functions of sentences with the same content. The narrow definition is
sentence mood. He further divides the mood in narrow sense into three groups:
those related to knowledge (including declarative and interrogative), those related
to action (including suggestive and imperative), and those related to emotion (such
as exclamative). For Lü (1944), the term ‘mood’ encompasses a wide range of
semantic domains, including those expressed by tones.
1.1.5 Section Summary
Up to now, we have made a comprehensive survey of uses of the term ‘mood’ in

both Western and Chinese linguistic studies. The survey reveals that mood is a
prominent and complex concept in linguistic studies. It has been used in a quite
confusing and overlapping way to cover many quite diverging linguistic phenom-
ena, among which three are referred to most frequently: (i) the factuality or actu-
ality of the event described by the language, (ii) the domain of sentence types and
the illocutionary forces carried by them, and (iii) the domain of modal meaning.
We borrow the terms ‘verbal mood’, ‘sentence mood’, and ‘notional mood’ from
Portner (2009) to refer to the three common uses of the term. Each use of the term
can be traced back to ancient Greek grammarians and remains popular in modern
linguistic studies. Moreover, in modern Chinese linguistic studies, the term is used
in a broader way to include other semantic domains, such as speaker’s emotions
and tones.
In our point of view, we can choose any use of the term when describing a par-
ticular language or a group of similar languages, but it would be helpful to high-
light several points before moving on to next section. First, verbal mood is not
a universal grammatical category. It exists only in languages with verbal inflec-
tions. Thus, languages without verbal inflections, such as Chinese and Vietnamese,
have no verbal mood. Even in some languages with verbal mood, it is already
on its way out (Magni 2010). Languages varies in the specific types of verbal
mood they have and in the uses of a particular type of verbal mood. Second, lan-
guages vary in the number and the types of devices at their disposal for express-
ing the same meaning. Taking modal meaning (modality) as an example, it can
be expressed through verbal inflections (verbal mood) in some languages, but in
other languages, it may be expressed through modal auxiliaries or modal adverbs.
It is unnecessary, or inappropriate, or even dangerous to relate all those non-inflec-
tional devices to mood, partly because this doing is unhelpful for us know what is
the core meaning of mood as a grammatical category. Besides, a linguistic concept
that applies to one language does not necessarily apply to another language. Third,
it is unhelpful to cover several diverging semantic domains under the same term
‘mood’ or ‘modality’. This doing will be particularly unacceptable when we are
describing or analyzing a specific language. This is because, on the one hand, it is

not helpful to establish mood or modality as a well-established grammatical cate-
gory in the language under study, and on the other hand, it will lead us to ignore
something that deserves a better description in its own right. Therefore, in our
view, verbal mood, sentence mood, modality, etc., should be studied as an inde-
pendent category, though they might somehow be related to each other in some
languages. We disapprove of defining modality broadly just to enable it to cover
the meaning expressed by verbal mood, nor do we advocate defining mood in a
rather broad way. Fourth, no matter how we define mood, due attention should be
paid both to its form and to its meaning. This is because to ignore either aspect
will bring about a variety of problems in research.
Turning to the current book, based on the points we made above, it will not
cover all the three uses of mood. Instead, it will only focus on sentence mood.
Therefore, if not specified, the term ‘mood’ hereafter will refer to sentence mood.
There are three reasons for focusing on sentence mood. To begin with, sentence
mood is concerned with the most fundamental functions of human language. As
Whaley (1997: 233) maintains, “there is no question that language is put to use
for many different purposes”, but “at the core of each of these functions is the
truism that language operates as a medium through which we can interact with
one another”. To engage into verbal interaction with others, we need to give
information, to demand information from others and to manipulate others. Each
language will offer a package of grammatical devices to meet these fundamen-
tal requirements of interaction. This is what the grammatical category of sen-
tence mood does. Languages vary, not surprisingly, in the number and the types
of devices at their disposal to fulfill these functions. Due to the enormous signifi-
cance of sentence mood for human communication and the considerable diversity
human languages show in this grammatical category, we have seen a huge body
of studies on this grammatical category (see studies on sentence mood listed in
Sect. 1.3 and for more see Chap. 2), and we would like to contribute one more to
this topic. Secondly, sentence mood bears a close relation with both verbal mood
and notional mood. The book will inevitably deal with the categories of verbal
mood and modal meaning, which will improve our understanding about their rela-
tion with sentence mood. Finally, to focus on sentence mood enables us to take
a cross-linguistic perspective. As mentioned above, verbal mood is not a univer-
sal grammatical category, and thus a typology on verbal mood must confine its
objects of comparison to languages with the category (see Rothstein and Thieroff
2010). As Croft (1990: 11) puts it, “the variation in structure makes it difficult
if not impossible to use structural criteria, or only structural criteria, to identify
grammatical category across languages”. In contrast, to take sentence mood as the
research topic of the book, theoretically speaking, enables us to cover all human
languages, because sentence mood is a universal category.
14 1 Introduction
1.2 A Working Definition of Mood
Since we have confined the focus of the book to sentence mood, we should pro-
vide a working definition of mood. Mood, in the current book, is defined as the
clause grammatical category that realizes the basic speech functions of statement,
question, command, etc., in human communication.
Several points should be noted about the definition. First, mood is a grammat-
ical category. This is widely accepted by most studies on mood. It is a set of lex-
icogrammatical resources, including intonation, interrogative words, sequence,
particles, clitics, verbal inflections (verbal mood), etc., which serves to fulfill
the basic speech functions mentioned above. There is no doubt, as mentioned in
Sect. 1.5, that languages vary in relation to the number and the types of devices at
their disposal to fulfill these functions. Second, the basic speech functions listed in
the definition are not given at random. They have long been widely accepted. They
are general enough to be able to cover most, if not all, kinds of specific speech
functions. Besides, they have been proved to be the most basic ones by large-
scale typological investigations. All languages enable their speakers to fulfill these
speech functions. Third, several remarks should be made concerning the term
‘clause’, which is often taken for granted but hard to define. We cannot simply
define it as the grammatical unit that expresses a speech function. We will charac-
terize the term from the following aspects.
To begin with, we will compare the term ‘clause’ with the term ‘sentence’. Why
do we use the term ‘clause’ instead of ‘sentence’? There are no special reasons for
this but to follow the tradition of systemic functional linguistics (SFL), where the
terms ‘sentence’ and ‘sub-sentence’ are used as units of orthography, and the terms
‘clause’ and ‘clause complex’ as units of grammar (see Halliday and Matthiessen
2004, 2014). Graphologically, an English sentence begins with a capital letter and
ends with a full stop. It is the highest unit of punctuation on the graphological
rank scale, which, from high to low, ranks like this: sentence, sub-sentence, word,
and letter. In other linguistic traditions, the terms ‘sentence’ and ‘sub-sentence’
might be replaced with ‘complex sentence’ and ‘sentence’. This is just a matter of
terminology. In English, a sentence usually corresponds to a clause complex, and
sometimes when it is composed of one sub-sentence, it corresponds to a clause. It
should be noted that thought sentence is the highest graphological unit, this does
not mean that clause complex is the highest unit of grammar. It is clause that is
the highest unit of grammar. The rank scale of grammar then ranks from high to
low like this: clause, group/phrase, word, and morphology. Each unit of upper rank
consists of one or more units of the rank immediate below and units of each rank
may form complexes. Thus, grammatically, a clause complex is still a grammatical
unit at clause rank, but not at a higher rank. Table 1.2 shows a comparison of ter-
minology in SFL and other traditions.
Furthermore, Matthiessen et al. (2010) characterize the term ‘clause’ from
a ‘trinocular perspective’, which is helpful for us to have a better understanding
about this term. Seen ‘from above’, the clause unifies the three metafunctional
1.2 A Working Definition of Mood 15
Table 1.2 Comparison of terminology in SFL and other traditions

Other traditions SFL: graphological terms SFL: grammatical terms
Complex Sentence Sentence: Clause complex Clause complex:
sentence more than one more than one
sub-sentence clause
(Simple) Clause simplex:
sentence: one one clause
sub-sentence
Sentence Sub-sentence Clause
strands of meaning: it is the realization of a message (textual meaning), a move

(interpersonal meaning), and a figure (experiential meaning). Seen ‘from blew’,
the clause consists of units of the rank immediately below. Seen ‘from rounda-
bout’, the clause is the entry to several simultaneous central systems, such as
theme (textual), mood (interpersonal), and transitivity (experiential).
At last, we will see the term ‘clause’ from a taxonomic perspective. The clause
can be categorized into different types according to various criteria, such as major
clause or minor clause (according to status), free clause or bound clause (accord-
ing to freedom), ranking clause or rank-shifted/embedded clause (according to the
position in rank scale), and full clause or elliptical clause (according to ellipsis).
Table 1.3 displays the main types of clauses recognized in SFL (for more details
see Halliday 1994; Halliday and Matthiessen 2004, 2014). We need to make clear
which type of clause we are referring to with the term ‘clause’. This is methodo-
logically important in that it will determine what kind of data will be described in
the book.
The first distinction we will see is that between the major clause and the minor
clause. Seen ‘from above’, a major clause expresses the three major/general mean-
ings: it realizes a message (textual), a move (interpersonal), and a figure (experi-
ential); in contrast, a minor clause expresses some minor/specific meanings, such
as exclamations, calls, greetings, alarms, etc., and thus, it is used in a specific
context. Seen from below, a major clause displays structural features: it displays
theme structure as a message, mood structure as a move and transitivity structure
as a figure, whereas a minor clause shows no structural features: it is a highly con-
ventionalized expression with a specific meaning. In the book, we are using the
term ‘clause’ to refer to major clauses instead of minor clauses.
The second distinction, we will see is that between the free clause and the
bound clause. A free clause can stand by itself as a complete sentence. The free
clause includes the clause simplex (the clause complex composed of one clause),
the clause in clause complexes of parataxis relation (either the initiating or the con-
tinuing one), the dominant clause in clause complexes of hypotaxis relation, and
the elliptic clause. A bound clause cannot appear by itself. It must appear with
another free clause. The bound clause includes the dependent clause in clause com-
plexes of hypotaxis relation and the embedded clause. The bound clause expresses
both textual and experiential meaning but no interpersonal meaning. As Halliday
16 1 Introduction
Table 1.3 Different types of clauses recognized in SFL

status logico-semantic taxis Examples freedom I:m T:th E:tr
Major clause: clause simplex (one clause) ||| Caesar is ambitious. Free + + +
|||
Major Projection ‘Idea 1 ‘2 ||| Brutus thought, || Free + + +
clause: ‘Caesar is ambitious’. ||| Free + + +
clause ||| Brutus thought || Free + + +
α‘β
complex that Caesar was Bound − + +
(more than ambitious. |||
one clause)
“Locution 1“2 ||| Brutus said, || Free + + +
“Caesar is Free + + +
ambitious”. |||
α“β ||| Brutus said || Free + + +
that Caesar was Bound − + +
ambitious. |||
Expansion = Elaboration 1=2 ||| John ran away; Free + + +
this surprised everyone. Free + + +
|||
α= β ||| John ran away, || Free + + +
which surprised Bound − + +
everyone. |||
α= β ||| John ran away, || Free + + +
surprising everyone. ||| Bound − + +
+ Extension 1+2 ||| John rand away, || Free + + +
and Fred stayed behand Free + + +
α+ β ||| John ran away, || Free + + +
whereas Fred stayed Bound − + +
behind. |||
α+ β ||| John ran away, || Free + + +
with Fred staying Bound − + +
behind. |||
× Enhancement 1 × 2 ||| John was scared, || Free + + +
so he ran away. ||| Free + + +
α×β ||| Jahn run away, || Free + + +
because he was scared. Bound − + +
|||
α×β ||| John ran away, || Free + + +
because of being Bound − + +
scared. |||
Minor clause Exclamations ||| Wow! ||| Free − − −
Calls ||| Charlie! ||| Free − − −
Greetings ||| Good morning! ||| Free − − −
Alarms ||| Look out! ||| Free − − −
Elliptical Anaphoric ||| Fire! ||| Free + + +
clause Exophoric ||| Thirsty? ||| Free + + +
Embedded clause I love the book [[she Bound − − −
gave me]]
Abbreviations: I:m = interpersonal: mood; T:th = textual: theme; E:tr = experiential: transitiv-
ity; 1 and 2 indicate parataxis relation; α and β indicate hypotaxis relation
1.3 Mood as a Grammatical System 17
and Matthiessen (2014) suggest, it is not presented by the speaker as being open
for negotiation. Therefore, in the book, we will only consider free clauses.
At last, we will see the elliptical clause. The elliptical clause is the one some
parts of which are omitted but can be recovered from what has gone before or
from the context. An elliptical clause expresses the same speech function as that of
its full form. Thus, our data include some elliptical clauses.
To sum up, the term ‘clause’ in our definition of mood refers to major free
clause. Most of the data in the book are major free clauses. Besides, there are also
some elliptical clauses.
1.3 Mood as a Grammatical System
Language is a system of signs. It is a system for making meanings. Any gram-

matical category of language is a system, such as person system, number system,
and gender system for the noun and tense system, aspect system, and verbal mood
system for the verb. Mood as a clause grammatical category is also a system. As
Sadock and Zwicky (1985: 158) suggest, the sentence types (moods in our term)
of a language form a system in two senses: “there are sets of corresponding sen-
tences, the numbers of which differ only in belonging to different types, and sec-
ond, the types are mutually exclusive”. A grammatical system is a set of choices
for expressing a certain type of meaning. In Sect. 1.2, we have defined mood as
the clause grammatical category which realizes the basic speech functions of state-
ment, question, command, etc. in human communication. The mood system, then,
in SFL, is defined as the grammaticalization or realization of the semantic system
of speech function. Figure 1.1 illustrates the mood system of English presented in
SFL terms. More information about the mood system and the systemic theory of
SFL will be introduced in Sect. 3.2. and Chap. 3.
The research object of the book is the holistic mood system instead of a par-
ticular mood type, such as the interrogative mood, the imperative mood, etc. We
Fig. 1.1 The mood system of English

18 1 Introduction
will see how languages are similar to and different from each other in the way they
operate their mood system.
As de Saussure says in Course in General Linguistics (see de Saussure 2001:
116), “the conceptual part of linguistic value is determined solely by relations and
differences with other signs in the language”. We believe this applies to grammat-
ical category as well. To study mood as a holistic system from a cross-linguistic
perspective will help us have a deeper understanding about each individual mood
type since it enables us to compare each individual mood type both with their
counterpart in other languages and with other types of mood from its own system.
Even though the current book focuses on the holistic mood system instead of a
particular mood type, this does not mean that we can distract our attention away
from mood types. On the one hand, a mood system is composed by a set of mood
types (options). Studies on each mood type are the prerequisite for the study on
the holistic mood system. On the other hand, each individual mood type can stand
as an independent sub-system by themselves in the holistic mood system. For these
reasons, we will focus on declarative mood, interrogative mood, and imperative
mood in Chaps. 5, 6, and 7, respectively, and then direct our attention to the holis-
tic mood system in Chap. 8.
1.4 Mood, Mode, and Modality
We have surveyed the different uses of the term ‘mood’ and confined the focus
of the book to sentence mood in Sect. 1.1. Also, we have defined the concept of
mood in Sect. 1.2 and the concept of mood system in Sect. 1.3. We will in this sec-
tion define several terms that will be used in the book.
The term ‘mood’ will be reserved for ‘sentence mood’. Mood is the grammat-
ical category in the clause for expressing different speech functions. The term
‘mood’, which is the small capital form of ‘mood’, will be used to refer to ‘mood
system’. This is following the SFL convention, where the name of a system will
be presented in small capital form. For example, the mood of English mainly
includes the declarative mood, the interrogative mood, and the imperative mood.
The mood system is the grammaticalization of the semantic system of speech func-
tion. Another term ‘Mood’ with the initial letter capitalized is also used in SFL. It
refers to an interpersonal functional element in the mood structure of the clause. In
English, the Mood, which is composed of the Subject and the Finite, determines
the mood type of a clause. For example, when the Subject comes before the Finite,
the clause is in declarative mood; when the Subject follows the Finite, the clause is
in interrogative mood.
The term ‘mode’, which has been used in some studies as the variant of the
term ‘mood’, will be used in the book to refer to ‘verbal mood’. Mode is the verb
inflectional category which indicates the status of the event conveyed by the verb,
either realis or irrealis or indicative or subjunctive.
1.5 Systemic Functional Typology 19
The term ‘modality’ will be used to refer to semantic domains of possibility,

usuality, obligation, inclination, etc. Languages display a rich repertoire of devices
to express modal meanings. In English, these meanings are mainly expressed by
auxiliaries, while in other languages, they can be expressed by modes, modal
adverbs, clitics, etc. As mentioned in Sect. 1.5, we disapprove of defining modality
in a rather broad way to make it include a wide range of semantic domains, such
as evidentiality, polarity, illocutionary force, etc. Therefore, we will merely deal
with its core meanings in the book.
1.5 Systemic Functional Typology
The book adopts Systemic Functional Typology (SFT) as the research paradigm.
The establishment of SFT as a research paradigm is marked by the publication
of the monograph Language Typology: A Functional Perspective (Caffarel et al.
2004a). In this section, we will give a brief introduction to SFT. The introduction
will include three parts: SFT in relation to SFL and linguistic typology, the fea-
tures of SFT and the research method and research procedures of SFT. For more
information about SFT, see Caffarel et al. (2004b), Teruya et al. (2007), Xin
and Huang (2010), Wang and Xu (2011), Yang and Chang (2013), Teruya and
Matthiessen (2015), Mwinlaaru and Xuan (2016), and Martin et al. (2021).
1.5.1 SFT in Relation to SFL and Linguistic Typology
As the name of SFT suggests, it can be interpreted from two aspects: SFL and lin-
guistic typology.
SFL is one of the functional approaches to language developed by Halliday and
his colleagues (for the history of SFL, see Martin 2016). It has been regarded as
and proved to be a general and appliable linguistic theory (Huang 2007) in the
sense that it has been applied to a wide range of research areas, such as text and
discourse analysis, stylistics, verbal art studies, translation studies, educational
linguistics, computational linguistics, corpus linguistics, clinical linguistics, mul-
timodality studies, language descriptions, ecolinguistics, language planning, etc.
Moreover, it is a general and appliable linguistic theory in the sense that it is not
merely developed for the description of a particular language, but a theory “for
‘particular, comparative and typological’ descriptions: that is, those which com-
pare two or more languages, and those which explore similarities and differences
among language type” (Halliday 2009: 59). Therefore, if we see SFT from the
aspect of SFL, it is one of the various research applications of SFL, to be more
specific, the application of SFL theory to typological studies of language.
Now we will turn our point of view to linguistic typology. Linguistic typology
is “the study of patterns that occur systematically across languages” (Croft 2003).
20 1 Introduction
It aims to “identify universals and to establish the potential rang of variation”

(Whaley 1997) by way of cross-linguistic comparison. Besides, it is also regarded
as what Croft (2003) calls ‘(functional-) typological approach’ to linguistic study
and theorizing. Studies of linguistic typology have received contributions from dif-
ferent theoretical traditions and approaches (see Shibatani and Bynon 1995 and
Song 2014 for different approaches to linguistic typology). If we see SFT from
the aspect of linguistic typology, it is one of the approaches to linguistic typol-
ogy: the systemic functional approach. This approach is a part of functional typo-
logical approach, which in its loose sense includes the Greenbergian Approach,
West Coast Functionalism, Functional Discourse Grammar, Role and Reference
Grammar, etc.
1.5.2 Some Features of SFT
SFT, on the one hand, shares similarities with other functional approaches to lin-
guistic typology; on the other hand, SFT is of its own features and complements
other approaches in different aspects (for SFT in relation to other approaches to
typology, see Teruya et al. 2007; Xin and Huang 2010; Yang and Chang 2013;
Mwinlaaru and Xuan 2016). We will list some of the prominent features of SFT in
this section.
First, SFT makes a distinction between the general theory of language and
descriptions of particular languages. According to Caffarel et al. (2004b), the lin-
guistic theory is developed for all human languages. It is more general and more
abstract than language descriptions and allows for considerable variation in descrip-
tions. SFL, as a general theory of language, is a resource for construing all human
languages as a multidimensional semiotic system, which includes the dimensions of
stratification, metafunction, instantiation, axis, rank, etc. (see Chap. 3 for details of
these dimensions). The categories designed by the theory are universal and appli-
cable to descriptions of all human languages. In contrast, language descriptions,
according to Caffarel et al. (2004b), are descriptions of particular languages. They
are more specific than the linguistic theory. They are resources for construing par-
ticular languages instead of all human languages. All the categories of particular
languages belong to the domain of description. Whether or not such descriptive
categories can be applied to the description of several languages is not determined
by the general theory, but by their inter-relations in the systems developed for these
particular languages. Taking mood as an example, all human languages enable their
speakers to express the basic speech functions of statement, question, and command
through a set of lexicogrammatical resources, the mood system. This belongs to the
domain of theory, whereas languages vary in the ways that mood system is organ-
ized and realized. In English, it is mainly realized by the Mood, but in other lan-
guages, it might be realized by the Mood Negotiator (particles, clitics, affixes, etc.).
Thus, the Mood and the Mood Negotiator are descriptive categories rather than the-
oretical ones. Besides, according to Caffarel et al. (2004b), generalizations made on
1.5 Systemic Functional Typology 21
the base of language descriptions are still descriptive rather than theoretical. Thus,
SFT mainly belongs to the domain of description: it seeks for cross-linguistic regu-
larities in systems and their realizations through making descriptive generalizations
across languages. The relation between the general theory and descriptions of par-
ticular languages is realization: the descriptions of particular languages are realiza-
tions of the general theory.
The second feature of SFT is that it attaches importance both to the theory and
descriptions, which enriches the potential for interpreting linguistic phenomena.
In SFT, SFL performs at least two functions. On the one hand, it functions as the
guide to language descriptions, enabling descriptions to operate in a multidimen-
sional way, to be system-and-function-oriented and semantically rich, and to be
comprehensive and reliable enough for descriptive generalizations. However, this
does not necessarily mean that descriptions should be highly universal in descrip-
tive categories, though they are guided by the same theory. On the contrary, they
are supposed to be designed to bring out the special features of each language. In
other words, descriptions should be theoretically universal (all guided by SFL the-
ory) but descriptively diverse. On the other hand, SFL provides a comprehensive
framework for explanations about the similarities and differences found in descrip-
tive generalizations. The issue of explanation is crucial in typological studies.
According to Whaley (1997), explanations can be both internal and external. The
former is based on the system of language and the latter points to factors outside
of the linguistic system, such as discourse, language processing, economy, per-
ception-cognition, iconicity, etc. The semantic dimensions of metafunction, strat-
ification, axis, etc. postulated in SFL help to advance both internal and external
explanations to the findings of SFT. Compared with the theory, SFT attaches equal
importance to descriptions. This is because descriptions, on the one hand, form
the base of descriptive generalizations, and on the other hand, can verify whether
the categories designed by the theory are general and applicable to descriptions of
all human languages. As mentioned above, descriptions in SFT should be theoret-
ically universal and descriptively diverse. They should operate in a multidimen-
sional way to be comprehensive enough and to display the full meaning potential
of the languages in question. Moreover, they should be text-based so that they can
display the features of the languages under description and so that “the features
being typologized can be motivated independently for each particular language”
(Caffarel et al. 2004b: 4). To sum up, SFT is theoretically empowered and descrip-
tion-based typology.
The third prominent feature of SFT lies in its emphasis on “the typology of
particular systems” rather than “the typology of whole languages” (Caffarel et al.
2004b: 4). This feature can be interpreted from three aspects. Firstly, SFT is con-
cerned with the typology of certain features of languages rather than the typol-
ogy of language as a whole. For SFT, language as a whole is too complicated to
be typologized as a unified phenomenon. Thus, the traditional classification of
isolating, agglutinative, fusional, and polysynthetic are best regarded as “syn-
dromes of individually motivated typological features rather than unified types
of languages” (Caffarel et al. 2004b: 4). Secondly, the features to be typologized
22 1 Introduction
should be treated and understood in their context within the totality of the lan-
guage (Halliday 2009). That is to say, the typology should be concerned with the
systems where the features are located rather than single features. Taking mood as
an example, what SFT deals with is the mood system rather than particular mood
types. Thirdly, in SFT, systems (paradigmatic relations) take priority over struc-
tures (syntagmatic relations) in language descriptions and typological generali-
zations. This allows languages to be compared and typologized in terms of their
meaning potential, regardless of the vagaries of their realizations in structure. It
also makes it possible to “bring out principles and patterns in the languages of the
world that would remain more implicit if we only take structures as our point of
departure” (Teruya and Matthiessen 2015: 446). This does not mean that SFT will
ignore structures. Structures are analyzed subsequently as realizations of choices
in systems. Besides, system and structure define each other mutually. The third
feature of SFT enables us to explore the differences and similarities among lan-
guages both in the mood system (how the mood system is organized and how its
options are elaborated further in delicacy) and in its structural realizations.
1.5.3 The Research Method and Research Procedures

of SFT
The basic research method of SFT is description-based cross-linguistic compar-

ison. As introduced in last section, descriptions should be guided by SFL theory
and be system-and-function-oriented and text-based. The object of cross-linguistic
comparison is a particular system.
The first step of SFT studies is to decide what system will be typologized. The
second step is to give comprehensive SFL-theory-guided descriptions of the lan-
guages in the sample, or at least of the system to be typologized. The third step is
to make typological generalizations based on the descriptions to identify cross-lin-
guistic similarities and differences concerning the system under study.
Regarding the book, which is a systemic functional typology of mood, we will
first give comprehensive descriptions of the mood system and the mood structure
of each language in our sample and then make some typological generalizations
based on the descriptions.
1.6 Objectives and Research Questions
The book is a systemic functional typology of mood based on a sample of 60 lan-

guages. The primary objective of the book is to investigate the similarities and dif-
ferences languages display in mood system and mood structure. Another objective
is, if possible, to make some typological generalizations about the findings and to
propose some explanations for the findings. Two more objectives, one being the
1.7 Organization of the Book 23
precondition for and the other being the result of achieving the primary objective,
are to provide systemic functional descriptions of the mood system of each lan-
guage in the sample and to draw the multilingual mood system.
The book seeks to address the following four research questions in order to
achieve the research objectives:
(1) What is the mood system of each language in the sample like? (Appendix)
(2) What are the similarities and differences among different languages in
mood system? To be more specific, (a) in the subtypes of major mood
types, (Chaps. 5, 6, and 7) (b) in the organization of mood system,
(Sect. 8.2) and (c) in the semantic dimensions for the elaboration of mood
system? (Sect. 8.3)
(3) What are the similarities and differences among different languages
in mood structure? To be more specific, (a) in the realizations of major
functional elements in mood structure, (Sect. 5.1) (b) in the realizations
of each mood option, (Chaps. 5, 6, and 7) and (c) in the realizations of
mood system? (Sect. 8.1)
(4) What is the multilingual mood system like? (Sect. 8.4)
The first research question is concerned with descriptions. It is the basis for the
solution of other research questions. The results will be presented in the Appendix.
The second and the third research question have to do with comparisons and gen-
eralizations. The second research question focuses on the paradigmatic axis and
the third on the syntagmatic axis. They are the key questions to address in the
book. The fourth research question meanwhile is a comprehensive summary of the
main findings.
1.7 Organization of the Book
The book is organized into nine chapters. Chapter 2 is a review of studies on mood
under three headings: a review of typological studies on mood, a review of SFL
and SFT studies on mood, and a summary of the features and problems of pre-
vious studies. Chapter 3 presents the theoretical framework of the study. It will
begin by contextualizing mood in the overall theoretical framework of SFL. Then
it will demonstrate, with the mood system as an example, how some core semiotic
dimensions of SFL, such as stratification, metafunction, rank, and axis, operate in
language description and analysis. Chapter 4 is concerned with research method-
ology. It describes the language sample, the data source, the ways the data were
described and analyzed, and the research methods adopted in the book. Chapter 5
concentrates on the declarative. In this chapter, we will first investigate the sim-
ilarities and differences languages display in the realizations of three major func-
tional elements in declarative mood structure, namely the Subject, the Predicator,
and the Finite. Then, we will turn to the subtypes of declarative mood and their
realizations. Chapter 6 is devoted to the types and subtypes of interrogative mood
24 1 Introduction
and their realizations. Chapter 7 deals with the types and subtypes of imperative
mood and their realizations. The findings of Chaps. 5, 6, and 7 enables us, in
Chap. 8, to make some typological generalizations about the cross-linguistic sim-
ilarities and differences in the realizations, organization, and elaboration of mood
system. We will also propose some possible explanations for the findings and draw
the multilingual mood system in Chap. 8. Chapter 9 concludes the book by provid-
ing a summary of the main findings of the book, the contributions of the book, the
limitations of the book, and some promising directions for future research.
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Chapter 2
Literature Review
2.1 Typological Studies on Mood
In this section, we will give a brief review of typological studies on mood. Some
studies use the terms ‘sentence type’, ‘speech function’, ‘sentence mood’, etc., to
refer to the topic under study. We will only use the term ‘mood’ to remain consist-
ency in terminology.
2.1.1 Typological Studies on Declarative Mood
The declarative is regarded as the unmarked or neutral mood type (Sadock and
Zwicky 1985; Whaley 1997; König and Siemund 2007; Dixon 2012) and has
received less attention in typological studies compared with other types of mood.
Sadock and Zwicky (1985) maintain that the declarative is subject to judg-
ments of truth and falsehood. It serves to make announcements, state conclusions,
make claims, relate stories, etc. They recognize two forms of declarative clauses:
the most common way is to do nothing special (the unmarked declarative), and
the other way is to mark the declarative with some formal features (the marked
declarative). The unmarked declarative, according to them, is the basis from which
other types of mood are formed by adding some particles or an alternation in the
word order or using verbal inflections. They report three ways to express marked
declarative clauses, viz. to use word order, to use declarative particles, and to use
declarative inflections. In addition to the forms of declarative, Sadock and Zwicky
(1985) also discuss some possible subtypes of declarative, such as the subtypes of
declarative in Hidatsa, which indicate the speaker’s different degrees of belief in
the proposition and different sources of the proposition, and also the inferential,
30 2 Literature Review
the dubitative and the emphatic, which express inference, uncertainty, and empha-
sis, respectively.
Like Sadock and Zwicky (1985), Whaley (1997) notes that the declarative is
least likely to require special morphology and has the fewest restrictions on the
verbal category. It is the base of generalizations about the normal word order of a
language. Moreover, he suggests that the most common kind of language requiring
special marking for declaratives is one with evidentials.
For König and Siemund (2007), declarative clauses are primarily used for
speech acts such as asserting, claiming, and stating, but also for accusing, criticiz-
ing, promising, and guaranteeing. They maintain that declarative clauses are the
unmarked one for the fowling reasons: (i) they are the most frequent type; (ii) they
display the basic word order of the language; (iii) they are less restricted in dis-
tribution; (iv) they exhibit the full paradigm of tense-aspect combinations avail-
able in a language; (v) they can express most of the speech acts distinguished
by Searle; and (vi) they are the basis from which interrogatives and partially
imperatives can be formed by some operations. They disagree with the view that
declaratives do not have a specific formal marker. On the contrary, they argue that
declaratives are characterized by some formal properties such as the absence of an
interrogative marker, the absence of an imperative inflectional form, and the pres-
ence of a specific finite verbal form, and in languages that have systems of mode
distinctions, declaratives are indicated by the indicative mode. They also report
that in languages where the formal means for marking the basic mood types form
a system of paradigmatic opposition, declaratives receive special markings, which
can be inflections, particles, and word order.
2.1.2 Typological Studies on Interrogative Mood
The interrogative mood is the one that has received most attention in typological
studies. Most studies focus on the structural feature of polar and content interrog-
atives; some studies discuss the classification of interrogatives; a few studies make
some generalizations about interrogative features.
Ultan (1969) investigates the interrogative systems of 79 randomly selected
languages. He classifies the interrogative features into three: intonation, order, and
segmental elements (including interrogative particles, affixes, words, and tags).
Another classification he offers is a formal division of the interrogative features
into those pertaining to clause as opposed to those pertaining to word. Clause
features include intonation, tag, interrogative particles, interrogative word order,
restrictions of co-occurrence (for example interrogative particle and interrog-
ative word in the same clause); others belong to word features. Also, he makes
several generalizations about the correlations between the interrogative feature
and the basic word order of the language. We will list some of these generaliza-
tions here. Concerning interrogative intonation, yes–no interrogative intonation
types are found in nearly all languages; there is a considerably better than chance
2.1 Typological Studies on Mood 31
probability that information interrogative intonation types may occur in languages

of all basic order types. Concerning accent, there is a slight tendency for interrog-
ative particles to occur with higher pitch or prominent stress in SOV languages;
interrogative words tend to occur with higher pitch or prominent stress in lan-
guages of all basic order types. Concerning order, yes–no interrogative inversion
is a rather uncommon interrogative device; the presence of yes–no interrogative
inversion implies a basic order type where subject precedes verb; interrogative
inversion implies a resultant VSO order; if a language has information interroga-
tive inversion, interrogative words almost always appear in clause-initial position;
languages of all basic order types may have information interrogative inversion,
but SOV languages are less likely than others to have it; interrogative words tend
to occur in clause-initial position in languages of all types; most interrogative par-
ticles occur in clause-initial (or enclitic to the initial constituent) or in clause-final
position; interrogative particles almost always occur finally in SOV languages and
show a greater tendency to occur initially in languages of other word order types;
interrogative affixes in yes–no interrogatives are relatively rare and interrogative
suffixes are mainly fond in SOV languages. Regarding segmental elements, inter-
rogative particles are the most widespread device for marking yes–no interroga-
tives, and information interrogatives to a lesser extent; interrogative particles occur
in all types of languages with roughly equal frequency; interrogative words and
interrogative particles may or may not co-occur in information interrogatives with
about equal frequency in languages of all types; interrogative pronouns in almost
all languages show human-nonhuman contrast.
Sadock and Zwicky (1985) are of the opinion that the interrogative elicits a
verbal response from the addressee and principally functions to gain information.
They distinguish three types of interrogatives, namely the yes–no interrogative, the
alternative interrogative, and the information/question word interrogative. Yes–no
interrogatives function to seek comment on the degree of truth of the questioned
proposition; alternative interrogatives offer a list from which the right answer is
elicited; information interrogatives provide alternatives that are specified in an
open-ended way by quantification. In addition to the three types of interroga-
tives, which are neutral with respect to the answer the speaker expects, they also
report that most languages have what Moravcsik (1971) calls biased questions,
with which the speaker expresses his or her belief that a particular answer is likely
to be correct and requests assurance that this belief is true. They argue that many
languages have a three-way distinction among yes–no interrogatives, namely neu-
tral, positively biased, and negatively biased, and claim that tag interrogatives in
English are biased yes–no interrogatives. Moreover, they discuss the forms of yes–
no interrogatives and information interrogatives. As regards yes–no interrogatives,
the most striking characteristic is the rising final intonation contour. Other struc-
tural features include particles, special verb morphology, and word order. Also,
they report that many languages use a mobile interrogative clitic to mark yes–no
interrogatives. When it occurs on the verb, the whole of the sentence is interro-
gated, whereas when it occurs on some other constituent, it is only that constit-
uent that is interrogated. They also discuss the confirmative, which functions to
invite the addressee to express agreement or disagreement with the proposition

rather than eliciting information. They report that confirmatives, which are com-
monly formed by appending a tag to a declarative base, bear a close resemblance
to biased interrogatives and in many languages are not distinct from biased inter-
rogatives. As to information interrogatives, they report that interrogative words can
occur either in conjunction with or independently of the markers of yes–no inter-
rogatives. Besides, languages vary a lot in the number of interrogative words.
Bybee (1985) surveys interrogatives marked by verbal inflection. She notices
that the distinction between indicative and interrogative (mode) occurs much less
frequently than that between indicative and imperative. In all the 10 languages
in her sample (total 50) that have interrogative inflection, it occurs as a suffix.
Interrogatives are of a stronger preference for suffixation compared with impera-
tives. Besides, imperative suffixes tend to occur before the person/number suffixes
whereas interrogative suffixes tend to occur after the person/number suffixes, usu-
ally the last suffix on the verb.
Whaley (1997) discusses the encoding of polar interrogatives and content inter-
rogatives. For him, the former is used to ask for information about the truth value
of a proposition and the latter is for requesting a particular piece of information.
With regard to the features of polar interrogatives, he reports the rising intonation
is ubiquitous and, in some languages, intonation alone is the primary device to
mark polar interrogatives. He points out that interrogative particles appear more
common in sentence-final position in OV languages and there is a weak correla-
tion between VO languages and sentence-initial particles. He considers negative
polar interrogatives and tag interrogatives as biased ones. Concerning content
interrogatives, he reports that interrogative words usually are placed in a sentence
focus position, either initially or preverbally. They can also be placed in situ.
Siemund (2001), like Sadock and Zwicky (1985), distinguishes three types of
interrogatives: polar, constituent, and alternative interrogatives. He discusses the
strategies of polar and constituent interrogatives. He summaries six strategies for
polar interrogatives, namely intonation, interrogative particles, interrogative tags,
disjunctive constructions, the order of constituents, and verbal inflections. As for
intonation, he observes that most languages and maybe all are able to mark polar
interrogatives merely by intonation. About particles, he considers them as oper-
ators which turn a declarative into an interrogative. He reports that Korean has
many interrogative participles to distinguish different speech levels. Concerning
interrogative tags, he observes that in many languages they are clearly related
to interrogative particles both in meaning and in distribution. However, they are
different from interrogative particles in terms of position, form, and meaning.
Interrogative tags in the most majority of cases are appended to a declarative
clause and can be either words, phrases, or clauses in form. Tag interrogatives are
always of biased meaning. He also observes that in some languages the disjunctive
structures normally used for alternative interrogatives have become a strategy for
marking polar interrogatives, such as the ‘A-not-A’ structure in Mandarin Chinese.
Special verbal inflections are only reported from polythetic languages. As regards
constituent interrogatives, interrogative words can appear initially, in situ or in
either of these two positions. He also investigates the properties of interrogative

words.
Dryer (2005a, b, 2013) investigates polar interrogative structures based on
a sample of 842 languages. He finds that, among these language, 520 languages
make use of interrogative particles (including interrogative clitics), 155 languages
use interrogative verb morphology, 138 languages use intonation only, 12 lan-
guages use interrogative word order, 12 languages use both interrogative particles
and interrogative verb morphology, four languages mark polar interrogatives by
the absence of declarative morphemes, and one language makes no distinction
between the interrogative and the declarative clause. Besides, he investigates into
the position of interrogative particles of 467 languages. He finds that 272 lan-
guages place interrogative particles at the end of sentence, 118 at beginning, 45
in the second position of sentence, eight in other positions, and 24 in either of two
positions. Dryer (2005c) also surveys the position of interrogative phrases of 803
languages and reports that in 241 languages interrogative phrases are obligatorily
initial, in 542 languages they are not obligatorily initial, and in 20 languages some
interrogative phrases are initial and some are not.
König and Siemund (2007) also discuss the ways of expressing polar interrog-
atives. They maintain that the reason for the predominant use of rising intonation
in interrogatives is related to the fact that high pitch usually signals uncertainty,
indecision, hesitation, and insecurity, whereas low pitch usually conveys con-
fidence, assurance, and certainty. Thus, the intonation contours of declaratives
and interrogatives are iconically motivated. They argue that it is highly doubtful
whether declarative sentences with rising intonation should be taken as exam-
ples of the form type interrogative. Besides, they report that in some languages
the interrogative particle is homonymous with the interrogative word for ‘what’,
or shares close relationship with markers for introducing conditional subclauses.
As for interrogative tag, they report that the most frequent case is a combination
of an affirmative declarative with a negative tag, and the second most frequent is a
combination of an affirmative declarative with an affirmative tag. Regarding inter-
rogative word order, they observe that the most common case is to put finite verb
initially. Concerning constituent interrogatives, they find all strategies for express-
ing polar interrogatives, except interrogative tags and disjunctive constructions,
may be used in constituent interrogatives. They observe that in about 50 percent of
the languages, interrogative particles for polar interrogatives are optionally added
to constituent interrogatives.
In addition to the interrogative features surveyed above, Dixon (2012) finds
some languages may make use of special phonological or morphological features
to mark polar interrogative. He observes, if a language has interrogative mode,
normally it is obligatory for polar but not for content interrogatives. The con-
tent interrogative may take the same mode as the polar interrogative, or a differ-
ent one or no mode marking. He is of the opinion that the interrogative marked
by ‘A-not-A’ structure is alternative in form but functions as polar interrogatives.
He reports that interrogative features, especially interrogative modes, may inter-
sect with other grammatical categories, such as person, number, gender, tense,
aspect, orientation, modalities, polarity, and evidentiality. Some languages distin-

guish several types of polar interrogatives in relation to the kind of answer that is
expected, or to the attitude of the questioner or of the questioned.
2.1.3 Typological Studies on Imperative Mood
Now we will move to typological studies on imperative mood. Like the typologi-
cal studies on interrogatives surveyed above, most studies on imperative mood are
concerned with the syntactic features of imperatives.
Sadock and Zwicky (1985) maintain the imperative indicates the speaker’s
desire to influence future events and serves to request, give orders, and make sug-
gestions. They summarize several ways to signal imperatives. The most common
one is the use of verb forms with fewer than the normal number of affixes or the
use of bare verb forms. Tense distinctions in verbs of imperatives are rare in that
imperatives are notionally future in tense. Aspect distinctions are more frequent
but still unusual. Personal pronouns and personal affixes are regularly suppressed
in imperatives and personal pronouns are more frequently suppressed than affixes.
In some languages, only in certain number, gender, person, and politeness com-
binations are personal suffixes absent, and in other cases, they are present. The
personal markers of second person singular and the masculine familiar are most
likely subject to deletion from the imperative paradigm. Besides, the case marking
of objects in imperatives is often different from that in declaratives. Other ways for
marking imperatives include imperative particles, imperative clitics, special verb
morphology in verb stem or a special set of personal affixes on verbs, and special
subject pronouns. They also discuss the subtypes of imperative. The first one is the
prohibitive, which is a negative imperative in meaning. Prohibitives are expressed
by adding to imperatives a negative marker which is different in form from the one
used in declarative. Moreover, the prohibitive can be not of imperative form, but
with a verb of infinitive or subjunctive form. The second subtype is the hortative,
which refers to the first person and the third person imperative. Other subtypes
include variations in imperatives in terms of the reason behind their issuance (such
as request, admonition, instruction, order, and military command) and the condi-
tion under which the requested action is to be carried out (immediate or non-im-
mediate; in the presence of the speaker or in the absence of the speaker).
Bybee (1985) surveys the imperatives expressed by imperative mode. It is
reported that in many languages the imperative has only two forms: one for sec-
ond person singular and the other for second person plural. If a language has a
full set of subject-agreement forms, the term ‘optative’ and the term ‘hortative’
may be used. The optative expresses the speaker’s wish or desire and, in some
languages, it is restricted to third person subjects only. Some languages may
make a distinction between imperative, optative, and exhortative, which are for a
direct command, a wish, and the meaning ‘let me do, let him do’, respectively.
She classifies the expressions of imperative into several groups: some languages
have special person/number forms for imperative or optative; some languages use
unmarked verb form for the imperative; some languages use a suffix that occurs
immediately before the person/number marker; some languages have an impera-
tive suffix which does not interact with person/number marking; some languages
use an imperative prefix but this is relatively uncommon; some languages may
use a different tone pattern from the indicative or use more than one modes of
expression. Besides, she notices that some languages deploy markers to modify
imperative meaning from different aspects, such as the delayed/future imperative,
the prohibitive, the deprecatory imperative, milder or more polite imperatives, the
admonitive, etc. Some languages also use subjunctive mode and future prefix to
express imperatives.
Van der Auwera and Lejeune (2005a) investigate the morphological impera-
tive based on a sample of 547 languages. Among these languages, 292 languages
have morphologically dedicated second singular and second plural imperatives;
42 have morphologically dedicated second singular imperatives but no morpho-
logical dedicated second plural imperatives; two have morphologically dedicated
second plural imperatives but no second singular imperatives; 89 have morpho-
logically dedicated second person imperatives that do not distinguish between sin-
gular and plural; the other 122 have no morphologically dedicated second person
imperatives. They also survey the expressions of prohibitives based on a sample
of 495 languages (see van der Auwera and Lejeune 2005b). It is shown that 113
languages use the verbal form of the second singular imperative and a negative
marker found in declaratives; 183 use the verbal form of the second singular
imperative and a negative marker not found in declaratives; 55 use a verbal form
other than the second singular imperative and a negative marker found in declar-
atives; the other 144 languages use a verbal form other than the second singular
imperative and a negative marker not found in declaratives. Moreover, van der
Auwera et al. (2005) compare the imperative-hortative systems of 375 languages.
The imperative, in their opinion, conveys an appeal to the addressee(s) (second
person subject) to help the future state of affairs to be true, whereas the hortative
conveys an appeal to persons other than second person (first person or third per-
son). It is found that in 133 languages, the second person singular imperative is
not formally homogeneous1 with any of the other forms (the second person plu-
ral imperative and the hortative), in which case these languages are considered
to have a minimal imperative-hortative system; in 20 languages, the second per-
son singular imperative is formally homogenous with other forms, in which case
these languages are considered to have a maximal imperative-hortative system; in
21 languages, there are both a minimal and a maximal system; in 201 languages,
there exists neither a maximal nor a minimal system.
König and Siemund (2007) take imperatives as constructions dedicated to the
expression of direct speech acts of orders, request, invitations, advices, warnings,
1 If
two imperative-hortative forms are formed using the same kind of morphological or syntactic
means, they are called homogeneous.
wishes, instructions, etc. Their use of the term ‘imperative’ is the use of this
term in narrow sense, which is restricted to second person subject. They report
that the most common way for marking imperative is a special inflectional form
of the verb, which includes not only imperative affixes, bare verb stem, special
verb stems, but also morphological markings from other grammatical categories,
such as the subjunctive mode, aorist and passive forms, and the future tense. In
some languages, the imperative affix is exclusively dedicated to the imperative
mood, whereas in some other languages, the imperative marker is a fusion of the
imperative mood and other category, such as person, number, tense, and direc-
tion of action. The bare verb stem usually is for second person singular impera-
tive and it is common to add plural markers or gender markers to this form. They
notice that some languages have no construction that is exclusively dedicated to
imperatives, and even in some languages with such a construction, it is rarely used
and is being gradually replaced by constructions from other category, such as the
subjunctive mode, the future tense, the perfective participle, and the aorist tense.
They take these constructions as indirect strategies. Moreover, they discuss some
constructions closely related to imperatives, such as the hortative, the optative, the
debitive, the rogative, and the monitory. The hortative is for first and third person
directives and realizes the illocutionary force of exhortation; the optative expresses
wishes and third person directives; the debitive expresses obligations; the rogative
expresses petitions and in broad sense includes polite imperatives; the monitory
expresses warnings. Languages differ considerably with regard to the number of
the constructions that are morphologically marked. Very rarely is there a language
with full morphological paradigms for all these constructions. On the contrary,
languages commonly make use of alternative means in addition to morphological
marking to express these illocutionary forces.
Aikhenvald (2010, 2016) makes a comprehensive survey on imperatives and
commands. For him, the second person imperative is the canonical imperative or
the imperative in narrow sense. In contrast, command forms addressed to persons
other than second person such as hortatives (to first person) and jussives (to third
person) are non-canonical imperatives or imperatives in broad sense. With regard
to canonical imperatives with a singular addressee, he reports that the expressions
fall into three groups: (i) about one-third of the languages use a bare root or stem
of the verb; (ii) many languages use an overt indicator of imperatives, which can
be a segmental affix or clitic, a special set of pronominal markers, or a particle or a
tone contour; (iii) a few languages have a special analytic construction for impera-
tives. Concerning canonical imperatives with a non-singular addressee, a language
may use the same form for both singular and non-singular addressees, or employ
a segmental marker for non-singular addressees but no segmental marker for sin-
gular addressees, or have segmental markers for both singular and non-singular
addressees. He also reports another two devices for making canonical imperatives:
one is a reduplication of the verb; the other is by suppletions, which involve the
use of a stem different form that of the verb in declaratives or interrogatives. In
addition to these devices dedicated to canonical imperatives, some non-imperative
forms are employed in languages lacking dedicated canonical imperatives, which
2.2 Systemic Functional Studies on Mood 37
include (i) present tense forms of verb, or forms unmarked for tense; (ii) future
tense forms; (iii) potential or intentional modalities; (iv) irrealis mode. Apart
from canonical imperatives, many languages have non-canonical imperatives as
well. Expressions for non-canonical imperatives, according to Aikhenvald (2010),
fall into four groups: (i) the devices for canonical imperatives and non-canonical
imperatives may form one paradigm; (ii) the devices for non-canonical imperatives
may form one independent paradigm; (iii) the forms of non-canonical imperatives
may partially overlap with the forms of canonical imperatives; (iv) the form of first
person and third person non-canonical imperatives may each differ from canonical
imperatives. In addition, Aikhenvald (2010) observes that imperatives may interact
with various grammatical categories, which fall into the following three groups:
(i) categories relating to the addressee, such as gender, number, and person; (ii)
categories relating to verbal action, such as aspect, location in time and space, evi-
dentiality, modality, and mode; (iii) marking of verbal arguments. Imperatives may
also involve some semantic parameters, such strength of command, honorification,
and politeness. Furthermore, according to Aikhenvald (2010), languages are at
variance in the speech acts realized by imperatives. Some languages may adopt
the imperative to realized various speech acts, such as request, pleas, entreaties,
advices, recommendations, instructions, invitations, permissions, and wishes; in
contrast, some languages may employ special markings for some of these speech
acts and thus have more subtypes of imperatives.
2.1.4 Typological Studies on Exclamative Mood
The exclamative mood is considered as a minor type of mood in typological stud-

ies and has received little attention. The status of exclamative is problematic since
it bears resemblance with both declaratives and interrogatives (Sadock and Zwicky
1985; Aikhenvald 2016). When it is in the form of a declarative, the meaning usu-
ally comes from a special intonation contour, the emotive and evaluative adjec-
tives as well as their intensifiers. Besides, interrogative words are commonly used
in exclamatives. In spite of its connection with declaratives and interrogatives, in
some languages, the exclamative is of its own properties and stands as a separate
mood type. For example, some languages have special verb forms for exclama-
tives (Sadock and Zwicky 1985) and some languages have expressions dedicated
to exclamatives (Aikhenvald 2016).
2.2 Systemic Functional Studies on Mood
In SFL, mood is considered a lexicogrammatical system expressing interper-

sonal meaning. Studies on mood in SFL fall into three groups: those concerning
theoretical issues about mood will be presented in Sect. 2.1, those concerning
descriptions of mood of particular languages are surveyed in Sect. 2.2, and those
dealing with comparisons of and typological generalizations about mood are the
concern of Sect. 2.3.
2.2.1 Theoretical Issues About Mood in SFL
SFL’s treatment of mood can demonstrate how some semiotic dimensions of SFL
operate in langauge descriptions. We will introduce some of these semiotic dimen-
sions such as stratification, realization, and axis in detail in Chap. 3 and in this sec-
tion we will focus on mood, especially the mood of English since SFL is mainly
developed with the English language as an illustration.2 Even so, it still will be a
brief glimpse at mood and more detailed information will be presented in Chap. 3.
SFL studies on mood represent a holistic approach to mood: each mood type is
described within the holistic mood system. Halliday (1985, 1994) and Halliday and
Matthiessen (2004, 2014), in An Introduction to Functional Grammar (IFG), take
mood as the grammatical realization of the semantic system of speech function.
Thus, each mood option is a congruent realization of a speech function: the declar-
ative is the realization of the speech function of statement, the interrogative is the
realization of the speech function of question, and the imperative is the realization
of the speech functions of command and offer. All the mood types in a language
will form a mood system. The mood system of English extracted from IFG is pre-
sented in Fig. 2.1.
The mood system of English illustrates both the paradigmatic (systemic) and
the syntagmatic (structural) relationship between different moods. For exam-
ple, paradigmatically, the declarative and the interrogative in English are
exclamative
declarative +EM:iw::what, how; #ÊM
Sub^Fi affirmative
indicative
+Mood yes/no
(+Sub, +Fi) interrogative Fi^Sub WH-Subject
MOOD
WH-
WH- Wh/Sub WH-Complement
SELECTION
WH-
+Wh/; #^Wh^Fi WH-other Wh/Complement
SELECTION
imperative WH-Adjunct
Wh/Adjunct
Fig. 2.1 The mood system of English extracted from An Introduction to Functional Grammar
2 Thisdoes not mean that SFL is a linguistic theory that is merely developed for the description
of English. See Sect. 1.5
Fig. 2.2 The mood system of

English from Martin (1992)
(adapted from Martin 1992:
44)
grouped together under the indicative, which contrasts with the imperative.
Semantically speaking, the indicative is concerned with the exchange of infor-
mation whereas the imperative is concerned with the exchange of goods-&-ser-
vices. Syntagmatically, the indicative mood is characterized by the presence of the
functional element of Mood, whereas the imperative lacks the element in its struc-
ture. With regard to the systemic contrast between declarative and interrogative,
semantically, the former severs to give information (statement), whereas the latter
serves to demand information (question). Structurally, the former is featured with
the structure where the Subject comes before the Finite; in contrast, the latter is
with the structure where the Finite comes before the Subject. The mood system
of English illustrates how different types of mood (mood options) of a particular
language are presented in SFL framework. More details about the systemic theory
and the functional elements in mood structure, such as the Subject, the Finite, the
Predicator, etc., will be presented in Chap. 3.
Martin (1992) is of the opinion that mood from a discourse perspective is a
resource for negotiating meaning in dialogue. He also considers mood as a lexi-
cogrammatical system. The mood system of English provided by Martin (1992),
as shown in Fig. 2.2, bears a close resemblance to that in IFG, though there exist
terminological differences with regard to the declarative mood and the affirmative
mood. In IFG, the affirmative mood is a subtype of declarative contrasting with
the exclamative, whereas Martin (1992) takes the affirmative as the entry condition
of the exclamative and the declarative. Besides, Martin (2013) provides one more
structural means for distinguishing the imperative from the indicative in addition
to the presence or absence of Mood. That is the Predicator in indicatives is finite
while that in imperatives is non-finite. This might be redundant in the realization
statements in the mood system of English, but might be helpful to distinguish
between the indicative and the imperative in other languages.
Fawcett (2009) holds a different view on mood. He maintains that Halliday in
his works in the late 1960s and the early 1970s considered the system networks
of transitivity, mood, and theme as constituting the meaning potential of the lan-
guage. They were formerly regarded as being at the level of form by Halliday.
Now their function is taken as being to model choices between semantic features
and so to constitute the semantics of a language. In Fawcett’s view, Halliday had
gone a long way along the road to semanticizing the system network for transitiv-
ity, whereas the system network of mood still presents choices between alternative
SYSTEM NETWORK TYPICAL REALIZATIONS

(MEANING POTENTIAL) (FOORMS)
simple giver 99% Ivy has read it.
giver confident Ivy’s read it, hasn’t she.
98% plus deferring Ivy’s read it, hasn’t she?
confirmation challenging Ivy’s read it, has she?
seeker 1% unmarked Ivy’s read it, hasn’t she?
interpolated Ivy’s read it, hasn’t she, by now?
polarity seeker 66% Has Ivy read it?
seeker
new content seeker 39% What has Ivy read?
1.4%
choice of alternative contents seeker 1% Did you have wine or beer?
at thing 70% What a good reader she is !
at quality of thing 29% How good at reading she is!
informa- exclamation at quantity of thing0.9% What a lot of it she has read!
tion 98% 0.1% at quality of situation 0.09% How clearly she reads it!
at quantity of situation 0.01% How (much) she loves reading!
confirmation simple confirmation seeker 70% Isn’t she quiet a good reader?
seeker 0.2% exclamatory confirmation seeker Isn’t she a good reader?
check polarity challenging check 60% She’s read it?
0.1% content challenging check 40% She’s rad WHAT?
interrogator 0.1% Then she read what?
proposal of entity for unmarked 70% What about Ivy/ last week?
M consideration 0.1% anticipating novelty 90% How about Ivy/ last week?
O proposal for action by addressee 90% ... see MOOD part2
O proposal for action by self and addressee 5% Let’s read it (shall we?)
D proposal for action by self 4.99% Shall I read it?
proposal for action by outsider 0.01% Shall Ivy rad it?
strong …possibly…
propos-
with softener neutral …perhaps…
al for
tentative …maybe…
action
without softener
1.99%
with politeness marker
(4 positional and information structure variants) …please…
without politeness marker
with task minimizer …just
without task minimizer
formal wish 0.01% May I/you/she read it well!
Fig. 2.3 The semantic system network for mood of English in Fawcett (2009) (adapted from
Fawcett 2009: 60)
forms. He argues it is desirable to push the system network of mood toward the
semantics, both for theoretical and practical reasons. Therefore, he offers a seman-
tic system network for mood in English, which is shown in Fig. 2.3. It shows that
the system contains two main areas of meaning. The first one covers meanings that
assign to the Performer and the Addressee communication roles in giving, seeking,
confirming, etc., information about events; the second one is concerned with
assigning communication roles to the Performer and the Addressee in proposals
for action. Each area of meaning contains more semantic options.
Fawcett’s system network for mood is a semantic one. It is applicable to text
analysis. However, it is less applicable to cross-linguistic comparisons for the
following two reasons. On the one hand, it is too complicated or too dedi-
cated in semantic choices. It will be quite time-consuming, if not impossible, to
describe the mood of each language under study in this way. On the other hand,
it directs less attention to the axis of structure, which will cause difficulties both
in distinguishing mood options and in making cross-linguistic comparisons of
mood structure. Therefore, we will adopt the ‘classical’ system of mood in IFG
as the framework guiding our descriptions of mood systems of other languages.
Nevertheless, Fawcett’s system network for mood is still valuable to our descrip-
tive work since it offers many useful semantic parameters for elaborating certain
mood options further in delicacy, such as the parameter of confirmation in the
semantic area of information, the parameters of softener and politeness in the
semantic area of proposal for action.
2.2.2 Descriptions of Mood of Particular Languages
As mentioned in Sect. 1.5, SFL is general and appliable linguistic theory in the
sense that it is not merely developed for descriptions of the English language,
but for descriptions of all human languages. SFL has been applied to descrip-
tions of the mood of a wide range of languages, such as the mood of French
(Huddleston and Uren 1969; Caffarel 1995, 2004, 2006), the mood of Tagalog
(Martin 1990, 2004, 2013, 2018; Matin and Cruz 2021), the mood of Gooniyandi
(McGregor 1990), the mood of Finnish (Shore 1992), the mood of Chinese
(Peng 2000, Halliday and McDonald 2004, Li 2007, Matthiessen and Halliday
2009, Zhang 2009, Wang and Zhu 2013 (see Martin 2013), Yao and Chen 2017,
Wang 2021), the mood of Pitjantjatjara (Rose 2004, 2021), the mood of German
(Steiner and Teich 2004), the mood of Japanese (Teruya 2004, 2007, 2017), the
mood of Vietnamese (Minh 2004; Phan 2010), the mood of Telugu (Prakasam
2004), the mood of Thai (Patpong 2006), the mood of Arabic (Bardi 2008), the
mood of Bajjika (Kumar 2009); the mood of Spanish (Lavid et al. 2010; Quiroz
2018, 2021), the mood of Dagaare (Mwinlaaru 2018), the mood of Korean (Shin
2018), the mood of Mongolian (Zhang 2021), the mood of Brazilian Portuguese
(Figueredo 2021), the mood of sign language (Rudge 2021), the mood of Scottish
Gaelic (Bartlett 2021), etc. Obviously, mood is not the only focus in many of these
studies surveyed above. For a survey of systemic functional language descriptions,
either those dealing with the whole system networks of a language or those deal-
ing with a particular aspect, see Mwinlaaru and Xuan (2016).
2.2.3 Cross-Linguistic Comparisons and SFT of mood
The descriptive studies on mood surveyed in last section form the background
against which studies dealing with cross-linguistic comparisons of mood and SFT
of mood are able to be carried out.
Matthiessen and Halliday (2009) compare the mood of English, Chinese, and
Japanese. They find the three languages illustrate a general principle of cross-lin-
guistic similarity: they have similar mood systems at the least delicate end of
the grammar. That is to say, they all distinguish ‘indicative’ versus ‘imperative’
clauses, and within the ‘indicative’, ‘declarative’ versus ‘interrogative’, and within
the ‘interrogative’, ‘polar’ versus ‘elemental’. However, they also show cross-lin-
guistic variation in terms of the ways that systemic contrasts are created. They
deploy different subsets of realizational resources: neither Chinese nor Japanese
has a distinct Mood element but they both make use of mood particles. They assert
that Chinese has no system of verbal finiteness at all and Japanese does not sep-
arate out finiteness from the rest of the verbal group. Besides, compared with
English and Chinese, Japanese goes further along the way of grammaticalizing
other aspects of the exchange. It encodes the tenor of the relationship between the
interactants engaging in the exchange in its mood system.
When more languages are taken into consideration, it becomes possible to
develop typological accounts of mood based on systemic functional descriptions.
Matthiessen (1995) provided a typological outlook for mood in 1995, when there
were not as many systemic functional descriptions of languages as nowadays.
Therefore, the typological generalizations he made then were mainly derived from
some typological studies, such as Ultan (1969), Sadock and Zwicky (1985), etc.
But the typological generalizations he made were fully illustrated later by the
systemic functional descriptions of eight languages from the volume Language
Typology: A Functional Perspective (Caffarel et al. 2004a). Besides, based on the
eight descriptions and some other typological works, Matthiessen (2004) in that
volume made more typological generalizations about mood. Matthiessen (1995,
2004) reports that almost all languages have mood system, but they are at vari-
ance both in terms of the organization of mood system and in terms of how mood
options are realized. Concerning the system, he identifies three systemic variables
across languages. The first one is concerned with the relation between mood (lex-
icogrammar) and speech function (semantics). With this regard, languages vary in
how the major mood types construct the semantic space of speech functions. A
general principle, according to Matthiessen (1995, 2004), is that the mood systems
of all languages realize the speech-functional variables of orientation (either giv-
ing or demanding) and commodity (either information or goods-&-services), but
many languages have lexicogrammatical resources for enacting the tenor of the
relationship between the speaker and the addressee in the exchange. Thus, some
languages encode the semantic space of politeness, formality, etc., in their mood
systems. The second systemic variable is about systemic organization. Languages
vary in how different mood types are grouped together into less delicate systems.
For example, English groups polar and elemental interrogatives together due to
their structural similarity, but some other languages may lack such structural evi-
dence for such a systemic grouping. The third systemic variable focuses on sys-
temic delicacy. Even though languages are alike to each other at the least delicate
end of mood system, they vary in how they elaborate mood categories further in
delicacy. Matthiessen (2004) observes systemic elaborations of indicative clauses
tend to be concerned with the assessment of the information being exchanged,
such as from the aspects of modality, evidentiality, prediction and desirability,
whereas systemic elaborations of imperative clauses tend to be concerned with the
tenor of the relationship between the speaker and the addressee, such as from the
aspects of honorification and politeness. With regard to realizations, the realiza-
tions of mood options tend to be prosodic, either phonologically prosodic or gram-
matically prosodic. Grammatical prosodies include constituent order and mood
particles at clause rank and affixes at word rank.
In addition to the dimensions of system and structure in which languages may
vary from one another, Matthiessen (2004) offers another two dimensions where
cross-linguistic variation may exist. The two dimensions, together with the two
mentioned above, are parts of the semiotic dimensions of SFL theory. The first one
is the rank scale (see details in Chap. 3). Languages are at variance with respect
to at which rank scale (clause rank, group rank, or word rank) their realizations
of mood or other interpersonal systems may occur. In many languages the real-
izations of mood mainly occur at clause rank, such as the use of Mood element
in English and mood particles in Japanese; in some languages the realizations of
mood mainly happen at word rank, such as Greenlandic. The second dimension is
the class. The realizational items of mood and other interpersonal systems may fall
into any class, such as particles, affixes, adverbs, auxiliaries, etc.
Matthiessen’s pioneering research provides guidance for other SFT studies,
including the current book. Teruya et al. (2007), following the principles of SFT,
propose some generalizations about mood based on systemic functional descrip-
tions of six languages, descriptions couched in terms of other frameworks, and
typological accounts from typology literature. They report that mood systems of
different languages are more similar to each other systemically than structurally;
systemically, languages are more similar to each other in systems of low delicacy
than in systems of high delicacy; structurally, languages vary in how mood systems
are realized (intonation, sequence, or segment), but they are similar in showing a
prosodic pattern of realization.
The generalizations proposed by Teruya et al. (2007) to a large extend support
those proposed by Matthiessen (1995, 2004). Besides, Teruya et al. (2007) illus-
trate how cross-linguistic similarities and differences can be explained in SFT.
Firstly, systemic and structural congruence and variation can be looked upon from
different strata, i.e., from the stratum of context and from the stratum of seman-
tics (see ‘stratification’ in Sect. 3.2). From the stratum of semantics, for instance,
the similarities in the basic mood types across languages is easy to understand:
such systems have all evolved as grammatical resources for realizing exchanges
of information and goods-&-services. From the stratum of context of culture,
different cultures vary considerably with respect to tenor parameters, such as sta-
tus hierarchies and social distance, thus it will not be surprising that in some lan-
guages, such as Japanese and Javanese, the mood system interacts closely with the
system of politeness and honorification. Secondly, systems of different semantic
domains can be drawn on in explanations, such as textual systems and experien-
tial systems. For example, languages vary in the range of transitivity functions
that Wh- elements can be conflated with. Thirdly, realizational strategies in dif-
ferent languages can find their motivations from texts of each language. Teruya
et al. (2007) notice that the cross-linguistic differences in realizational devices for
mood are related to the basic pattern of the clause in negation. If the basic pattern
of negotiation of a language is Mood-based, such as in English and German, it
tends to deploy Mood to distinguish different mood types; if that of a language is
Predicator-based, such as in Japanese and Chinese, it tends to deploy Negotiator to
make systemic contrast between different moods.
Mwinlaaru et al. (2018) examine the mood system of Niger-Congo languages
based on discourse data of four languages, elicited and constructed sentences,
and descriptive work on a wide range of languages in the Niger-Congo phylum.
They find Niger-Congo languages typically have the following interpersonal
clause structure: (Subject •) Predicator (• Complement) (• Adjunct) (• Negotiator).3
Languages vary in the prominence of the elements of Subject and Negotiator. With
regard to the mood system, Niger-Congo languages make primary systemic con-
trast between indicative and imperative clauses, which are mainly distinguished
either by special particles or by verbal morphology. Indicatives are further elab-
orated in delicacy into declaratives and interrogatives. The possible subtypes of
declaratives are affirmatives and non-affirmatives, which are distinguished by
particles. Concerning the interrogative, two main types are the polar interroga-
tive and the elemental interrogative. The polar interrogative falls into two types
in Niger-Congo languages, namely yes/no interrogatives and alternative interrog-
atives. The yes/no interrogative is mainly realized by intonation and Negotiator
(particles). Possible subtypes of yes/no interrogatives are biased ones and non-bi-
ased ones. The alternative is realized by the alternative construction. Regarding the
elemental interrogative, languages vary with respect to the number and kinds of
Q-words. They also vary with respect to the textual status of Q-words (cf. Teruya
et al. 2007). As regards the imperative, possible distinctions include that between
non-prohibitive and prohibitive and that between immediate and non-immediate.
Besides, the imperative may occur with all person in Niger-Congo languages, and
when it is addressed to a plural addressee, a Subject or a pronominal subject affix
may be required.
3 Thebrackets indicate elements that are optional and the dot signals that the element does not
necessarily appear in the order in which it is presented.
2.3 Chapter Summary 45
2.3 Chapter Summary
Thus far, we have made a survey of both typological studies on mood and SFL/
SFT studies on mood. These studies considerably broaden our knowledge of the
grammatical category of mood from various aspects. The body of literature of
either approach is of unique features and meanwhile is open to some problems.
These existing problems are the rationales for the current book.
2.3.1 Features and Problems of Typological Studies

on Mood
Typological studies on mood are of two features. First, they are of considerable
interest into the structural features of different moods. Most typological studies
focus on the possible structures of a particular mood and the cross-linguistic simi-
larities and differences with respect to these structures. Furthermore, the typologi-
cal generalizations they made to a large extent are generalizations about structures.
Second, they draw on available descriptions of a wide range of human languages
to make cross-linguistic comparisons concerning the structures of a particular
mood. This on the one hand contributes to a comprehensive survey of the struc-
tural features of different moods, and on the other hand, by connecting the struc-
tural features of a particular mood to other grammatical features of the languages
under study (such as Ultan 1969), can propose some explanations for these struc-
tural features.
In addition to the features, typological studies on mood are open to some prob-
lems. First, most of these studies merely focus on a particular mood type or deal
with each mood type in isolation. Even though some studies recognize that moods
of any language form a mood system (Sadock and Zwicky 1985; König and
Siemund 2007), due attention has not been directed to the structural or semantic
connections between different mood types.
Second, more attention has been devoted to the major mood types, such as
declaratives, polar and elemental interrogatives, and imperatives, whereas minor
types of mood have received little attention. Even though some potential minor
types of mood have been recognized, such as evidential declaratives, biased polar
interrogatives, polite imperatives, etc., little importance have been attached to
them. There are possibly two reasons for this problem. On the one hand, these
minor types of mood attract little attention in reference grammars. On the other
hand, languages vary more in minor types of mood than in major types of mood.
The two reasons make it more difficult, if not impossible, to make cross-linguis-
tic comparisons concerning the structural features of minor types of mood. In
our point of view, minor types of mood deserve more academic attention, not
only because they are the part in which languages display more variation but
also because they provide language speakers with more options to express more
complicated meanings.
Third, there is still space for advancing more rational explanations for the find-
ings. Explanations, either external or internal, are crucial in typological studies.
König and Siemund (2007) explain why polar interrogatives are dominantly accom-
panied by rising intonation and Aikhenvald (2010) explains, from the perspective
of iconicity, why the longer an imperative is in form, the more polite it will be in
meaning. The practice of relating the structural features of moods to other gram-
matical aspects of languages is also helpful. For example, Ultan (1969) finds the
use of the strategy of inversion and the position of mood particles very possibly are
related to the basic word order of the language. In addition to these explanations,
more rational explanations are expected for other phenomena, such as why some
languages display more subtypes of a particular mood than other languages, why
a language makes use of certain devices to mark mood types instead of others, etc.
Fourth, in many studies, the criteria for identifying mood types are not clearly
established and there exists terminological confusion about the use of certain
terms. For example, since Sadock and Zwicky (1985) report that confirmatives are
commonly formed by appending a tag to a declarative base and in many languages
they are not distinct from biased interrogatives, then are they different types of
mood or the same type of mood? Should tag questions in English be recognized as
biased polar interrogatives or confirmatives? What is the status of rhetorical ques-
tions? Is the clause ‘will you go or not’ a polar interrogative or an alternative inter-
rogative? What is the core meaning of optative and hortative? Are they subtypes of
imperative? These problems have something to do with inconsistency in terminol-
ogy. As König and Siemund (2007: 313) notice, the usage of certain terms “is not
completely fixed and varies from author to author” and “the frequent confusion of
form and function makes information provided in grammatical descriptions diffi-
cult to interpret”.
Fifth, most typological studies on mood, if not all, suffer from sampling prob-
lems. Except Ultan (1969), other studies provide little information either about the
sample size of or about the methods of sampling. Moreover, in most typological
studies on mood we see many languages merely function to provide an instance
of a particular structural feature, or merely serve as an element of a set of struc-
tural features so as to be counted (cf. Dryer 2005a, b, 2013; van der Auwera and
Lejeune 2005a, b; van der Auwera et al. 2005). However, in our opinion, each lan-
guage should also function to provide some relative information based on which
valuable generalizations (cf. Greenberg 1966) can be made and rational explana-
tions can be proposed. If we attach little importance to the issue of language sam-
pling, or confine our attention merely to the local feature under study, we will only
know that there are about 12 languages in the world marking their polar interrog-
atives with interrogative word order, but we will never know that this feature is
almost exclusive to Germanic languages. Thus, the issue of language sampling and
the practice of taking as much relevant information as possible into consideration
are crucial for making typological generalizations and advancing explanations in
typological studies.
2.3.2 Features and Problems of SFL/SFT Studies on Mood
SFL/SFT studies on mood, compared with typological studies on mood, are of

the following features. First, unlike typological studies on mood which mainly
concentrate on the structural features of mood and deal with each mood type in
isolation, SFL/SFT studies on mood mainly concentrate on the systemic fea-
tures of mood, and each mood type is investigated from a holistic perspective.
Thus, each mood type is not only an object for cross-linguistic comparison, but
also an option in the holistic mood system through which we can see how differ-
ent moods are structurally and semantically differentiated from or related to each
other. The holistic perspective allows languages to be compared and typologized
not only in terms of their structural features, but also in terms of their meaning
potentials. Therefore, the holistic perspective makes it possible to bring out prin-
ciples and patterns concerning mood that would remain more implicit if we only
focus on structural features. However, as mentioned in Sect. 1.5.2, this does not
mean that SFL/SFT studies on mood direct no attention to structural features.
System and structure define each other mutually. A mood option in system is
defined from above by the meaning it realizes and from below by its structure.
Second, SFL/SFT studies on mood are guided by SFL theory. They are manifesta-
tions of a holistic approach to language interpretation and typological studies. The
holistic approach means that “phenomena are contextualized by reference to the
most inclusive domain that can be identified along any dimension” (Matthiessen
2004: 656). Therefore, in these studies, we see mood as a grammatical category
is interpreted by reference to socio-cultural context since, as Matthiessen (2004:
656) maintains, context is the most inclusive domain along the dimension of strat-
ification; mood as a system is interpreted by connection to texts since system is
the most inclusive domain of texts along the dimension of instantiation; mood as
a lexicogrammatical system is interpreted by reference to the semantic system of
speech function since semantics is the most inclusive domain along the dimen-
sion of language-internal stratification; structural features of mood are interpreted
by reference to mood system since the systemic domain is more inclusive than
the structural one along the dimension of axis. Moreover, within lexicogrammar,
words and groups/phrases are interpreted by reference to clauses since the clause
is the most inclusive domain along the dimension of rank. This holistic approach
provides new perspectives both for making typological generalizations and for
proposing rational explanations. Third, SFL/SFT studies on mood represent “a
synthesis of both structural and functional approaches” (Webster 2002: 156).
That is to say, in these studies, due attention has been paid both to the functional
(semantic) and the structural (lexicogrammatical) aspect of mood. As Halliday
(1970/2002: 173–174) points out, “an account of linguistic structure that pays
no attention to the demands that we make of language is lacking in perspicacity,
since it offers no principles for explaining why the structure of language is organ-
ized one way rather than in another”. Meanwhile, he further suggests “it is fairly
obvious that language is used to serve a variety of different needs, but until we
examine its grammar there is no clear reason for classifying its uses in any par-
ticular way” (Halliday 1970/2002: 174). The vantagepoints of function and lexico-
grammar represent the perspectives of ‘from above’ and ‘from below’ respectively
in the ‘trinocular perspective’ of SFL (the other one being ‘from roundabout’),
which have been widely adopted in systemic studies (see Chap. 4 for details of the
‘trinocular perspective’). The ‘trinocular perspective’ functions as a good criterion
for identifying mood types. If a clause is to be recognized as an independent mood
option, it should display both structural and semantic distinction from other types
of mood.
Nevertheless, SFL/SFT studies on mood are not without problems. The most
prominent one, which is also identified in typological studies, is concerned with
language sampling. SFT is in pursuit of typological generalizations that are based
on comprehensive systemic functional language descriptions. This leads to a small
sample size in SFT studies on mood. In Matthiessen (2004), the sample size is
eight, in Teruya et al. (2007), it is six, and in Mwinlaaru et al. (2018), it is no more
than four. Language descriptions in these samples are comprehensive enough, but
they are far from being representative enough to make reliable typological gen-
eralizations. Therefore, we see SFT studies on mood have to resort to findings
of typological studies (i.e., Sadock and Zwicky 1985) and to non-SFL language
descriptions. Due to the limited sample size, these studies are not able to make
more generalizations like those by Greenberg (1966) and Ultan (1969). The prob-
lem of language sampling, to a large extent, is related to the pursuit of SFT. As
mentioned in Sect. 1.5.2, SFT attaches equal importance to language theory and
language descriptions. Language descriptions are supposed to be guided by SFL
theory so as to be presented in multidimensional way, to be system-and-func-
tion-oriented and text-based, to be able to display the full meaning potential of the
language under study and to be comprehensive and reliable enough for typologi-
cal generalizations. Typological generalizations in SFT are supposed to be made
based on such descriptions. However, there is no doubt that such descriptions will
cost tremendous amount of money and time (Caffarel et al. 2004b). Therefore, it is
extremely difficult, if not impossible, for SFT studies to operate with a sample that
is representative enough, because “the languages that have been described totally
in SFL terms to date do not in any way represent a typological sample of the lan-
guages around the world” (Teruya et al. 2007: 861).
The second problem is concerned with the comprehensiveness of descriptions.
Some of these descriptions are not comprehensive enough. On the one hand, they
only focus on these functional elements that operate in realization statements, such
as the Mood and the Negotiator, whereas they direct less attention to other func-
tional elements, such as the Subject and the Finite. On the other hand, mood sub-
types also deserve more detailed descriptions.
The third problem is concerned with the conventions in SFL and linguistic
typology. SFL is characterized by its own terminology and conventions for lan-
guage descriptions. The conventions are concerned with many aspects, such as
graphic conventions in system networks, capitalization labels in systems and real-
ization statements, operators in realization statements, etc. Some SFL/SFT studies
on mood do not follow these conventions well. For example, many mood systems
are not presented as a system and the realization statements are not fully pre-
sented. This is not helpful to make typological generalizations. In addition to SFL
conventions, SFT studies on mood are also supposed to conform to the conventions
in typological studies.
2.3.3 Rationale for the Book
We have summarized the features of typological and SFL/SFT studies on mood.

It can be found that both approaches to mood are of unique features and their fea-
tures to a large extent complement each other. Typological studies focus on the
structural features of mood and one of their advantages is that they can make
cross-linguistic comparisons based on a large language sample. By contrast, SFL/
SFT studies give priority to the systemic features of mood (they also pay attention
to structural features) and demonstrate the theoretical advantages of SFL as a mul-
tidimensional and holistic linguistic theory. The book attempts to combine the two
approaches together to contribute to a deeper understanding of mood.
Moreover, we have summarized some problems of both approaches. These
problems are the rationale for the book and the research gaps the book aims to
fill. SFT, guided by the SFL theory, is a multidimensional and holistic approach to
typological studies. By adopting the research paradigm of SFT, we can solve, to a
large extent, three of the five problems identified in typological studies. For exam-
ple, SFT enables us to look at each mood in the holistic mood system instead of
dealing with them in isolation. This allows us to explore the similarities and differ-
ences languages display both in mood structure and in mood system and to make
some generalization about both aspects that would remain more implicit if we only
focus on the structural features of a particular mood type. Moreover, SFT enables
us to look at mood in different dimensions, i.e., stratification, instantiation, axis,
rank, etc., and therefore makes it possible to propose more rational explanations.
The ‘trinocular perspective’ of SFL can also help to solve the problem concern-
ing the criteria for identifying mood in typological studies. Meanwhile, following
the theoretical guidance of SFL can help to avoid the terminological confusion in
We have also identified the problem of language sampling that exists in stud-
ies of both approaches. Most of these studies attach little importance to language
sampling. Thus, we see in many studies, a language merely functions as an exam-
ple of a particular structural feature. For SFT studies, their samples are too small
and far from being representative in any sense. Concerning the issue of language
sampling, we will try to make our sample geographically, generically, and typo-
logically representative enough. Meanwhile, we will take into consideration other
relevant information about the languages in the sample, since we have argued that
each language should also function to provide useful information based on which
typological generalizations can be made and rational explanations can be proposed.
Language sampling is the first step, the second step is to give comprehensive
descriptions to each language in our sample. The descriptions will be guided
totally by SFL theory to ensure that the book is a practice of SFT in the strict
sense. Obviously, the descriptions cannot cover the overall system networks of
each language. Such work will be time-consuming and will make us confront
a dilemma facing all the SFT studies on mood mentioned above: that is, how to
keep a balance between the comprehensiveness of descriptions and the representa-
tiveness of the sample. To achieve the balance, we will confine our focus to com-
prehensive descriptions of mood system of each language in our sample. This will
enable the study to operate with a representative sample. Concerning the descrip-
tions of mood system, we will pay attention to both major mood types and minor
mood types, to both the systemic axis and the structural axis, to both the functional
elements that operate in realization statements and those that do not. Meanwhile,
our descriptions will follow the conventions of SFL and linguistic typology.
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Chapter 3
Theoretical Framework
3.1 Contextualizing Mood in SFL
We have mentioned that SFL represents a multidimensional and holistic interpre-

tation of human languages. It construes language as a multidimensional semiotic
system. These semiotic dimensions fall into two classes according to their scope,
namely the global dimensions and the local dimensions (Matthiessen et al. 2010;
Halliday and Matthiessen 2014). The global dimensions include the dimensions
of stratification, instantiation, and metafunction. They are globe in the sense that
they allow us to contextualize lexicogrammar by reference to the other sub-sys-
tems that constitute the total system of language. In contrast, the local dimensions,
which include the dimensions of axis and rank, enable us to characterize the inter-
nal organization of lexicogrammar, of the other sub-systems of language, and of
context as well. Figure 3.1 shows the global and local semiotic dimensions of SFL.
With regard to mood, it locates at the stratum of lexicogrammar along the
dimension of stratification and at the potential end along the dimension of instan-
tiation. It belongs to the domain of interpersonal meaning along the dimension
metafunction. It represents paradigmatic organization along the dimension of axis.
It is realized by syntagmatic organization and is a lexicogrammatical system of the
clause along the dimension of rank.
The global dimensions of SFL enable us to study mood by reference to the
meaning it realizes (the semantic stratum), to the social and cultural context where
it is used, to the text where it is instantialized and to other systems of interpersonal
meaning, textual meaning, and ideational meaning. Moreover, the local dimen-
sions enable us to study mood in terms of its systemic organization and structural
realization and to consider its realizations from the aspect of rank scale. All these
will contribute to a deeper understanding of mood. This does not mean, however,
that the book will cover every aspect of mood. The focus is confined to the local
dimension of axis. In contrast, the global dimensions in the book function to help
56 3 Theoretical Framework
Fig. 3.1 The global and local semiotic dimensions of SFL (adapted from Matthiessen et al.
2010: 38)
us make some generalizations and propose some rational explanations. In the fol-
lowing sections, we will introduce the dimensions that are closely related to the
book in detail, those presented in bold in Fig. 3.1. During this process, we will
illustrate these dimensions with mood system as an example. These illustrations
also serve as an introduction to various aspects of mood, and therefore, we will not
present a section dedicated to mood.
3.2 Stratification: mood and speech function
3.2.1 Stratification: From Context to Language
In SFL, language is always theorized, described, and analyzed within an environ-

ment of meanings. This environment is termed as ‘context’. Context is a high-
er-ordered semiotic system. It extends, similar to language, along the cline of
3.2 Stratification: mood and speech function 57
instantiation from the end of general contextual potential of a community, which is

termed as ‘context of culture’, to the end of contextual instances where particular
people interact and exchange meanings on particular occasions, which is termed as
‘context of situation’. The context of culture is more abstract than the context of
situation. It is what the members of a community can mean in cultural terms and
is an environment of meaning where a variety of semiotic systems operate, such
as language, paralanguage, and other human systems of meaning. Concerning the
context of situation, it can be considered as an instantiation of a context of cul-
ture. It involves three parameters, namely field, tenor, and mode (Halliday 1978;
Halliday and Hasan 1985; Martin 1992; Hasan 2003; Halliday and Matthiessen
2014). Field refers to what is going on in the situation. Tenor deals with who is
taking part in the situation. It is the about the roles played by the participants of
the socio-semiotic activity and the values that the interactants imbue the domain
with. The roles of the participants include institutional roles, status roles (power,
either equal or unequal), contact roles (familiarity), and sociometric roles (affect).
Mode concerns the role played by language and other semiotic systems in the sit-
uation. It deals with the division of labor between semiotic activities and social
ones, the division of labor between linguistic activities and other semiotic activ-
ities, rhetorical mode, turn (dialogic or monologic), medium (written or spo-
ken), and channel (phonic or graphic) (Matthiessen et al. 2010; Halliday and
Matthiessen 2014).
Field, tenor, and mode are three sets of related variables in context, which
together form the environment of meanings where language and other semiotic
systems and socio-systems operate. They correlate with the meaning of language.
As Halliday (1978) suggests, field values resonate with ideational meanings,
tenor values resonate with interpersonal meanings (to which mood belongs) and
mode values resonate with textual meanings. That is to say, the correspondences
between context and language are based on the functional organization of both
orders of meaning.
3.2.2 Intra-Language Stratification
The dimension of stratification in SFL orders language in context into sub-systems

according to the degree of symbolic abstraction. These sub-systems constitute
different intra-language strata. Language is first ordered to include a stratum of
content and a stratum of expression. Taking infants’ protolanguage as an example,
the intention they try to reveal to their mother is content, and the way by which
they try to make the intention clear, such as by making a sound or by a gesture, is
expression (Halliday 1975/2004). In contrast, adult languages are more complex,
where both the content stratum and the expression stratum expand into two strata:
the content expands into a stratum of semantics and a stratum of lexicogrammar,
and the expression expands into a stratum of phonology/graphology (the organiza-
tion of speech sound into formal structures and system) and a stratum of phonetics
Fig. 3.2 Stratification
(adapted from Halliday and
Matthiessen 2014: 26)
(the interfacing with the body’s resources for speech and for hearing). Thus, lan-
guage is organized into four strata, namely semantics, lexicogrammar, phonol-
ogy, and phonetics. The relation among the strata is called realization. Semantics
is realized by lexicogrammar, lexicogrammar is realized by phonology and pho-
nology by phonetics. According to Halliday and Matthiessen (2004, 2014), the
realizational relationship between semantics and lexicogrammar is natural, while
that between lexicogrammar and phonology is largely conventional or arbitrary.
Figure 3.2 presents the full picture of the dimension of stratification.
3.2.3
mood and speech function
In Sect. 1.3, we define mood as the grammaticalization of the semantic system of

speech function. In other words, in SFL, mood is considered to locate at the stra-
tum of lexicogrammar and speech function at the stratum of semantics. In this sec-
tion, we will see how the categories of these two systems correspond to each other.
We will begin with the semantic system of speech function.
Each clause (major free clause as defined in Sect. 1.2) is organized as an
exchange of meanings. The exchange always involves the speaker and the listener.
According to Halliday and Matthiessen (2004, 2014), the speaker, in the act of
exchanging, adopts for himself a particular speech role and in so doing he also
assigns the listener a complementary role that he wishes him to adopt in his turn.
The most fundamental types of speech role recognized by Halliday (1984, 1985,
Fig. 3.3 The realizational relationship between mood system and speech function system
1994) are just two, namely giving and demanding. Thus, the speaker is either giv-
ing something to the listener or demanding something from the listener.
Another distinction involved in exchange, which is as fundamental as that
between the speech roles of giving and demanding, is concerned with the com-
modity being exchanged. The commodity may be either information or goods-&-
services. These two sets of variables, when interacting with each other, define four
primary speech functions, namely offer, command, statement, and question, which
form the options of the semantic system of speech function.
Now we will turn to mood. In Sect. 1.2, we define mood as the grammatical
category in the clause which realizes the basic speech functions of statement,
question, command, etc. in human communication. Therefore, there is a one-to-
one correspondence between the categories of mood and those of speech function,
or in terminology of SFL, there is a one-to-one realizational relationship between
the categories of the two systems. Congruently speaking, the declarative mood
is the realization of the speech function of statement, the interrogative mood is
the realization of the speech function of question, and the imperative mood is the
realization of the speech function of command, and in a few languages, also of
the speech function of offer. Figure 3.3 illustrates the realizational relationship
between the categories of mood and speech function.
We will make several more points about the realizational relationship between
the categories of mood and speech function before moving on to next section.
Firstly, the declarative and the interrogative, in many languages, are two
options of another major mood type, the indicative1 (see Fig. 3.3). Semantically
speaking, the indicative is concerned with the exchange of information,
contrasting with the imperative which is concerned with the exchange of
1 The term ‘indicative’ is traditionally used ro refer to indicative verbal mode. In SFL terminol-
ogy, it is used as a broad type of mood.
goods-&-services. This suggests there exists semantic affinity between the declar-
ative and the interrogative in terms of the commodity exchanged. From the aspect
of lexicogrammar, in many languages, the imperative is frequently differed from
the indicative in many morphosyntactic aspects. For example, the imperative can
interact with less systems, such as tense and person, compared with the indicative
which displays no such restrictions.
Secondly, the imperative is concerned with the exchange of goods-&-services,
and thus it may involve the speech roles of both giving and demanding. Therefore,
the use of the term ‘imperative’ in SFL is quite different from its traditional use
in literature in the sense that theoretically it is considered as the realization of the
speech functions of both command and offer, whereas by tradition it is regarded
merely as the realization of command. Even so, the speech function of offer is
rarely observed to be grammaticalized as an independent mood type in languages,
and the speech function of command is less frequently grammaticalized than the
speech functions of statement and question. This is because, as Halliday (1994:
70) suggests, in the context of offers and commands, “language is function-
ing simply as a means toward achieving what are essential non-linguistic ends”,
whereas in the context of statement and question, language constitutes the end in
itself.
Even though the speech function of offer is least likely to be grammaticalized
in languages, a few languages do have lexicogrammatical resources for this speech
function. It is necessary, in such circumstance, and for the sake of cross-lin-
guistic comparison, to make further systemic distinction within the choice of
imperative, like the one between the declarative and the interrogative within the
indicative which reflects the distinction between the speech roles of giving and
demanding. Following the tradition (cf. Halliday 1994: 87, Matthiessen 1995:
388, Halliday and Matthiessen 2004: 632), we will use the term ‘jussive’ to refer
to the unmarked imperative by which a command is addressed to a second person
Subject. That is to say, the term ‘jussive’ in the book is the equivalent of the term
‘imperative’ with its traditional sense in typological studies. Besides, we will use
the term ‘oblative’ to refer to the mood that realizes the speech function of offer.
Thus, the distinction between jussive and oblative within the imperative is similar
to that between declarative and interrogative within the indicative in the sense that
they both indicate a distinction between the speech roles of giving and demand-
ing. However, it should be noted that the jussive is the unmarked realization of
command but not the only one. Other subtypes of imperative will be discussed in
Chap. 6.
Thirdly, the one-to-one realizational relationship between the categories of the
mood and speech function illustrated in Fig. 3.3 is a congruent one. There exist
incongruent realizations of different speech functions, which in SFL, are covered
by the term ‘grammatical metaphor’. Thus, a command can be congruently real-
ized by an imperative clause like open the door and it can also be realized in a
metaphorical way by an interrogative clause like could you open the door or by
a declarative clause like you should open the door (see Halliday and Matthiessen
2014, Chap. 10). These metaphorical realizations of speech function considerably
enlarge the meaning potential of language. They exit in almost all languages and
compete with and complement the congruent ones in different context. We will
focus on the congruent realizations of speech functions in the book.
Finally, we will present another couple of terms which is closely related to
mood. When language is employed to exchange information, the clause is consid-
ered to take on the form of a proposition. Thus, a proposition is either a statement
or question. Halliday (1994) suggests that proposition is something can be argued
about. It can be affirmed, denied, doubted, insisted on, contradicted, accepted with
reservation, qualified and so on. In contrast, when language is used to exchange
goods-&-services, the clause takes on the form of a proposal. A proposal is either
an offer or command. Proposition and proposal are two different semantic func-
tions of a clause.
Up to now, we have illustrated the semiotic dimension of stratification with the
relationship between mood and speech function as an example. Meanwhile, in so
doing, we demonstrate that the relationship between the two systems is a realiza-
tional one between the strata of semantics and lexicogrammar. The dimension of
stratification enables us to look at mood ‘from above’. It enables us to consider
mood by reference to the meanings it realizes. Now we will turn to the dimension
of metafunction, which allows us to consider mood from roundabout’.
3.3 Interpersonal Metafunction: mood and Other

Systems
Interpersonal metafunction is one of the three metafunctions of language iden-

tified by Halliday (1985, 1994), the other two being ideational and textual. It
resonates with tenor system of context. Interpersonal metafunction refers that lan-
guage is organized as a resource for enacting roles and relations between speaker
and addressee as meaning. mood is the primary system of language that fulfills
interpersonal metafunction. It correlates with other interpersonal systems, such
as polarity, modality, appraisal. We will give a brief survey of the systems of
polarity and modality in this section. For the system of appraisal, see Martin and
White (2005).
3.3.1
polarity
The polarity system involves the choice between positive and negative. It is the
resource for assessing the arguability value of a clause, either the validity of a
proposition (it is/it isn’t) or the actualization of a proposal (do/don’t). Thus, each
mood is either positive or negative in terms of polarity. In this system, the positive
is the unmarked choice and the negative is marked in the sense that the positive is
characterized by no special markers whereas the negative always requires a neg-

ative marker, which is n’t or not in English. polarity functions to make a prop-
osition or a proposal arguable. That is to say, one can make a proposition or a
proposal arguable by reference to its polarity. It is realized by the functional ele-
ment Finite in structure. We will introduce the Finite element in Sect. 3.5 in detail.
3.3.2
modality
Though a mood is either positive or negative in terms of polarity, there is still

space for other options. There are intermediate degrees: various kinds of indeter-
minacy that fall in between, such as ‘possible’ and ‘maybe’. These intermediate
degrees between the positive and negative poles in SFL are identified as modal-
ity (Halliday 1994; Halliday and Matthiessen 2004, 2014). The modality system
functions to construe the region of uncertainty that lies between ‘yes’ and ‘no’.
In English, there are two primary types of modalities depending on the speech
function they are related to. The first primary type applies to propositions. In a
proposition, the meaning of the positive and negative poles is asserting (‘it is so’)
and denying (‘it isn’t so’). The intermediate possibilities between the two poles
are of two kinds: (i) degrees of probability and (ii) degrees of usuality. The former
deals with different degrees of likelihood (possibly, probably, certainly) and the
latter deals with different degrees of oftenness (sometimes, usually, always). These
scales of probability and usuality together are termed as modalization. Both prob-
ability and usuality in English can be expressed in three ways: (i) by a finite modal
operator in the verbal group (see the Finite in Sect. 3.5), such as may, will and
must; (ii) by a modal Adjunct (see the Adjunct in Sect. 3.5), such as probably, pos-
sibly, certainly, perhaps, maybe, usually, sometimes, always, often, seldom, etc.;
(iii) by both together.
The second primary type of modality applies to proposals. In a proposal, the
meaning of the positive and negative poles is prescribing (‘do it’) and proscrib-
ing (‘don’t do it’). The intermediate possibilities between the two poles here,
similar to those in propositions, also are of two kinds. In a command, the inter-
mediate points are concerned with degrees of obligation (allowed to, supposed to,
required to). In contrast, in an offer, they represent degrees of inclination (willing
to, anxious to, determined to). The scales of obligation and inclination together are
termed as modulation. Both obligation and inclination in English can be expressed
by two ways: (i) by a finite modal operator, such as must, should, can; (ii) by an
expansion of the Predicator (see Sect. 3.5), such as be supposed, be determined
with, be anxious to. Table 3.1 from Halliday (1994: 91) shows the main categories
of modalization and modulation and their typical realizations in the clause. This
is not the full picture of the modality system. Modalization and modulation are
two choices of modality type. There are another two simultaneous systems within
modality system, namely orientation (either subjective or objective and simul-
taneously either explicit or implicit) and value (median, high, low). These two
3.3 Interpersonal Metafunction: mood and Other Systems 63
Table 3.1 Modalization and modulation (from Halliday 1994: 91)

Commodity Speech Type of intermediacy Typical Example
exchanged function realization
Information Proposition: Modalization Probability Finite modal They must
statement, (possible/ operator have known
question probable/ Modal They cer-
certain) Adjunct tainly know
(Both the The certainly
above) must have
known
Usuality Finite modal It must
(sometimes/ operator happen
usually Modal It always
/always) Adjunct happens
(Both the It must
above) always
happen
Goods-&- Proposal: Modulation Obligation Finite modal You must be
services command, (allowed/ operator patient!
offer supposed/ Passive verb You’re
required) Predicator required to be
patient!
Inclination Finite modal I must win!
(willing/ operator
keen/ Adjective I’m deter-
determined) Predicator mined to win!
systems are less related to the book and thus will not be presented here. For more
information about modality system, see Halliday (1994).
modality is related to mood in at least three respects. First, modality, similar
to polarity, enables a proposition or a proposal arguable by reference to the judg-
ment of the speaker. Here, the commodity being exchanged is not merely infor-
mation and goods-&-services, but a mixture of commodity and the speaker’s
own judgment, on which the validity of the proposition or the actualization of a
proposal is made to rest. Second, modality interacts with mood closely to real-
ize more delicate speech functions. On the one hand, modality provides additional
resources for speaker to involve his or her judgment in a proposition or a proposal
and adjust his or her judgment in terms of orientation and value, and on the other
hand, modality provides resources which are complementary to the categories of
mood and therefore enrich the meaning potential of language. As Table 3.1 shows,
the modulation modality can realize proposals as the imperative mood does, but
obviously there exist nuances between these two ways of realization: expressions
like do (imperative) and (perhaps) you should do (declarative + obligation) vary
in terms of mildness or politeness. Thus, speakers have more choices at their dis-
posal to express more delicate meanings in different context of situations. Third,
Fig. 3.4 mood in the matrix of stratification and metafunction
modality serves to distinguish the indicative mood from the imperative mood. In
other words, modality is restricted to the indicative mood (either the declarative
mood or the interrogative mood) and never intersects with imperative mood. Even
modulation modalities that realize the semantic category of proposals (command
and offer) are also realized as indicative.
The modality system here is illustrated with the English language as an exam-
ple. There is no doubt that languages vary a lot both in terms of modality sys-
tem and the realizations of different modalities. The domain of modality is not
the focus of the book. Therefore, modality system is not involved in our language
descriptions. Besides, it is also impossible for us to cover it in our descriptions
because it is, if not more, as complicated as the domain of mood and thus deserves
separate studies. Nevertheless, we will take a glimpse into it, to the extent pos-
sible, because it helps us to distinguish the imperative and the indicative and to
identify a mood in the strict sense. Those clauses like you should do which are
identified as imperative clauses in many studies are not included in mood system in
the book. They are just modalized declaratives.
Up to now, we have introduced the dimensions of stratification and metafunc-
tion. These two global dimensions allow us to consider mood ‘from above’ by
reference to the meanings it realizes and ‘from roundabout’ by reference to
other systems in the domain of interpersonal metafunction (also systems in other
domains of metafunction). Figure 3.4 illustrates mood in the matrix of stratification
and metafunction.
3.5 Axis: mood System and Mood Structure 65
Table 3.2 Compositional hierarchies in English (from Halliday and Matthiessen 2014: 21)
Domain Compositional hierarchy
(a) In sound Tone group–foot (rhythm group)–syllable (–hemisyllable)–phoneme
(b) In writing Sentence–sub-sentence–word (written)–letter
(c) In verse (spoken) Stanza–line–foot (metric)–syllable
(d) In grammar Clause–phrase/group–word–morpheme
3.4 Rank Scale
The dimension of rank scale is a hierarchy of units based on composition: units

of one rank are composed of the units of the rank immediately below. In English,
four compositional hierarchies are identified depending on the domain they oper-
ate. Table 3.2 shows these compositional hierarchies in English. In the book, we
mainly focus on the ranks of grammar. Each unit in one rank is composed by one
or more units of the rank next below. Units of each rank may form complexes,
such as clause complexes, group complexes, phrase complexes, word complexes,
morpheme complexes. These complexes do not represent a higher rank but are still
at the same rank as their composing units. The clause then is the highest unit of
grammar.
Mood is a grammatical category in the clause. In contrast, the systems of
polarity and modality (realized by modal operators) are mainly realized by con-
stituents in verbal groups. Though mood is the grammatical category in the clause,
realizations of mood may operate in different ranks. For example, mood particles
and word order are realizations operating in the structure of clause, while mood
inflections are realizations operating in the structure of word. Thus, the operating
rank of the realizational items of mood is one of the respects in which languages
may vary from each other.
3.5 Axis: mood System and Mood Structure
The dimension of axis is concerned with the distinction between paradigmatic

organization and syntagmatic organization, or in other terms, between system and
structure, or between choice and chain.
According to Matthiessen et al. (2010), the relationship between paradigmatic
organization and syntagmatic organization, similar to that between a higher stra-
tum and a lower one, is hierarchically ordered in abstraction, and the paradigmatic
organization is ordered ‘above’ syntagmatic organization. Their relationship is also
a realizational one: paradigmatic patterns are realized by syntagmatic ones. The
realizational relationship between paradigmatic axis and the syntagmatic axis is
an intra-stratal realization; whereas that between different strata is an inter-stratal
realization. Paradigmatic organization is represented by system networks and
Fig. 3.5 The mood system of English
syntagmatic organization is represented by function structures which constitute

complementary kinds of order in languages. We will see, still with mood system as
an example, how a system operates both along the paradigmatic and syntagmatic
axes in this section.
3.5.1 Paradigmatic: mood System
Figure 3.5 represents the mood system of English. Any lexicogrammatical system,
such as mood system, polarity system, modality system, etc., consists of four
elements.
The first element is the entry condition. It is a simple feature or feature complex
which forms the condition under which a system is available. For example, in the
mood system of English, mood is the entry condition of indicative and imperative,
and indicative is the entry condition of declarative and interrogative, and interroga-
tive is the entry condition of polar and elemental.
The second element is the term or the option. Thus, indicative and imperative
are the two terms/options of the mood of English, and declarative and interrogative
are the two terms/options of indicative. An entry condition of a system may be
the term of another system and a term of a system may be the entry condition of
another system.
The third element is the realization statement. The realization statement appears
with a term/option in a system (the part below the term/option in Fig. 3.5). Each
term/option in a system may have one or more realization statements, which spec-
ify structure fragments. The realization statement consists of one realization oper-
ator and one or more operands (see Matthiessen 1988; Matthiessen and Bateman
1991; Bateman 2008; Halliday 2009 for details). For example, the indicative mood
in English is realized by inserting the Mood element in the clause. Here the opera-
tor is ‘insertion’, and the operand is the Mood element. In contrast, the imperative
mood is realized by deleting the Mood element. Here, the operator is ‘deletion’
and the operand is still the Mood element. The declarative mood in English is
realized by ordering the Subject before the Finite and the interrogative mood is
realized by ordering the Finite before the Subject. Here, the operator in both real-
ization statements is ‘ordering’ and the operands are the Subject and the Finite. In
systems consisting of two terms, when the operator in the realization statement
of one term is opposite to the operator in the realization statement of the other
term, it is unnecessary to present all the two realization statements in the system.
Thus, we see in Fig. 3.5 the realization statements of imperative, interrogative,
jussive, etc. are not presented in the system network. The operators and the sym-
bols for these operators used in the book are displayed in the part of Operators
in Realization Statements of the book. Since we are describing a wide range of
languages with these operators, not just English, we add several new operators
and adjust some conventionally used ones in SFL studies (cf. Matthiessen 1988;
Matthiessen and Bateman 1991; Bateman 2008; Halliday 2009).
The fourth element is the relationship among different terms/options. The
terms/options of one system or set of systems are related either by a ‘or’ relation-
ship or by a ‘and’ relationship. Figure 3.5 only displays the ‘or’ relationship: if
mood, then either indicative or imperative, and if indicative, then either declarative
or interrogative, and if interrogative, then either polar or elemental. The graphic
conventions in system networks are displayed in the part of Graphic Conventions
in System Networks of the book.
Besides, the systems in a system network are ordered in delicacy by their entry
conditions. Generally speaking, the system with an entry condition in the left part
of the system network is of a lower degree of delicacy, and the system with an
entry condition in the right part is of a higher degree of delicacy.
3.5.2 Syntagmatic: Mood Structure
Syntagmatic organization is characterized by the progression of elements, which

are related by sequence. It is represented by means of function structures, that is
to say, by configurations of functional elements. We will introduce some major
functional elements in mood structure, including the Mood, the Subject, the Finite,
the Mood Negotiator, the Predicator, the Complement, and the Adjunct. For other
functional elements in mood structure and their abbreviations see the part of
Abbreviations of Interpersonal Functional Elements of the book.
Before the introduction to these functional elements, we will take a brief look
at the issue of linguistic labeling. According to Halliday (1994: 25), there are two
ways of labeling: one is to label the constituents of a grammatical structure by
class and the other is to label them by function. For example, the group tall trees
can be labeled as ‘adjective + noun’ in terms of class and meanwhile it can also be
labeled as ‘Modifier + Noun’ by function. In SFL, the linguistic labeling is mainly
functional labeling. Thus, elements like the Mood, the Subject, the Finite are
functional labels. Functional labeling can provide a means of interpreting gram-

matical structure, “in such a way as to relate any given instance to the system of
the language as a whole” (Halliday 1994: 29). Obviously, there exists no one-to-
one correspondence between class and function: a class may have more than one
functions and a function may be realized by more than one classes. This is true
both for a particular language and cross-linguistically. For example, the Subject
may be realized by a nominal group in some languages whereas in some other lan-
guages, it may be realized by clitics or affixes.
The Mood
The Mood is not an element that is widely used in realization statements of mood.
It is not an independent function, but consists of two functional elements: (i) the
Subject, which is realized by a nominal group, and (ii) the Finite, which is part of
a verbal group. In English, the Mood is the element that realizes the selection of
mood. It also carries the burden of the clause as an interactive event and remains
constant as the nub of the proposition. The remainder of the clause is called the
Residue, which covers the functional elements not included in the Mood. Example
(1) shows the Mood and the Residue in English mood structure. As is shown, the
presence of the Mood realizes the indicative mood, and the absence of the Mood
realizes the imperative mood. Within the indicative, the order Subject before Finite
realizes the declarative mood, and the order Finite before Subject realizes the polar
interrogative mood. Thus, the Mood element is crucial in languages like English.
(1a) English, indicative: declarative (Halliday 1994: 74)
the duke has given that teapot away

Sub Fi
Mood Residue
(1b) English, indicative: polar interrogative (Halliday 1994: 74)
has the duke given that teapot away

Fi Sub
Mood Residue
(1c) English, imperative
close the door

Pr Com
Residue
The Subject
The definition of Subject in SFL is different from the traditional concept of this
term that refers to the noun or pronoun that is in person and number concord with
the verb or the noun or pronoun which is with the nominative case. As Halliday
(1994: 72) points out, “the Subject is not an arbitrary grammatical category; being
the Subject of a clause means something”. The Subject is the functional element
that is responsible for the functioning of the clause as an interactive event. To be
more specific, in a proposition, it is the functional element on which the validity of
the information is made to rest, the one by reference to which the proposition can
be affirmed or denied. In a proposal, it is the functional element that is responsible
for the success of the proposal, the one that is actually responsible for realizing the
offer or command. In this sense, though in many languages the Subject does not
play a decisive role in the realization statement of mood as it does in English, it is
a universal functional element because in any language it is an indispensable part
in a proposition or a proposal.2 In all languages, it can be realized by a nominal
group.
The Finite
In English, the Finite, together with the Subject, has special significance in the
clause. They together form the Mood function that realizes the selection of mood.
Meanwhile, it has its own function in the clause. According to Halliday (1994),
the Finite functions to make the proposition finite. It circumscribes the proposi-
tion and brings it down to earth so that it is something that can be argued about.
A good way to make something arguable is to relate the proposition to its context
in the speech event, to give a point of reference in the here and now. In English,
and in many languages, this can be done by two ways: one is by reference to the
time of speaking and the other is by reference to the judgment of the speaker. In
English, the first way is primary tense, which means past, present, or future at the
moment of speaking, and the second way refers to modality. Therefore, in English,
the Finite element is realized by temporal or modal verbal operators in a verbal
group. In addition to tense and modality, polarity is also an essential concom-
itant of finiteness: to make something arguable, it has to be specified for polar-
ity. Therefore, the Finite element, in addition to tense and modality, also realizes
either positive or negative polarity. Table 3.3 shows the Finite verbal operators in
English.
The Finite element in English can be identified as a separate element. However,
in most cases, either in English or in other languages, the Finite element that
2 The impersonal clause in some languages may be an exception.

Table 3.3 Finite verbal operators in English (from Halliday 1994: 76)3

Temporal operators
Past Present Future
Positive did, was, had, used to does, is, has will, shall, would, should
Negative didn’t. wasn’t, hadn’t doesn’t, isn’t, hasn’t won’t, shan’t, wouldn’t,
didn’t + used to shouldn’t
Modal operators
Low Median High
Positive can, may, could, might, will, would, should, is/ must, ought to, need, has/
(dare) was to had to
Negative needn’t, doesn’t/ won’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t, mustn’t, oughtn’t to,
didn’t + need to, have to (isn’t/wasn’t to) can’t, couldn’t, (mayn’t,
mightn’t, hasn’t/hadn’t to)
expresses tense and the lexical verb fuse into a single word, as is shown in exam-
ple (2).
(2) English, declarative (Halliday 1994: 80)
Mary had a little lamb

Sub ‘(past) have’ Com
Fi Pr
Mood Residue
This still is not the whole picture of the Finite element. In languages that do
not have the tense category, there is another way to make a proposition some-
thing arguable. That is by reference to the internal temporal constituency of one
situation, which, in grammatical terminology, is aspect. Thus, the Finite element
in some languages is realized by aspect markers. Examples (3) and (4) show the
Finite element of Chinese and Thai, respectively.
(3) Chinese, interrogative: polar
tā qù Běijīng le ma
3sg go Beijing pfv q
Sub Pr Ad Fi ‘perfective’ MN
‘Did he go to Beijing/Has he gone to Beijing?’
3 When not and a verbal operator are fused together, as shown in Table 3.3, they together are labe-
led as Finite. When not appears separately in the clause, Matthiessen et al. (2010) suggest it be
labeled as mood Adjunct, while Halliday (1994) and Thompson (2004) still label it as Finite. We
will follow the second way in our description.
(4) Thai, declarative (Smyth 2002: 69)
raw kamlaŋ kin khâaw

we prog eat rice
Sub Fi ‘progressive’ Pr
‘We are/were eating.’
The Mood Negotiator
The Mood Negotiator, similar to the Mood, is the functional element that realizes
the selection of mood. It is more widely used than the Mood in a wide range of
languages. It is usually realized by mood particles, clitics, and affixes. Example
(3) displays the Mood Negotiator ma in Chinese, which realizes the polar inter-
rogative mood. Example (5) shows the Mood Negotiator for the polar interrogative
mood in Hindi, which is realized by a particle,and example (6) shows the Mood
Negotiator for the jussive mood in Finnish, which is realized by verbal inflections
and fuses the Predicator and the Subject Marker.
(5) Hindi, interrogative: polar: focus-neutral (Kachru 2006: 186)
kya tum bīmar ho

q you.pl ill be.2.prs.pl
MN Sub Com Pr.Fi ‘present’.SM
‘Are you ill?’
(6) Finnish, imperative: jussive (Karlsson 1999: 166)
sano/sanokaa
say.2sg.imp/say.2pl.imp
Pr.SM.MN/Pr.SM.MN
‘Say!’
The Predicator
The Predicator exists in all major clauses, except those where it is displaced
through ellipsis. In Sect. 1, 2, we make a survey on the various types of clauses
identified in SFL and we define the term ‘clause’ as ‘major free clause’ in the
book. Thus, the Predicator is present in each example of our descriptions. The
Predicator, in most cases, is realized by a verbal group minus the elements that
realize the Finite, such as temporal or modal operators and other tense-aspect-mo-
dality (TAM) and polarity markers. The Predicator realized by an adjective in
literature is termed as ‘non-verbal predicate’, or ‘predicate adjective’, and the

clause with such a Predicator is termed as ‘verbless clause’. In the book, we
mainly focus on the clause with a verbal Predicator. This is because, on the one
hand, the so-called verbless clauses are of low systemic probabilities4 and are
almost exclusively restricted to the relational process in transitivity system;
on the other hand, the realizations of these clauses are similar to those of verbal
clauses. According to Halliday (1994), the Predicator in English functions to spec-
ify (i) the process (material, mental, relational, behavioral, verbal, and existen-
tial) that is predicated of the Subject, (ii) the voice (active or passive), (iii) other
aspects and phases like seeming, trying, hoping and (iv) the secondary tense. Thus,
aspect markers in English, as secondary tense, are termed as part of the Predicator.
However, in those languages where tense markers are absent and thus the Finite
is realized by aspect markers instead of tense markers, the functions of Predicator
will not include the fourth one. In many languages, the Predicator frequently fuses
other interpersonal functions such as the Mood Negotiator, the Finite, even the
Subject. Therefore, the verbal part of a clause is the locus of interpersonal realiza-
tion and is closely associated with the arguability status of a clause.
The Complement
The Complement is the functional element that is a potential of Subject. It is typically

realized by a nominal group. In a relational process, it is the Attribute element, which
usually is realized by an adjective. Thus, the Complement in SFL is an approximate
equivalent of the element which is traditionally termed as ‘object’ or ‘predicative
complement’. See examples (1), (2), and (5) for the labeling of the Complement.
The Adjunct
The Adjunct is the functional element that does not have the potential to become
Subject (by contrast to the Complement). It is realized by an adverbial group or
a prepositional phrase. Adjuncts are categorized into three general types depend-
ing on the metafunctional contributions they make to the clause, namely circum-
stantial Adjunct (experiential), modal Adjunct (interpersonal) and conjunctive
Adjunct (textual). Conjunctive Adjuncts, such as ‘that is’, ‘in other words’, ‘also’,
‘moreover’, ‘meanwhile’, ‘in that case’, ‘nevertheless’, etc., mainly realize tex-
tual meanings thus are not included in mood structure (see Halliday 1994: 49 for
types of conjunctive Adjuncts and their realizations). Circumstantial Adjuncts
(Circumstance), together with Process and Participants, are concerned with the
configuration of functions in transitivity structure and mainly realize experien-
tial meanings (see Halliday and Matthiessen 2014: 313 for types of Circumstance).
Meanwhile, they also play roles in a proposition or a proposal and therefore are
included in mood structure. In English, they are elements in Residue. Modal
4 Systemic probabilities represent the distillation of relative frequencies in text.

Adjuncts are more closely related to interpersonal meanings. There are two sub-
types of modal Adjunct, namely mood Adjunct and comment Adjunct. Mood
Adjuncts are concerned with modality, temporality, and intensity. Their neu-
tral location in the English clause is before or just after the Finite and they are
included into the Mood element in the mood structure of English. The Adjuncts of
modality express subtypes of modality, either probability or usuality. The Adjuncts
of temporality relate the content of exchange to the time relative to the time set by
the speaker. The Adjuncts of intensity express different degrees of the expectation
on the content of Processes or Attributes and also their counter-expectancy. There
is no very clear line between comment Adjuncts and mood Adjuncts. Compared
with mood Adjuncts, comment Adjuncts are less closely tied to the grammar of
mood; they mainly express the speaker’s attitude to the proposition as a whole or
to the particular speech function. Halliday (1994) maintains that they are less inte-
grated into the mood structure of the clause. Instead, they are more like conjunc-
tive Adjuncts, occurring at points in the clause which are significant for textual
organization. Therefore, in IFG2 (Halliday 1994) they are considered parts in the
Mood, whereas in IFG4 (Halliday and Matthiessen 2014), they are not included in
mood structure. For the whole system of mood Adjuncts and comment Adjuncts
see Halliday and Matthiessen (2004: 188).
The modal Adjunct is concerned with a wide range of complicated semantic
domains, such as modality, attitude, appraisal, evidentiality, emotion, etc. Some
of these meanings are related to appraisal system (see Martin and White 2005).
Any semantic domain requires an independent study. Systemically, they are able to
function as parameters of systemic elaboration, making systemic contrast between
mood with modal Adjuncts and mood without modal Adjuncts. But this is prac-
tically difficult since every language may abound with such modal Adjuncts.
Therefore, we will not pay much attention to these lexically realized modal
Adjuncts in the book. However, if some domains of meaning mentioned above
are grammaticalized in a particular language and expressed by particles, clitics,
affixes, we will then involve them in the mood system.
3.6 Chapter Summary
This chapter is an introduction to the theoretical framework of the study, which

involves both the global and the local semiotic dimensions of SFL as a general
linguistic theory for language descriptions and comparisons. The book will focus
on the local dimension of axis: how languages vary in terms of mood system and
mood structure and how the major functional elements in mood structure, such
as the Subject, the Predicator, the Finite, and the Mood Negotiator, are realized
by classes in different languages. However, the global dimensions are equally
important in the sense that they enable us to consider mood system ‘from above’
by reference to the meaning it realizes and the tenor parameter of context it reso-
nates with, and ‘from roundabout’ by reference to other systems in the domain of
interpersonal meaning, and therefore provide us with helpful guidance on descrip-

tions, comparisons, generalizations, and explanations. All these dimensions will
help us to arrive at a thorough understating of mood.
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Matthiessen CMIM, Bateman JA (1991) Systemic linguistics and text generation: experience
from Japanese and English. Frances Pinter, London
Matthiessen CMIM, Teruya K, Lam K (2010) Key terms in systemic functional linguistics.
Continuum, London
Smyth D (2002) Thai: an essential grammar. Routledge, London/New York
Thompson G (2004) Introducing functional grammar, 2nd edn. Arnold, London
Chapter 4
Methodology
4.1 Data Collection
4.1.1 Language Sampling
The survey of typological and SFT studies on mood in Chap. 2 shows that both
approaches are confronted with the problem of language sampling. In many typo-
logical studies, there are no samples. Even in some studies with a sample, the lan-
guages in the sample merely function to contribute a structural feature. In SFT
studies, the problem is that the sample is too small to be representative enough. It
is necessary for us to enlarge the sample size to make it representative enough so
that we can make reliable typological generalizations. In consideration of the rep-
resentativeness of the sample, the comprehensiveness of descriptions, and personal
time and energy, we established a sample composed of 60 languages.
Table 4.1 displays the information about the 60 languages in the sample. One
important principle we adhere to is to ensure the sample is representative enough
in terms of geographical, genetic, and typological distribution. Geographically, our
sample covers languages from more than 42 countries of five continents (America
includes North and South America). Obviously, many languages are spoken
in more than one countries but only one is presented in the table due to space
limitations.
Genetically, the sample covers languages from 51 groups of 29 language fam-
ilies. The genetic information about the languages is derived from the descrip-
tive work of these languages (see Table 4.2 in next section), or from Ethnologue
(https://www.ethnologue.com/), or from An Introduction to the Languages of the
World (Lyovin et al. 2017). It is shown four languages from the Atlantic-Congo
group of the Niger-Congo family are sampled. This is because the Niger-Congo
family, which has more than 1500 languages according to Ethnologue, is the
76 4 Methodology
biggest language family in the world, and the Atlantic-Congo group, which cov-
ers more than 1400 languages, is the biggest group of the Niger-Congo family.
Though the four languages belong to the same group, they are from different
subgroups. Another reason is that two of the four languages, namely Ọ̀kọ́ and
Dagaare, have been described in SFL terms, and we borrowed these descrip-
tions in the book with necessary adaptations made. For similar reasons, there are
another six groups contributing two languages. Except the seven groups, each
group has one language sampled.
According to Ethnologue, there are more than 152 language families in the
world, and the numbers of the child languages of each family range from 1 to
1542. Therefore, it is impossible for us to have one representative sampled from
each language family. Nevertheless, our sample covers most of the major language
families in the world. By reference to the major language families of each conti-
nent offered in Lyovin et al. (2017), our sample covers five of the seven major lan-
guage families of Asia (with Paleosiberian area and Burushaski family uncovered),
three of the four major families of Europe (with Basque uncovered), all the four
major families of Africa, all the three major families of Oceania (Austronesian is
considered a language family of Oceania by Lyovin et al. 2017, whereas we assign
it to Asia area in Table 4.1), four of the thirteen families of North America, and at
Table 4.1 The geographical, genetic, and typological information about the languages in the
sample
No. Language Country Family Group Word Mor.-type
order
Asia, 13 countries, 20 languages
1 Chinese China Sino-Tibetan Sinitic SVO Isolating
2 Qiang China Sino-Tibetan Tibeto- SOV Agglutinative
Burman
3 Kham Nepal Sino-Tibetan Tibeto- SOV Agglutinative
Burman
4 Hmong Njua China Hmong-Mien Hmongic SVO Isolating
5 Thai Thailand Tai-Kadai Kam-Tai SVO Isolating
6 Korean Korea Koreanic – SOV Agglutinative
7 Japanese Japan Japonic – SOV Agglutinative
8 Turkish Turkey Altaic Turkic SOV Agglutinative
9 Mongolian Mongolia Altaic Mongolian SOV Agglutinative
10 Manchu China Altaic Tungusic SOV Agglutinative
11 Arabic Saudi Afro-Asiatic Semitic VSO/ Synthesis
Arabia SVO
12 Puyuma China Austronesian Puyuma VOS ?
13 Tagalog Philippines Austronesian Malayo- VOS/ Synthesis
Polynesian Flexible
14 Javanese Indonesia Austronesian Malayo- SVO ?
Polynesian
(continued)
4.1 Data Collection 77
Table 4.1 (continued)
order
15 Teiwa Indonesia Trans-New West SOV Isolating
Guinea
16 Vietnamese Vietnam Austro- Mon-Khmer SVO Isolating
Asiatic
17 Santali India Austro- Munda SOV Agglutinative
Asiatic
18 Telugu India Dravidian South- SOV Agglutinative
Central
19 Hindi India Indo- Indo- SOV/ Fusional
European Iranian Flexible
20 Persian Iran Indo- Indo- SOV Fusional
European Iranian
Europe, 12 countries, 14 languages
21 English UK Indo- Germanic SVO Fusional
European
22 German Germany Indo- Germanic SOV/ Fusional
European Flexible
23 Welsh UK Indo- Celtic VSO Fusional
European
24 French France Indo- Italic SVO Fusional
European
25 Spanish Spain Indo- Italic SVO/ Fusional
European Flexible
26 Greek Greece Indo- Hellenic Flexible Fusional
European
27 Russian Russia Indo- Slavic SVO Fusional
European
28 Latvian Latvia Indo- Baltic SVO/ Fusional
European Flexible
29 Albanian Albania Indo- Albanian SVO/ Fusional
European Flexible
30 Armenian Armenia Indo- Armenian SVO/ Fusional
European SOV
31 Hinuq Russia Caucasian East SOV/ Agglutinative
Caucasian Flexible
32 Nenets Russia Uralic Samoyed SOV/ Agglutinative
Flexible
33 Finnish Finland Uralic Finic SVO/ Agglutinative
Flexible
34 Udmurt Russia Uralic Permic SOV Agglutinative
Africa, 7 countries, 9 languages
35 Somali Somalia Afro-Asiatic Cushitic SOV Fusional
36 Hausa Nigeria Afro-Asiatic Chadic SVO Isolating
37 Lango Uganda Nilo-Saharan Nilotic SVO ?
38 Korya Chiini Mali Nilo-Saharan Songhai SVO Isolating
(continued)
78 4 Methodology
order
39 Jamsay Mali Niger-Congo Atlantic- SOV ?
Congo
40 Dagaare Ghana Niger-Congo Atlantic- SVO ?
Congo
41 Ọ̀kọ́ Nigeria Niger-Congo Atlantic- SVO ?
Congo
42 Fongbe Benin Niger-Congo Atlantic- SVO/ Isolating
Congo SOV
43 Nama Namibia Khoisan Khoe SOV ?
Hottentot
America, 8 countries, 12 languages
44 West Denmark Eskimo-Aleut Eskimo SOV Polysynthetic
Greenlandic
45 Diegueño USA Cochimí- Yuman SOV ?
Yuman
46 Maidu USA Maiduan – Flexible ?
47 Hidatsa USA Siouan Missouri SOV Agglutinative
River
Siouan
48 Ute USA Uto-Aztecan Northern SOV/ Agglutinative
Uto-Aztecan Flexible
49 Pipil El Salvador Uto-Aztecan Southern VOS/ Agglutinative
Uto-Aztecan Flexible
50 Hup Brazil Nadahup – SOV/ Agglutinative
Flexible
51 Kulina Brazil Arawan Madi- SOV Agglutinative
Madihá
52 Cavineña Bolivia Tacanan – Flexible Agglutinative
53 Huallaga Peru Quechuan Central SOV/ Agglutinative
Quechua Quechua Flexible
54 Saramaccan Surinam Creole English- SVO Isolating
based
55 Mapuche Chile Mapudungu – SVO/ Agglutinative
Flexible
Oceania, 2 countries, 5 languages
56 Pitjantjatjara Australia Australian Pama- SOV ?
Nyungan
57 Nyigina Australia Australian Nyulnyulan Flexible Agglutinative
58 Bardi Australia Australian Nyulnyulan Flexible Synthetic
59 Mian Papua New Trans-New Ok-Awyu SOV/ Agglutinative
Guinea Guinea Flexible
60 Tauya Papua New Trans-New Madang SOV/OSV Agglutinative
Guinea Guinea
least three of the eight areas of South America. It seems that the language fami-
lies in America are less represented than those of other areas. This is because the
descriptive work of languages of this area is less available to us. Moreover, when
sampling languages from different families, we did not stick to the principle ‘more
groups/child languages, more representatives’. If we do so, many language fami-
lies with only one or two groups/child languages will be missing, whereas some
language families will be over-represented. Besides, we suppose that languages
from the same group or family tend to bear more similarities in mood system and
realization statements, whereas the book, which aims at presenting a comprehen-
sive picture of mood system of human languages, is supposed to unveil more diver-
sities in mood system and mood structure. For these reasons, six languages from
isolated language families are sampled.
In addition to being geographically and genetically representative, the sam-
ple covers languages of various types. There are many parameters for typologiz-
ing languages, such as word order, verbal morphology, and ergativity. We have no
clear idea about what are the most relevant parameters that may closely correlate
with the mood system and its realizations in a particular language. This question
has received little attention in previous studies, except in Ultan (1969), who makes
various generalizations about the correlations between Greenberg’s basic order
types and interrogative features (see Sect. 2.1.2). Under the influence of Ultan
(1969), the sample consists of languages of various word order types. Besides, we
suppose that verbal morphology might have something to do with realizations of
mood. Therefore, the sample covers languages of different morphological types,
such as isolating languages, agglutinative languages, fusional languages, and pol-
ysynthetic languages identified according to the index of synthesis and the index
of fusion proposed by Comrie (1989). The information about the morphologi-
cal typology of different languages displayed in Table 4.1 mainly comes from
descriptive work of these languages, WALS online (https://wals.info/), and typo-
logical literature. Some languages are obviously non-isolating, but whether they
are agglutinative or fusional is not known. These languages then are identified as
synthetic languages. Besides, one problem of morphological typology is that “the
majority (perhaps all) of the world’s languages do not correspond exactly to one
or other of these types, but rather fall between the two extremes on each of the
indices of synthesis and fusion” (Comrie 1989: 47). For this reason, and also due
to a lack of relevant information, some languages are not classified into any mor-
phological type.
4.1.2 Data Source
SFT studies are supposed to make typological generalizations based on descrip-

tions that are SFL-empowered, system-and-function-oriented, and text-based. This
is a unique feature of SFT studies but meanwhile also a great hindrance to studies
of this kind. This is because systemic typology of the kind by Matthiessen (2004)
80 4 Methodology
and Teruya et al. (2007) cannot be carried out until a number of descriptions of
this kind have been developed. Unfortunately, as Teruya et al. (2007: 861) reports,
“the languages that have been described to date in systemic functional terms do
obviously not in any way represent a typological sample of the languages around
the world”. Thus, the sample size in previous SFT studies on mood is quite small.
The situation has not changed so much in the past decade. In our sample, there
are nine languages that have been described in SFL terms, viz. Japanese, Tagalog,
English, German, French, Spanish, Dagaare, Ọ̀kọ́, and Pitjantjatjara. The mood
systems of these languages presented in the book are from the descriptive work of
the relevant languages with necessary adaptations made. The rest 51 languages are
described by us.
Our descriptions of the mood systems of the rest 51 languages are SFL-theory-
guided and system-and-function-oriented. However, it is impossible for us to base
our descriptions totally on the texts of the languages under study, that is to say, to
establish the grammatical system of a language from bottom to up. If we do so,
even the description of one language may take several years (see Caffarel et al.
2004: 61). Another possible way for us to gain firsthand information is to describe
the mood system of a language based on elicited data. The descriptive work of
Persian in our sample was done in this way. However, we found this is not an ideal
method either. On the one hand, we cannot predicate what mood options are avail-
able in a particular language and through questionnaire we can only obtain the
information about the most basic mood types, such as the declarative, the polar
and elemental interrogative, and the jussive, whereas the information about less
universal mood types is hard to gather through elicitation. Besides, the descrip-
tion of mood system not only requires knowledge about mood system, but also
requires other morphosyntactic knowledge, such as the TAM and negation of the
verb, nominal and verbal morphology, and parts of speech (especially clitics and
particles). It is impractical to collect all the information through questionnaire. On
the other hand, informants usually lack necessary linguistic knowledge to have a
full understanding of the linguistic terms in questionnaires, nor can they describe
their language with linguistic terms alone. The raw data collected without word-
by-word and morpheme-by-morpheme grammatical glosses are not of much value
to us. For these reasons, the questionnaire is not an ideal method for investigations
of the mood system of a particular language either.
Since it is unpractical for us to base our descriptions of mood system on
the texts of the languages under study or on data collected through elicitation, one
workable solution for the problem of data source is to draw on reference gram-
mars of these languages. This is a common practice in typological studies. On
the one hand, reference grammars not only provide us with relevant information
about mood and a large number of examples but also contain information con-
cerning various aspects of the language being described, such as the information
about sociocultural background, genetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax,
which allows us to make possible typological generalizations and propose credible
explanations. On the other hand, most reference grammars are theoretically neu-
tral. Usually, they are not guided by any linguistic theory but aim at describing the
language in its own terms. Moreover, most reference grammars are based on data
collected through fieldwork. That is to say, they are based on naturally occurring
texts. In this sense, our descriptions are indirectly text-based. For these reasons, the
data on which our descriptions are based mainly come from reference grammars of
the languages sampled. Table 4.2 sets out the data sources of these languages.
Table 4.2 Data sources of the languages described

No Languages Data source
1 Albanian Newmark et al. (1982)
2 Arabic (Standard) Aoun et al. (2010), Ryding (2005)
3 Armenian (Eastern) Dum-Tragut (2009)
4 Bardi Bowern (2012)
5 Cavineña Guillaume (2008)
6 Chinese –
7 Dagaare Mwinlaaru (2018)
8 Diegueño Langdon (1966)
9 English Halliday and Matthiessen (2004, 2014)
10 Finnish Karlsson (1999)
11 Fongbe Lefebvre and Brousseau (2002)
12 French Caffarel (2004, 2006)
13 German Steiner and Teich (2004)
14 Greek Holton et al. (2012, 2016)
15 Hausa Jaggar (2001)
16 Hidatsa Matthews (1965), Boyle (2007)
17 Hindi Kachru (2006)
18 Hinuq Forker (2013)
19 Hmong Njua Kunyot (1984)
20 Huallaga Quechua Weber (1989)
21 Hup Epps (2008)
22 Jamsay Heath (2008)
23 Japanese Teruya (2007, 2017)
24 Javanese Errington (1988), Robson (1992)
25 Kham Watters (2004)
26 Korean Lee (1989), Chang (1996), Sohn (1999), Shin (2018)
27 Korya Chiini Heath (1999)
28 Kulina Dienst (2014)
29 Lango Noonan (1992)
30 Latvian Nau (1998), Prauliņš (2012)
31 Maidu Shipley (1964)
32 Manchu Gorelova (2002)
33 Mapuche Smeets (2008)
34 Mian Fedden (2011)
35 Mongolian Janhunen (2012)
(continued)
82 4 Methodology
No Languages Data source
36 Nama Hottentot Hagman (1973)
37 Nenets Nikolaeva (2014)
38 Nyigina Stokes (1982)
39 Ọ̀kọ́ Akerejola (2005)
40 Persian Taleghani (2008)
41 Pipil Campbell (1985)
42 Pitjantjatjara Rose (2004)
43 Puyuma Teng (2007)
44 Qiang Randy and Huang (2003)
45 Russian Bailyn (2012)
46 Santali Ghosh (2008)
47 Saramaccan McWhorter and Good (2012)
48 Somali Saeed (1999)
49 Spanish Lavid et al. (2010)
50 Tagalog Martin (2004), Martin and Cruz (2018), Schachter and Otanes
(1972), Schachter (2009)
51 Tauya MacDonald (1990)
52 Teiwa Klamer (2010)
53 Telugu Krishnamurti and Gwynn (1985), Prakasam (2004)
54 Thai Smyth (2002)
55 Turkish Göksel and Kerslake (2005), Underhill (1976)
56 Udmurt Winkler (2001)
57 Ute Givón (2011)
58 Vietnamese Nguyễn (1997), Minh (2004), Phan (2010)
59 Welsh Borsley et al. (2007)
60 West Greenlandic Fortescue (1984)
The data sources listed in Table 4.2 are those that contribute examples in the
book or those that provide relevant information about the mood system of the lan-
guage being described. Most of the data sources are reference grammars published
by world-famous publishers, such as Cambridge University Press, Mouton de
Gruyter, Routledge, and John Benjamins. Some of them are PhD dissertations. The
date sources from which we obtain information about other aspects of the language
are not listed here. As native speakers, we take a top-down method to describe the
mood system of Chinese. Regarding the language of Persian, the description of
the mood system is mainly based on elicited data, but we still refer to a reference
grammar for more examples. One drawback of basing our descriptions on reference
grammars is that the comprehensiveness of our descriptions to a large extent rests
on the comprehensiveness of the reference grammars we refer to. To overcome this
drawback, we tend to refer to more comprehensive reference grammars or make
use of several reference grammars available to us.
4.2 Data Description 83
4.2 Data Description
Though our descriptions are mainly based on reference grammars of the languages
sampled, this does not mean that we could ‘copy’ the mood systems of these lan-
guages from reference grammars directly. As mentioned above, except the nine
languages that have been described in SFL terms, most of the reference grammars
of the other 51 languages are written without any theoretical guidance and none
of them offers the mood system of the language. We could refer to the informa-
tion about mood in these reference grammars, but there are still many challenges.
Firstly, due to the framework variation across different reference grammars, the
information about mood may be at various parts of a reference grammar, such as
in the parts concerning verbal mode, verbal morphology, syntax, clitics, particles,
and pragmatic aspects. Therefore, in order to build up a full picture of the mood
system of the language described, we have to browse different parts of reference
grammars. Secondly, as mentioned above, the description of the mood system
of a language entails not only knowledge of mood, but also knowledge of other
grammatical aspects of the language, such as the personal pronoun, the interrog-
ative pronoun, verbal morphology (especially TAM and negation of the verb), the
enclitic system, and the particle system, some of which are extremely complicated
but essential in descriptions of mood structure. Thus, it is not enough for us to
only focus our attention on the information about mood. On the contrary, we have
to take a variety of grammatical aspects of the language described into consider-
ation. Thirdly, the usage of terms about mood is not completely fixed and varies
from author to author. A common situation is that the same term is used with dif-
ferent meanings and the same meaning may be referred to with different terms.
We made many necessary terminological modifications to maintain consistency in
terminology. Another challenge concerning terminology is that a certain type of
clause that differs from other types merely in nuance of meaning is not assigned
to any term of mood or not identified as an independent mood type in many refer-
ence grammars. Actually, many of these clauses belong to certain delicate mood
subtypes, which are the part that languages tend to display more variation. In our
descriptions, some of them are assigned to the terms borrowed from literature and
some to the terms created by ourselves.
Our descriptions consist of three parts. The first part is about the geographical,
genetic, and typological information of the languages described. In addition to the
typological information about word order and morphology, we also surveyed other
parameters, though they are not offered in the book. This part of information, as
mentioned above, enables us to make possible typological generalizations and pro-
pose valid explanations. The second part deals with the information about other
grammatical features of the language except mood, such as personal pronouns,
personal clitics/suffixes, interrogative pronouns, case markers, verbal morphology,
the TAM and negation of the verb, clitics, particles, and evidentiality. This part of
information, though not presented in the book either, bears close relation to mood
system and mood structure and is the prerequisite for the third part of descriptions.
The third part is the description of mood system and mood structure. The mood
84 4 Methodology
system of each language is presented in the Appendix of the book. Mood struc-
tures are illustrated in the realization statements in mood systems and in examples
of the book.
We adhere to the conventions of SFL in language descriptions when describing
mood system and mood structure. Besides, we also conform to the conventions of
typological studies for glossing examples, viz. the Leipzig Glossing Rules (https://
www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/pdf/Glossing-Rules.pdf), which require language exam-
ples be presented in three lines. The first line is the example of the language being
described, the second line shows word-by-word and morpheme-by-morpheme
glosses, and the third line is the English translation of the example. The Leipzig
Glossing Rules also offer a list of standard abbreviations of grammatical category
labels, and if the abbreviations in reference grammars are different from the stand-
ard ones, we will make necessary modifications to maintain consistency in termi-
nology. If the abbreviations in reference grammars are not include in the standard
list, we will use the original ones. See the part of Abbreviations of Grammatical
Categories of the book for the grammatical labels. Besides, we will make two
modifications to the rules for glossing examples. The first one is that an additional
line is added between the line of glosses and the line of English translation to
present the mood structure (functional elements). The other one is that the part in
examples realizing mood options is presented in bold type. Example (7) illustrates
our descriptions.
(7) Kulina, interrogative: polar (Dienst 2014: 133)
marasia mitha ti-na-Øzati = ko

watermelon buy 2-axu-repst = q
Com Pr SM-Fi ‘recent past’ = MN
‘Have you just bought the watermelon?’
4.3 Data Analysis
Our research principally is a qualitative research. However, we also need to do

some quantitative analyses concerning the systemic and structural features of
mood, such as the numbers of mood options, realization statements, classes of
realizations, and tense and aspect markers. We carried out some simple quantita-
tive analyses, such as data summation, data ranking, variance analysis, and cor-
relation analysis to support the typological generalizations we made. The tool we
used is Excel, which is adequate to perform these analyses. The results are pre-
sented in the relevant parts in the following chapters.
References 85
4.4 Research Methods
The principal research method adopted in the book is the method of cross-lin-
guistic comparison. The method allows us to reveal the cross-linguistic sim-
ilarities and differences in mood system and mood structure and to discover
potential correlations between the findings and certain properties of these lan-
guages. Moreover, it enables us to draw the multilingual mood system, through
which we can make predictions about possible mood types and realizations in cer-
tain languages.
The book principally draws on the qualitative research method. It aims at mak-
ing typological generalizations about mood system and mood structure on the basis
of descriptions and comparisons. Furthermore, it also aims at putting forward
some rational explanations for the similarities and differences among different
languages in mood system and mood structure. Besides, the quantitative research
method is also used to make typological generalizations and advance explanations.
The quantitative research method distinguishes the study from most of the previ-
ous studies on mood.
Another research method adopted, which works on a microscopic scale but is
important to descriptions of mood system, is the ‘trinocular perspective’ in SFL.
The view of any phenomenon defined by a given semiotic dimension of SFL,
such as stratification, axis, and instantiation, can be ‘from above’, ‘from below’,
and ‘from roundabout’ (Halliday 1996; Matthiessen and Halliday 2009). With
respect to the description of mood system, if a type of clause is to be identified as
an option in mood system, from above, it should realize a meaning that is differ-
ent from those realized by other mood options and, from below, it should be real-
ized by at least one type of structure. Sometimes, two mood options are mutually
exclusive in meaning but are not easily distinguished from each other in structural
realizations, then we will take the view ‘from roundabout’: they may vary from
each other in the ability of intersecting with certain options in other systems, such
as polarity and modality.
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McWhorter JH, Good J (2012) A grammar of Saramaccan Creole. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin/
Boston
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Newmark L, Hubbard P, Prieti P (1982) Standard Albanian: a reference grammar for students.
Stanford University Press, Stanford
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Nikolaeva I (2014) A grammar of Tundra Nenets. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin/New York
Noonan M (1992) A grammar of Lango. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin/New York
Prauliņš D (2012) Latvian: an essential grammar. Routledge, London/New York
Randy JL, Huang CL (2003) A grammar of Qiang. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin/New York
Robson S (1992) Javanese grammar for students. Monash University, Melbourne
Ryding KC (2005) A reference grammar of Modern Standard Arabic. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge
Saeed JI (1999) Somali. John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia
Schachter P, Otanes FT (1972) A Tagalog reference grammar. University of California Press,
Berkeley/Los Angeles/London
Schachter P, Reid LA (2009) Tagalog. In: Comrie B (ed) The world’s major languages, 2nd edn.
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88 4 Methodology
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Chapter 5
A Systemic Functional Typology
of Declarative Mood
5.1 Major Functional Elements in Declarative Mood

Structure and Their Realizations
The structure of declarative mood is the most elaborate one. It presents almost all
the functional elements that appear in the structure of other moods and the func-
tional elements that are absent from the structure of other moods. The functional
elements which can appear in declarative mood structure include the Subject,
the Predicator, the Finite, the Complement, the Adjunct, the Mood Negotiator
(including the Emotion Marker, the Evidentiality Marker, the Emphasis Marker,
the Focus Marker, and the Tenor Marker), the Vocative, the Subject Indicator, the
Complement Indicator, etc. Some of these functional elements have been illus-
trated in Sect. 3.5.2, and all of them are set out in the part of Abbreviations of
Interpersonal Functional Elements of the book. In this section, we will focus on
the functional elements of Subject, Predicator, and Finite. On the one hand, these
functional elements are of crucial importance in the declarative clause function-
ing as a statement/proposition and are widely observed in languages. On the other
hand, similar to the realizations of mood, languages show variation in the reali-
zations of these functional elements. The functional element of Mood Negotiator
(including the specific ones listed above) is equally important in mood structure. It
will be discussed in Sect. 5.2 and the following chapters.
5.1.1 The Subject
The Subject should be distinguished from the subject as a traditional grammatical

category. It is the functional element in mood structure that is responsible for the
functioning of the clause as an interactive event. In a proposition, it is the element
90 5 A Systemic Functional Typology of Declarative Mood
that the information is concerned with, the one on which the validity of the infor-
mation is made to rest and by reference to which the proposition can be affirmed
or denied. In a proposal, it is the functional element that is responsible for the suc-
cess of the proposal, the one that is responsible for realizing the offer or command.
In this sense, the Subject is a fundamental functional element existing in all types
of mood (the impersonal clause is an exception) of all languages. This at least is
proved by our investigation of the 60 languages sampled. See the following exam-
ples of languages of different areas and different families.
(8) Kham, declarative: declarative (proper) (Watters 2004: 66)
tipəlkya-e la:-Ø səih-ke-o

Tipalkya-erg leopard-abs kill-pfv-3sg
Sub Com Pr-Fi ‘perfective’-SI
‘Tipalkya killed a leopard.’
(9) Udmurt, declarative (Winkler 2001: 64)
mon-Ø ńulesk-ǐn val-ez/val adǯ́-i-Ø

I-nom forest-in houre-acc/hourse see-pret-1sg
Sub Ad Com-/Com Pr-Fi ‘preterite’-SI
‘I saw the/a horse in the forest.’
(10) Nyigina, declarative: declarative (proper) (Stokes 1982: 246)
wamba-ni yin-marra-n waḻi

man-act 3sg (i)-burn-prs meat
Sub- SI-Pr-Fi ‘present’ Com
‘The man is cooking the meat.’
Though languages bear strong similarity in displaying the Subject in mood

structure, they vary from each other in at least two aspects.
The first aspect is concerned with the ellipsis of Subject.1 Based on this param-
eter, languages in our sample can be classified into two groups: (i) those generally
1 The ellipsis of Subject in imperative mood is widely observed in languages around the world.
Here, our discussion is limited to the scope of declarative mood and interrogative mood.
5.1 Major Functional Elements in Declarative Mood Structure … 91
permitting the ellipsis of Subject and (ii) those generally not permitting the ellip-
sis.2 The statistic shows that the majority of the languages sampled (at least 45
among 53; the data of the other seven languages are not available) belong to group
(i) and only a few languages belong to group (ii), including English, French,
German, Hup, Dagaare, and very possibly Tagalog, Nama Hottentot, and collo-
quial Welsh.3 The ellipsis of Subject in certain languages can be very frequent.
According to Bowern (2012)’s investigation into 171 clauses from two text
samples of Bardi, 76.5% of the clauses are with an implicit Subject. The most
common case of the ellipsis of Subject is the ellipsis of the Subject realized by
personal pronouns. Some languages also allow an ellipsis of the Subject realized
by nouns, but it invites further studies to investigate whether all the languages of
group (i) allow such an ellipsis. Example (11), (12), and (13) bellow illustrate the
ellipsis of Subject.
(11a) Chinese, interrogative: elemental: emotion-neutral
shuō shéi ne
talk about who prog
Pr IW/Com Fi ‘progressive’
‘Who is (s/he) talking about?’
(11b) Chinese, declarative: emotion-involved
bù zhīdào a
neg know mp
Fi ‘neutral-negative’ Pr EM
‘(I) don’t know.’
(12) Armenian, declarative (Dum-Tragut 2009: 62)
tes-a mi mard
see-aor.1sg indef person.nom
Pr-Fi ‘aorist’.SI Com
‘I saw a person.’
2 The type (i) languages are identified as null-subject languages in typological studies.
3 According to Borsley et al. (2007: 34), the Subject is commonly omitted in literary Welsh but
rarely omitted in colloquial language.
(13) Lango, declarative: declarative (proper) (Noonan 1992: 119)
(án) à-cámò dɛ̀k

(I) 1sg-eat.pfv stew
(Sub) SI-Pr.Fi ‘perfective’ Com
‘I ate stew.’
The ellipsis of Subject requires certain conditions to be met. One condition is

that the Subject is predictable from the context of situation or co-text. This con-
dition is mainly for Subject ellipsis in isolating languages, as in example (11). In
this situation, both A and B see C is talking about someone, and A asks B who C
is talking about and B answers s/he does not know. In both the interrogative clause
and the declarative clause, the Subject is omitted without causing any misunder-
standings between the interactants because the omitted Subject can be predicated
from the context of situation. Another condition is that the information (person,
number, gender) of the Subject can be inferred from inflections of the verb, viz.,
the person-number-gender agreement affixes inflected on the verb. This condition
is mainly for Subject ellipsis in fusional and agglutinative languages, as in exam-
ple (12) and (13). In the book, the person-number-gender agreement affixes or ver-
bal conjugations for difference persons realize the functional elements of Subject
Indicator or Complement Indicator, whose function is to indicate the information
about the person, number, and gender of the Subject or the Complement. Since
the Subject Indicator will render the presence of the Subject realized by personal
pronouns redundant, the Subject then is frequently omitted in these languages. But
this does not mean these languages do not have the Subject in mood structure.
Our observation that the Subject can be omitted in most languages when it is
recoverable from context or it is indicated by Subject Indicator does not account
for why languages vary in terms of the ellipsis of Subject. In the same context of
situation of example (11), the interaction between two English speakers may be
like the one shown in example (14), where the Subject cannot be omitted though
it is recoverable from the context if omitted. And in French, though the Subject is
indicated by the Subject Indicator which fuses the Predicator as in example (15),
the Subject is still not allowed to be omitted.
(14a) English, interrogative: elemental
who is she talking about

IW/Com Fi ‘present’ Sub Pr
Residue Mood Residue
(14b) English, declarative
I don’t know
Sub Fi ‘present-negative’ Pr
Mood Residue
(15) French, declarative
nous allons faire ces exercices

we go.ind.prs.1pl do.inf these.m exercices
Sub Fi ‘near future’.SI Pr Com
‘We will do these exercices soon.’
The variation in the ellipsis of Subject among different languages very possibly
has something to do with the status of Subject in mood realizations. In the vast
majority of languages, the Subject plays few roles in the realizations of mood
options. The presence and absence of Subject and its position in relation to other
functional elements, such as Finite and Predicator, have nothing to do with the
realizations of mood options in mood system. In this case, the ellipsis of Subject
is permitted when one of the two conditions mentioned above is met. Whereas
in a few languages, mainly the Germanic ones, the Subject plays a role in mood
selection. As example (14) shows, the relative position of Subject and Finite deter-
mines the selection between declarative mood and interrogative mood. Under
such circumstance, the ellipsis of Subject is not allowed. The same is true for
German, French, and Hup, where the realizations of polar interrogative have to
do with the relative position between Subject and Finite/Predicator. In the case of
Nama Hottentot, though the selection of mood is not realized by the presence and
absence or the relative position of Subject, it is realized by adding the subordinate
suffix -à to the Subject. As example (16) shows, in interrogative clauses (and also
in imperative clauses if the Subject is not omitted), the suffix -à is always added
to the Subject, whereas in declarative clauses, it is not unless some other empha-
sized elements are initialized (if no other elements are emphasized, the Subject is
in initial position). In the case of Tagalog, the Subject is frequently associated with
focus of attention of the clause, as in example (17), and thus is seldom omitted.
The reason for the cases of Dagaare and colloquial Welsh requires further inves-
tigation, but very possibly, the Subject plays certain roles either in mood selection
or in expressing other meanings.
(16) Nama Hottentot, interrogative: polar: neutral (Hagman 1973: 267)
//ʔĩip-à //ańʔè kè ≠ ʔũú

he-sub the meat rpst eat
Sub Com Fi ‘remote past’ Pr
‘Did he eat the meat?’ (normal order)
(17) Tagalog, declarative: declarative (proper) (Schachter and Reid 2009: 837)
aalis-in ng tindero ang bigas sa sako

take out.conte-p as foc a storekeeper foc rice prep sack
Pr.Fi ‘contemplated’ Com Sub Ad
‘The rice will be taken out of the sack by a/the storekeeper/
A/The storekeeper will take the rice out of the sack/.’
Since the Subject realized by pronouns is frequently omitted when the Subject
Indicator is present in mood structure, an overt Subject realized by pronouns in
those languages then is assigned to some other interpersonal meanings. According
to Dienst (2014), an overt Subject realized by pronouns in Kulina clauses can real-
ize the meaning of emphasis. The same is true for many other languages, such as
Kham, Arabic, Turkish, Puyuma, and Hidatsa. Other functions of an over Subject
realized by pronouns in these languages include (i) to maintain participant conti-
nuity, (ii) to show contrast, (iii) to mark focus and new topic, (iv) to function as
an element in an equational clause, (v) to affirm identities in answers to questions,
and (vi) to indicate reflexive meaning.
The second aspect in which languages vary from each other, in addition to the
ellipsis of Subject, is concerned with the realizations of Subject. Languages share
similarity in realizing Subject with nominal groups. However, they vary in the
realizations of personal Subject. Based on this parameter, languages in the sam-
ple can roughly be typologized into three groups: (i) those generally realizing per-
sonal Subject with independent personal pronouns; (ii) with clitic pronouns, such
as Puyuma, Somali, Fongbe, and Cavineña; and (iii) with affix pronouns, such as
Ọ̀kọ́, Hidatsa, Ute, Pipil, and Pitjantjatjara. Most languages in our sample belong
to group (i). Languages of group (ii) and (iii) are mainly agglutinative languages.
Examples (18) and (19) show the personal Subject realized by clitic pronouns, and
examples (20) and (21) show the one realized by suffix and prefix pronouns.
(18) Cavineña, declarative: declarative (proper) (Guillaume 2008: 79)
jadya = tu-ra = Ø a-kware bari = raA

thus = 3sg-erg(=1sg-fm) affect-rpst gian.anteater = erg
= Sub- (=CI) Pr-Fi ‘remote past’ Sub
‘That’s what the giant anteater did to me (he poked me with his trunk).’
(19) Puyuma, declarative (Teng 2007: 46)
aDi = ku = Diya t < em > alam m-u-isaT Da sasudang

neg = 1sg.nom = ipfv < av > try av-go-up indf.obl boat
= Sub = Fi ‘imperfective-negative’ Pr Ad
‘I have never got on a boat.’
(20) Hup, declarative (Givón 2011: 176)
…bag-i yáaʹwa-rʉ-ʹu…
bag-obj carry-hab-3sg
Com Pr-Fi ‘habitual’-Sub
‘…he (always) carries a bag…’
(21) Hidatsa, declarative: emphatic (Boyle 2007: 197)
waa-rée-raci-s̆ki
1act-go-approx-emph
Sub/SI-Pr-Fi ‘aspect’-EmM
‘I will follow him!’
Languages of group (ii) usually have two sets of pronouns, viz., one set of inde-
pendent personal pronouns and one set of bound/clitic personal pronouns. Similarly,
languages of group (iii) also have independent personal pronouns. But the independ-
ent personal pronouns in these two groups of languages usually are used to realize
the emphasized or focalized Subject, or the Subject which is used in the circum-
stance of contrast, referential discontinuity, and introducing new participants.
There may be a controversy over the functional element realized by affix pro-
nouns, because it can be either the Subject or the Subject Indicator. If the affix pro-
noun (or persona-number agreement marker) is obligatory regardless the presence
or absence of the Subject realized by other nominals, then the affix pronoun (or
person-number agreement marker) is better to be termed as the Subject Indicator;
in contrast, if the affix pronoun is optional, it can be identified as the Subject, as
in example (20) and (21). Despite this potential controversy and the cross-linguis-
tic variation in terms of the ellipsis and the realizations of Subject, the Subject is
an indispensable functional element in mood structure in all the languages in our
sample.
5.1.2 The Predicator
The Predicator is the functional element specifying the process (material, mental,
relational, behavioral, verbal, and existential) that is predicated of the Subject and
other aspects, such as voices, modes, and phases (seeming, trying, hoping). In iso-
lating languages, the Predicator usually appears as an independent functional ele-
ment, whereas in synthetic languages, the Predicator and other functional elements,
such as the Finite, the Subject Indictor, the Complement Indicator, and the Tenor
Marker, are frequently fused together. The Predicator, together with the Finite, is the
associated with the arguability of a proposition or proposal, because the arguability
usually is related to the tense, aspect, mode/modality, and polarity of the Predicator.
The Predicator is present in the mood structure of all types of mood. An excep-
tion is the equative clause, which ideationally is a relational process. The mood
structure of such clauses is a juxtaposition of the Subject and the Complement,
and the Predicator realized by a copula in certain languages is absent (not omit-
ted). Statistic shows around one third of the languages in our sample have equa-
tive clauses, such as Kham, Mongolian, Russian, Tagalog, Telugu, Somali,
Arabic, Javanese, Nama Hottentot, Hmong Njua, Hup, Tauya, Bardi, and Udmurt.
Example (22) and (23) show the equative clause in Mongolian and Hup. Besides,
all the languages in our sample realize the Predicator with a verbal group. Some
languages can also realize it with an adjective, as in example (24).
(22) Mongolian, declarative (Janhunen 2012: 197)
en’ min-ii nom

this 1sg-gen book
Sub Com
‘This is my book’
(23) Hup, declarative (Epps 2008: 769)
núp nɨ̌ mɔ̌y(-ɔ́ ̃ h)

this 1sg.poss house-decl
Sub Com-MN
‘This is my house.’
(24) Udmurt, declarative (Winkler 2001: 40)
guirt-jos badǯ ́i̬m-eš ́

village-pl large-pl
Sub Pr-SI
‘The villages are large.’
5.1.3 The Finite
Meanings Realized by Finite

The Finite functions to make a proposition finite, to make it something arguable.
A good way to make a proposition something arguable is to relate it to its context
of the speech event. In English and many languages, this is done by reference to
the time of speaking (tense), to the judgment of the speaker (modality), and to the
polarity of the proposition (negation). However, morphological tense is absent in
many languages in our sample, such as in Chinese, Qiang Vietnamese, Teiwa, and
Jamsay. The previous SFL studies maintain that there is no Finite element in the
mood structure of such languages (cf. Halliday and McDonald 2004; Matthiessen
and Halliday 2009). We hold a different view with this regard. Our investigation
shows that every language has a repertoire of strategies which enable its speak-
ers to circumstance the proposition, to make it something arguable. But languages
vary in the ways of doing so. In other words, they vary in the major meanings real-
ized by Finite. Along this dimension, languages in our sample may by and large be
typologized into three types: (i) those whose Finite mainly realizes the meaning of
tense, (ii) those whose Finite mainly realizes the meaning of aspect; and (iii) those
whose Finite realizes the meanings of both tense and aspect. What should be noted
is that the classification, similar to the morphological typology of language, is not
a discrete typology but a continuous typology. We can only identify the typical
members of each type and many languages fall somewhere in the ‘tense-aspect
continuum’.
Figure 5.1 shows the number of primary tense and aspect of each language.4
It indicates a negative correlation between the number of primary tense and the
number of aspect of each language. That is to say, if a language has more gram-
maticalized expressions of tense (Finite ‘tense’), then it tends to have less gram-
maticalized expressions of aspect (Finite ‘aspect’) and vice versa.
The typical languages whose Finite mainly realizes the meaning of tense
include Kulina, Nyigina, Nama Hottentot, Telugu, Somali, and many Indo-
European languages, such as French, German, English, Spanish, Welsh, Armenian,
Albanian, and Persian. In these languages, the Finite is mainly realized by tense
markers. For instance, Kulina, the most typical member of this type, grammati-
cally distinguishes eight types of primary tense, namely the present (unmarked),
the recent past, the hodiernal past, the prehodiernal past, the immediate future, the
near future, the general future, and the future interrogative. Example (25) illus-
trates the Finite ‘tense’ in Kulina.
4 The number of primary tense and aspect of each language is derived from the reference gram-
mars of the languages sampled. According to Halliday (1994), primary tense means past, present,
or future at the moment of speaking; it is time relative to ‘now’. Thus, compound tenses, for
instance the past future in English, are not counted.
Fig. 5.1 Number of primary tense and aspect of each language
(25a) Kulina, declarative (Dienst 2014: 199)
madiha a-hari = pa hki-khi o-na-hara-i

person dem-m = top.m see-redup 1sg-aux-neg.m-decl.m
Com = Pr SI-Fi ‘present-negative’-MN.SI
‘I don’t know this person.’
(25b) Kulina, declarative (Dienst 2014: 110)
o-kha ehedeni pasho ze Ø-na-Øzati

1sg-asso child water drink 3-aux-repst
Sub Com Pr SI-Fi ‘recent past’
‘My child has just drink water.’
(25c) Kulina, declarative (Dienst 2014: 110)
owa = pi ahoi = ra apa o-na-pa

1sg = top.f rice = only eat 1sg-aux-hpst
Sub = Com = Ad Pr SI-Fi ‘hodiernal past’
‘I’ve only eaten rice today.’
(25d) Kulina, declarative (Dienst 2014: 106)
homo shite o-na-de

spider.momkey shoot.with.arrow 1sg-aux-phpst
Com Pr SI-Fi ‘prehodiernal past’
‘I shot a spider monkey.’
(25e) Kulina, declarative (Dienst 2014: 113)
aba ime-i o-naitha-na kokoro = za

fish big-m 1sg-catch-ifut fish.hook = ins
Com SI-Pr-Fi ‘immediate future’ Ad
‘I’m going to hook a big fish.’
(25f) Kulina, declarative (Dienst 2014: 79)
tomaithani o-hipa-ni hini

in.the.afternoon 1-eat-decl.f nfut
Ad SI-Pr-MN.SI Fi ‘near future’

‘I’m going to eat in the afternoon.’
(25g) Kulina, declarative (Dienst 2014: 114)
o-kha-ni-hera-ni towi
1sg-move.sg-back-neg.f-decl.f fut
SI-Pr.SI-Ad-Fi ‘negativge’.SI-MN.SI Fi ‘future’

‘I will not return.’
The typical languages whose Finite mainly realizes the meaning of aspect
include Hup, Qiang, Mapuche, Chinese, Korya Chiini, Teiwa, Jamsay, Thai,
Vietnamese, etc. Some of these are agglutinative languages, and the others are
isolating languages. Tense and aspect are two different ways that human lan-
guages construe the experience of time grammatically. They specify various tem-
poral relationships that characterize the event or state being described. According
to Comrie (1976), tense locates the event denoted by a predicate in time, usually
with referent to the moment of speaking; in contrast, aspect is concerned with the
internal temporal constituency of one situation, i.e., the beginning, during, com-
pletion, repetition, resulting, etc., without reference to its position in time. The
difference between the two categories can be understood as the one between
situation-internal time (aspect) and situation external time (tense). In languages

whose Finite mainly realizes the meaning of aspect, the Finite consequently is
mainly realized by aspect markers. In Hup, the Finite realizes 12 types of aspec-
tual meanings, namely the neutral aspect, the perfective (event viewed with respect
to endpoint), the dynamic/imperfective (on-going event), the habitual (customary
recent event), the completive (event completed prior to the speech act), the inchoa-
tive (beginning an event or entering a state), the iterative (including the distributive
and repeated instance) (over and over/durative for a long time), the telic (do com-
pletely), the venitive (movement between current location of participant and loca-
tion where event occurs), the diminutive (do activity a little bit), and the persistive
(activity/state still in process). Example (26) demonstrates some of these aspectual
meanings realized by Finite in Hup.
(26a) Hup, declarative: proper: Sub-Pr type (Epps 2008: 111)
tɨnɨ̆ h mɔ̌m nɔ́h-ɔ́ ̃ h

3sg.poss axe fall-decl
Sub Pr.Fi ‘neutral’-MN
‘His axe fell.’ (aspect neutral)
(26b) Hup, declarative: proper: Sub-Pr type (Epps 2008: 545)
j’ám tɨh ʔɔ̃h-ʔĕ-h

yesterday 3sg sleep-pfv-decl
Ad Sub Pr-Fi ‘perfective’-MN
‘He slept (here) last night.’ (e.g., was just passing through)
(26c) Hup, declarative: proper: Sub-Pr type (Epps 2008: 116)
ʔãn hám-ã́y bɨ́g

1sg go-dynm hab
Sub Pr-Fi ‘dynamic’ Fi ‘habitual’

‘I go regularly.’
(26d) Hup, declarative: proper: Sub-Pr type (Epps 2008: 550)
ʔédia ̃ -ɨ́ ỹ
hipãh-cɨ́ w ʔũhníy
Elias know-comp-dynm maybe
Sub Pr-Fi ‘completive’-Fi ‘dynamic’ Ad
‘Elias already knows, maybe.’
In many cases, there exist overlaps between the categories of tense and aspect.
Thus, though tense in languages of type (ii) is not as highly grammaticalized as
that does in languages of type (i), many aspectual meanings also have a reading of
tense. For example, the experiential aspect in Chinese realized by guò (cf. Chao
1968; Li and Thompson 1981) inherently has a reading of past. This is also true
for languages of type (iii), where the Finite equally realizes the meanings of tense
and aspect, and some categories of tense and aspect are closely related to each
other. Languages of type (iii) include Cavineña, Turkish, Arabic, Hindi, Hausa,
etc. A common phenomenon is that the imperfective aspect is with a reading of
present and future temporal meaning, and the perfective aspect is with a reading
of past temporal meaning. Table 5.1 illustrates the Finite in Cavineña. It is shown
that the Finite in Cavineña realizes the meanings of both tense and aspect. The
imperfective aspect overlaps with the present and near future tense, and the perfect
aspect overlaps with the anterior and immediate past tense.
In addition to the meanings of tense and aspect discussed above, the Finite in
certain languages can also realize the meaning of mode (verbal mood), which is
concerned with the factuality or actuality of states (see Sect. 1.1 and 1.4). A com-
mon distinction is between realis and irrealis. The realis mode portrays events
or situations as actualized, as having happened or actually happening, as in real
world. In contrast, the irrealis mode portrays events or situations as in hypothetical
or imagined world, as within the realm of though (see Palmer 2001 for details).
Mode correlates closely with other grammatical categories, such as tense, aspect,
negation, and mood. For example, in Teiwa, which is considered an isolating lan-
guage, there is no morphological tense and aspect (the aspect is realized by adverbs
and verbs), and the only suffix -(a)n marks realis mode, contrasting with irrealis
mode which is unmarked. In declarative mood, the realis mode may express pres-
ent and past events (convinced) in factual world or future events that the speaker is
convinced to happen. In contrast, the irrealis mode tends to express future events.
In imperative mood, the realis mode is never used. Another example is Puyuma.
According to Teng (2007), Puyuma is a ‘mood (mode in our term) prominent’
language. Puyuma speakers tend to view aspectual and temporal notions in terms
of mode category. A basic distinction is made between indicative and non-indica-
tive, and within the indicative category, a further distinction is made between rea-
lis and irrealis. Languages of this potential type also include Bardi, Nyigina, Ute,
and Mian. In these languages, mode markers can be labeled as Finite.
Table 5.1 The Finite in Cavineña (cf. Guillaume 2008)

Finite ‘tense’ Finite ‘tense-aspect’ Finite ‘aspect’
remote future Pr-buke imperfective/habitual/ Pr-ya completive Pr-tere/-tsirya
recent past Pr-chine progressive/present/ incompletive Pr-bisha
remote past Pr-kware near future Pr-nuka; = nuka
iterative
perfect/anterior/ Pr-wa inceptive Pr-tibune
immediate past stop Pr-jaka
Other meanings realized by Finite also include modality and polarity (negation).
The category of modality is as complicated as the category of mood and deserves
an independent study. Thus, we did not, and practically could not, describe the
modality system of each language in detail. But one generalization we can make
based on our current descriptions is that languages vary from each other in the
number and the category of the modal meanings grammaticalized and the reali-
zations of modal meanings. We will discuss the realizations of modality later. The
category of negation is observed in every language in our sample. That is to say, all
the languages have lexicogrammatical resources that enable their speakers to nego-
tiate the polarity of a proposition or a proposal. In each language, it is the negative
pole that is marked, and the positive pole is unmarked. However, languages differ
with regard to the realizations of the Finite that expresses polarity (negation). We
will discuss this later. Another aspect in which languages vary is that some lan-
guages (about one third of the languages in our sample) have one polarity system
for both indicative (including declarative and interrogative) mood and imperative
mood, such as not in English and ne…pas in French; whereas other languages
(about two thirds of the languages in our sample) have two sets of polarity sys-
tem, one for indicative mood and the other for imperative mood. Table 5.2 below
sets out the Finites realized by major negative marks in each language. For abbre-
viations of functional elements (Pr) and classes (ad, pr, p. etc.), see the part of
Abbreviations and Conventions of the book.
Realizations of Finite
Up to now, we have discussed the various meanings realized by Finite, which

include the categories of tense, aspect, modality/mode, and polarity (negation). In
addition to the meanings realized by Finite, languages also vary in terms of the
realizations of Finite. The Finite can be realized by various grammatical classes,
such as affixes, auxiliaries, particles, clitics, and even verbs. Our comparison will
be organized into several parts, each part focusing on one semantic domain real-
ized by Finite.
First, we will look at the realizations of the Finite that realizes temporal
meanings (hereafter Finite ‘tense’, Finite ‘aspect’, Finite ‘modality’, and Finite
‘negative’). As mentioned before, grammaticalized tense is absent from some lan-
guages, and in these languages, the temporal meaning is mainly realized by tem-
poral words, phrases, or inferred from context, or interpreted from Finite ‘aspect’
and Finite ‘mode’. We will concentrate on the languages that have the temporal
meaning grammaticalized. Table 5.3 illustrates the realizations of Finite ‘tense’ in
the languages in our sample.
As is shown in Table 5.3, the majority of the Finite ‘tense’, not surprisingly,
is realized by affixes/inflections. In this case, the Finite fuses with the Predicator.
In addition to affixes/inflections, some languages also deploy auxiliaries to real-
ize Finite ‘tense’, six of which are Indo-European languages. In these languages,
the Finite ‘tense’ sometimes fuses with the Predicator and sometimes stands as an
independent element. Example (27) shows that the Finite ‘tense’ in French, which
is realized by both inflections and auxiliaries.
Table 5.2 Realizations of Finite ‘negative’

Language Finite ‘negative’ in indicative Finite ‘negative’ in imperative Class
Bardi arra p
Diegueño Pr-ma·w Pr-au
English au^not^Pr auâd^Pr
French ne^Pr^pas ad^Prâd
German nicht ad
Hidatsa -thaa- Pr-a
Kulina Pr-hara/↑hera- Pr-s
Maidu Pr-{men} Pr-s
Mongolian Pr = gwai Pr = c
Nyigina maḻu^Pr:irrealis p^Pr-s
Ọ̀kọ́ e/a; me/ma p^Pr
Persian na/ne-Pr pr-Pr
Pitjantjatjara Pr:concessive-wija/wijaŋku Pr-s
Russian ne^Pr p^Pr
Spanish no^Pr ad^Pr
Turkish Pr-mA Pr-s
Chinese bù/méi^Pr bié^Pr ad^Pr
Qiang mə-Pr tcə-Pr pr-Pr
Kham ma-Pr ta-Pr pr-Pr
Hmong ci hsáo p^Pr
Thai mây^Pr yàa^Pr p^Pr
Korean an/mos^Pr; Pr-ciânh-ta Pr-ci^malta ad^Pr; Prâu
Japanese Pr-nai Pr-na Pr-au
Manchu Pr:participleâkū/unde ume^Pr-re/-ra/-ro Pr^p; p^Pr
Arabic lam/lan/laa/laysa^Pr laa^Pr p^Pr
Puyuma aDi/ameli^Pr aDi^Pr p^Pr
Tagalog #^hindi = ^Pr #^huwag = ^Pr p^Pr
Javanese ora/mboten aja/sampun au
Teiwa Pr^maan gaxai p^Pr; au
Vietnamese không/chă ̉ng/chả/chua^Pr đùng/chó^Pr ad^Pr
Santali baŋ/ɔhɔ^Pr alo^Pr p^Pr
Telugu Pr-a- Pr-ak-u; Pr-waddu Pr-s
Hindi nəhī̃ nə/mət p
Welsh ni(d)^Pr paid, peidwch^â^Pr p
Greek δεν^Pr μην^Pr:subjunctive ad^Pr
Latvian ne^Pr; ne-Pr ne-Pr p^Pr; pr-Pr
Albanian nuk/s’ mos au
Armenian č̕-Pr; č̕-Fi^Pr mí^Pr:imperative pr-Pr; p^Pr
Hinuq Pr-me Pr-om/-yom Pr-s
Nenets n'ī-^Pr:connegative nʹon°^Pr:connegative au^Pr
Finnish en/et/ei/emme/ette/eivät älä v
Udmurt ug/ud/ug/um/ud/ug en/medaz v
(continued)
Language Finite ‘negative’ in indicative Finite ‘negative’ in imperative Class
Somali má^Pr:NEG; bàa + áan^Pr:NEG ha^Pr:imperative p^Pr:i
Hausa bà(a)…Pr…ba kadà^PAC:subjunctive^Pr p^PAC^Pr
Lango pé/móm^Pr kʊ̌r^Pr:subjunctive p^Pr
Chiini na/si^Pr ma si^Pr p^Pr
Jamsay Pr-lí-; Pr-gó- Pr-ý Pr-s
Dagaare bɛ/kṽ^Pr ta/taa^Pr p^Pr
Fongbe kún/mà^Pr mà^Pr p^Pr
Nama Pr^tama/títe Pr^táá Pr^p
Greenlandic -nngit- -nanga- Pr-a
Ute ka-Pr-wa; kachu-E^Pr-wa kachʉ Pr-a; p
Pipil negative particle te p
Hup Pr-nɨ́h/pã̌/ʔăp Pr-nɨ́h^níh Pr-s
Cavineña Pr = ama; Pr-dama Pr-ume; ne-…-ume Pr = c; Pr-s
Quechua mana^Pr-chu ama^Pr-chu p^Pr-s
Saramaccan á, ná ná p
Mapuche Pr-la- Pr-ki- Pr-s
Mian = mo + Pr = ba mo + Pr = e Pr = c
Tauya wate^Pr Pr-ʔatene/ʔatenene p^Pr; Pr-s
Table 5.3 Realizations of Finite ‘tense’

Realizations Number Example languages
Merely affixes/inflections 32 Korean, Turkish, Mongolian, Manchu, Telugu,
etc.
Affixes/infections + auxiliaries 10 Persian, English, German, Greek, Albanian, etc.
Auxiliaries 4 Hausa, Santali; Javanese, Saramaccan
Particles 2 Dagaare, Fongbe
Absent 12 Chinese, Qiang, Hmong, Thai, Puyuma, Teiwa,
etc
Total 60
(27a) French, declarative: declarative (proper)
il n’ aime pas ces romans

he neg like.ind.prs.3sg neg these.m novels
Sub Fi ‘negative’- Fi ‘present’.Pr.SI -Fi ‘negative’ Com
‘He doesn’t like these novels.’
(27b) French, declarative: declarative (proper)
nous partons le mois prochain

we depart.ind.fur.2pl the.m month next
Sub Fi ‘simple future’.Pr.SI Com
‘We will leave next month.’
(27c) French, declarative: declarative (proper)
il vient de renter
he come.ind.prs.3sg return.inf
Sub Fi ‘near past’.SI Pr
‘He returned just now.’
Some languages merely rely on auxiliaries to realize Finite ‘tense’. Among the
four languages of this type, Hausa and Santali are similar in the sense that the aux-
iliaries realizing Finite ‘tense’ inflect for persons. Taking Hausa as an example, its
verbs do not inflect for tense, aspect, and modality, neither for person and num-
ber. Instead, these grammatical meanings are marked by a pre-verbal inflectional
sequence, which he termed as person-aspect complex (PAC). That is to say, the
Finite ‘tense’ is realized by the inflections of PAC, as in example (28). As men-
tioned before, Hausa is a language whose Finite equally realizes the meanings
of tense and aspect and where some categories of tense and aspect overlap with
each other. The Finite ‘past’ overlaps with Finite ‘perfective’. In the other two
languages of this type, namely Javanese and Saramaccan, the auxiliaries do not
inflect. The category of tense in these two languages actually is not highly gram-
maticalized. For example, according to McWhorter and Good (2012), the default
reading of a bare dynamic verbs in Saramaccan Creole is past, and the past marker
bi, as in example (29), is borrowed from English verb been.
(28) Hausa, declarative (Jaggar 2001: 149)
Audù yā fita
Audu 3 m.pfv go out
Sub SI.Fi ‘past/perfective’ Pr
‘Audu went out.’
(29) Saramaccan Creole, declarative: focus-neutral (McWhorter and Good 2012:

119)
mi á bi kɛ́
1sg neg pst want
Sub Fi ‘negative’ Fi ‘past’ Pr
‘I didn’t wat it (to be so).’
The Finite ‘tense’ can also be realized by particles, such as in Dagaare and
Fongbe. The two languages are similar to Javanese and Saramaccan in lacking
highly grammaticalized tense category. It is difficult to identify the class of the
tense markers in these languages. They may belong to the same grammatical class,
though they are identified as different classes for now according to the reference
grammars. Thus, in later discussions, they are not distinguished from each other.
(30) Fongbe, declarative: declarative (proper) (Lefebvre and Brousseau 2002: 90)
Siká kò ɖà wɔ́
Sika already/ant prepare dough
Sub Fi ‘past/pluperfect’ Pr Com
‘Sika already prepared dough/Sika had prepared dough.’
Now, we will move to the realizations of Finite ‘aspect’. The picture here is
more complicated than that of Finite ‘tense’. Table 5.4 offers a simplified sum-
mary of the realizations of Finite ‘aspect’. The distribution of Finite ‘aspect’
across languages is wider than that of Finite ‘tense’. But languages vary in the
status of aspect in the overall grammatical system. In many languages, the cate-
gory of tense is foregrounded, and the category of aspect is just backgrounded and
identified as one part of tense system. Therefore, though the table shows the Finite
‘aspect’ is absent from Kulina and French, this does not necessarily mean that they
lack expressions for aspectual meanings. For example, in French, the structure être
en train de ‘be on train of’ expresses the meaning of progressive aspect.
There is no doubt that the majority of Finite ‘aspect’, similar to Finite ‘tense’,
is realized by affixes/inflections. Some languages merely deploy affixes/inflections
to realize Finite ‘aspect’, whereas others also make use of other lexicogrammatical
Table 5.4 Realizations of Finite ‘aspect’

Realizations Number Example languages
Merely affixes/inflections 27 Manchu, Turkish, Ute, Mapuche, Tauya, Hidatsa, etc
Affixes/infections + others 20 Hindi, Korean, Puyuma, Qiang, English, Hup, etc
Merely others 11 Chinese, Saramaccan, Chiini, Teiwa, Vietnamese, etc
Absent 2 Kulina, French
Total 60
resources, among which the most common one is the use of auxiliaries. In some
languages, the auxiliary is one part of both the realizations of Finite ‘aspect’ and the
realizations of Finite ‘tense’. The other part of the realizations of Finite ‘aspect’, in
addition to the auxiliary, can be affixes/inflections, as in example (31), or another
auxiliary, as in example (32). In Albania, the auxiliary is the realization of Finite
‘aspect’ and the Finite ‘tense’ fuses with the Predicator, as in example (33).
(31) Hinuq, declarative: neutral/other tenses (Forker 2013: 217)
de iɬra-ƛ’o sasaqo y-ix- ƛ’os zoq’we-s

I(f) six.obl-spr in.the.morning g2-get.up-hab be-pst
Sub.SI Ad Ad -Pr-Fi ‘habitual’ Fi ‘past’
‘I used to get up get six o’clock in the morning.’
(32) Welsh, declarative: negative (Borsley et al. 2007: 263)
nid yw Gwyn (ddim) yn darllen

neg be.prs.3s Gwyn (neg) prog read.inf
MN Fi ‘present’.SI Sub (Fi ‘negative’) Fi ‘progressive’ Pr
‘Gwyn isn’t reading.’
(33) Albanian, interrogative: elemental (Newmark et al. 1982: 275)
kush po troket në derë

who prog knock.3sg.prs door
IW/Sub Fi ‘progresive’ Pr.SI.Fi ‘present’ Com
‘Who is knocking at the door?’
In addition to affixes/inflections and auxiliaries, Finite ‘aspect’ can also be real-

ized by clitics (see the repetitive aspect in Hup in example (26g), reduplications,
particles, adverbs, and verbs. Auxiliaries (non-inflected ones), particles, adverbs,
and verbs are mainly deployed in isolating languages. As mentioned above, it is
difficult to identify the class of non-inflectional tense-aspect markers. In different
reference grammars, they are categorized into different classes or just identified as
tense-aspect markers. For example, the aspect markers zhe (progressive/durative
aspect), le (perfect/perfective/ resultative aspect/), and guo (experiential aspect) in
Chinese are regarded as suffixes by Chao (1968) and Li and Thompson (1981),
whereas in Xing (1996) and Halliday and McDonald (2004), they are categorized
as particles. We will term them ‘non-inflectional tense-aspect markers’ in contrast
with ‘inflectional tense-aspect markers. Example (34), (35), and (36) illustrate the
Finite ‘aspect’ realized by reduplications and non-inflectional markers in Chinese,
Thai, and Koyra Chiini.
(34) Chinese, imperative: jussive
nǐ shì shi

you try try
Sub Pr.Fi ‘delimitative’
‘Try it a little’
(35) Thai, declarative (Smyth 2002: 68)
raw kin khâaw lɛ́ɛm

we eat rice already
Sub Pr Fi ‘perfect’
‘We have eaten already.’
(36) Koyra Chiini, declarative (Heath 1999: 11)
har di o guna woy di doodi

man def ipfv see woman def there
Sub Fi ‘imperfective’ Pr Com Ad
‘The man sees the woman there.’
Now, we will look at the realizations of Finite ‘modality’. We could not

describe the modality system of each language in great detail. Consequently, the
discussion will not make a distinction between the realizations of Finite ‘modality:
modalization’ and the realizations of Finite ‘modality: modulation’. We will just
explore the possible realizations of Finite ‘modality’ in a general way based on our
current descriptions.
Modal meanings in many languages are expressed by adverbs, such as possi-
bly, probably, certainly, and usually in English. But these expressions are real-
izations of modal Adjunct in mood structure rather than Finite ‘modality’. The
unmarked class realizing Finite ‘modality’ is the modal auxiliary (operator).
Among the 45 languages from our sample investigated, at least 31 languages
have Finite ‘modality’ realized by modal auxiliaries. Many languages have a set
of modal auxiliaries, such as tau (can), yŭa cu (must), and cǐ nyao (should) in
Hmong Njua; bâyad (must), shāyad (might), tavān estan (can), and khāstan
(will) in Persian; músu (must), ábi f(u) (have to), sá (can), and kandɛ́ (maybe) in
Saramaccan Creole. In some reference grammars, modal auxiliaries are identi-
fied as verbs in class. For example, cần (need), có thể ̉ (can, may), nên (should),
and phảì (have to, must) in Vietnamese are identified as volitional verbs (Nguyễn
1997).
In addition to auxiliaries, affixes are also widely used to realize Finite ‘modal-
ity’ (at least 12 among 45), especially in agglutinative languages. Examples (37),
(38), and (39) show the Finite ‘modality’ realized by suffixes in Nenets, Kham,
and Turkish.
(37) Nenets, declarative: declarative (proper) (Nikolaeva 2014: 91)
pidər° to-bc’u-n°
you come-nec-2sg
Sub Pr-Fi ‘modality’-SI
‘You should come (permission or agreement).’
(38) Kham, declarative: declarative (proper) (Watters 2004: 285)
ba-khe-rə-ho
go-prob-3pl-prob
Pr-Fi ‘modality’-SI-Fi ‘modality’
‘They probably went.’
(39) Turkish, declarative: declarative (proper) (Göksel and Kerslake 2005: 283)
Sevil bu konu-yu araştır-abil-ir

Sevil this matter-acc investigate-psb-aor
Sub Com Pr-Fi ‘modality’-Fi ‘aorist’
‘Sevil can/could/may look into this matter.’
Finite ‘modality’ can also be realized by mode, which can also to be regarded
as affixes in class. The subjunctive/irrealis mode and the debitive mode are com-
monly used to realize Finite ‘modality: obligation’, and the potential mode is usu-
ally used to realize Finite ‘modality: possibility’, as in example (40), (41), and
(42). Nenets is characterized by a set of modes for modal meanings, such as the
necessitative, the potential, the dubitative, the probabilitative, the approximative,
the reputative, and the debitive (Nikolaeva 2014).
(40) Latvian, declarative (Praulin̦š 2012: 161)
man jā-iet
1sg.dat debitive-go.3.prs
Sub Fi ‘modality’-Pr
‘I must go/I have to go.’
(41) Fongbe, declarative (Lefebvre and Brousseau 2002: 93)
Bàyí ní ɖà wɔ́

Bayi sbjv prepare dough
Sub Fi ‘modality’ Pr Com
‘Bayi must prepare dough.’
(42) Hausa, declarative (Jaggar 2001: 201)
yâu da gō ̀be kyâ iyà Hausa

today and tomorrow 2f.pot be able Hausa
Ad SI.Fi ‘modality’ Pr Com
‘In time, you will probably master Hausa.’
Other less commonly observed realizations of Finite ‘modality’ also include

clitics (in Nenets and Cavineña) and particles (in Dagaare), as in example (43) and
(44). These modalities can also be analyzed as mood Adjunct.
(43) Nenets, declarative: declarative (proper) (Nikolaeva 2014: 121)
t’ir-t’a ŋəno tū-t°ə = wa

fly-impf.ptcp boat come-fut = ass
Sub Pr-Fi ‘future’ = Fi ‘modality’
‘The plane will certainly arrive (don’t worry).’
(44) Dagaare, declarative: affirmative: focus-neutral (Mwinlaaru 2018: 175)
saa naa wa wa na
rain mod.positive eventive come.pfv aff
Sub Fi ‘modality’ Pr.Fi ‘perfective’ MN

‘It may rain.’
Finally, we will look at the realizations of Finite ‘negative’. The realizations

of Finite ‘negative’ roughly fall into three classes: (i) affixes, (ii) particles, clitics,
and adverbs, and (iii) auxiliaries and verbs. Affixes, which can be prefixes, suf-
fixes, and circumfixes (as in Ute), are mainly deployed in agglutinative languages.
Negative auxiliaries usually inflect for person and number (not necessarily), and
negative verbs inflect for person, number, and tense. Many languages have more
than one realizations for Finite ‘negative’, and some languages deploy two devices
simultaneously for the realization of Finite ‘negative’, usually a negative particle
plus a negative verb inflection, such as in Somali. Besides, as mentioned above,

around two thirds of the languages in our sample have different realizations for
the Finite ‘negative’ in indicative clauses and the Finite ‘negative’ in imperative
clauses. The realizations of Finite ‘negative’ in each language have been set out in
Table 5.2.
Thus far, we have made cross-linguistic comparisons of the meanings realized
by Finite and the realizations of Finite. It is found that languages are at variance
with each other both in the meanings realized by Finite and in the realizations of
Finite ‘tense’, Finite ‘aspect’, Finite ‘modality’, and Finite ‘negative’. The reali-
zations of Finite involve a rich repertoire of strategies, such as the use of affixes/
inflections (also verbal mode), auxiliaries, particles, reduplications, clitics,
adverbs, and verbs. Though languages display cross-linguistic variation in terms
of the realizations of Finite, they show ‘intra-language consistency’ in the real-
izations of different types of Finite. That is to say, if a language deploys a cer-
tain strategy to realize a certain domain of meaning covered by Finite, it tends
to deploy the same strategy to realize other semantic domains covered by Finite.
Example (45) shows West Greenlandic deploys affixes consistently in the realiza-
tions of Finite ‘tense’, Finite ‘aspect’, Finite ‘modality’, and Finite ‘negative’.
(45a) West Greenlandic, declarative (Sadock 2003: 17)
(niri-ssa-Vunga/Vara) nerissaanga nerissavara

(eat-fut-ind.1sg/ind.1sg.3sg)
Pr-Fi ‘future’-MN.SI/MN.SI.CI
‘I will eat. /I will eat it.’
(45b) West Greenlandic, declarative (Fortescue 1984: 138)
akulikitsumik tikit-ta-nngil-aq
often come-hab-not-3sg.ind
Ad Pr-Fi ‘habitual’-Fi ‘negative’-SI.MN
‘He often didn’t come/ He did not come often’
(45c) West Greenlandic, declarative (Fortescue 1984: 28)
taku-ssagaluar-pat
see-should-ind.2sg.3sg
Pr-Fi ‘modality’-MN.SI.CI
‘You should see it!’
Another language, Fongbe, which is considered an isolating language, makes

use of particles consistently in the realizations of Finite ‘tense’, Finite ‘aspect’,
Finite ‘modality’, and Finite ‘negative’, as is shown in example (46).
(46a) Fongbe, declarative: declarative (proper) (Lefebvre and Brousseau 2002: 92)
é ná kù
3sg def.fut die
Sub Fi ‘definite future’ Pr
‘(S)he will die.’
(46b) Fongbe, declarative: declarative (proper) (Lefebvre and Brousseau 2002: 94)
Lili nɔ̀ ɖù gbàɖé

Lili hab eat corn
Sub Fi ‘habitual’ Pr Com
‘Lili habitually eats corn.’
(46c) Fongbe, declarative: declarative (proper) (Lefebvre and Brousseau 2002: 99)
Siká mà kò ɖà wɔ́
Sika neg ant prepare dough
Sub Fi ‘negative’ Fi ‘pluperfect’ Pr Com
‘Sika had not prepared dough.’
West Greenlandic and Fongbe represent two types of languages in terms of the
realizations of Finite: (i) those mainly deploying inflectional classes and (ii)
those mainly deploying non-inflectional classes. However, obviously many lan-
guages lack such a high degree of consistency in the realizations of different kinds
of Finite. Thus, we have a third type, (iii) those deploying both inflectional and
non-inflectional classes. For example, in the realizations of Finite ‘tense’, English
makes use of both inflectional class -ed (past tense) and -s (third person present)
and non-inflectional class will (future).
We may further ask a question: what is the possible parameter that correlates with
our classification here? We find the classification correlates closely with the morpho-
logical types of language: polysynthetic and agglutinative languages tend to deploy
inflectional classes in the realizations of Finite; isolating languages tend to deploy
non-inflectional classes; fusional languages tend to deploy both inflectional and
non-inflectional classes. This is illustrated by Table 5.5. One point about the table
should be noted is that some auxiliaries in Telugu, Japanese, Korean, and Qiang
behave differently from those in other languages. They are generally considered
Table 5.5 Intra-language consistency in the realizations of Finite

Mor. type Language Fi ‘tense’ Fi ‘aspect’ Fi ‘modality’ Fi ‘negative’
polysynthetic Greenlandic Pr-a Pr-a Pr-a Pr-a
agglutinative Turkish Pr-s Pr-s Pr-s Pr-s
agglutinative Mapuche Pr-s Pr-s Pr-s Pr-s
agglutinative Tauya Pr-s Pr-s Pr-s p^Pr; Pr-s
agglutinative Ute Pr-s Pr-s Pr-s; mode Pr-a; p^Pr
agglutinative Kham Pr-s; Prâu Pr-s; Pr-sâu Pr-s; Pr-au pr-Pr
agglutinative Hup Pr-s Pr-s; Pr = c; Pr-s; p Pr-s
p; re
agglutinative Cavineña Pr-s Pr-s; Pr = c Pr-s; Pr = c Pr = c; Pr-s
agglutinative Quechua Pr-s; au Pr-s; re Pr-s; au p^Pr-s
agglutinative Telugu Pr-s Pr-sâu Pr-au Pr-s
agglutinative Japanese Pr-s Pr-au Pr-au Pr-au
agglutinative Hidatsa Pr-a Pr-a ? Pr-a
agglutinative Nyigina Pr-a Pr-s ? p^Pr-s
agglutinative Hinuq i Pr-sâu au Pr-s
agglutinative Korean Pr-s Pr-s; Pr-sâu Pr-s; Pr-au ad^Pr; Prâu
agglutinative Nenets Pr-s Pr-a Pr-s; Pr = c au^Pr
agglutinative Mian Pr-s i Pr-s Pr = c
agglutinative Manchu Pr-s Pr-s Pr-sâu Pr^p; p^Pr
agglutinative Qiang – Pr-a; Prâu Pr-au; au pr-Pr
agglutinative Mongolian Pr-s Pr-s Prâu Pr = c
agglutinative Finnish Pr-s au^Pr:i au, mode v
agglutinative Udmurt Pr-s Pr-sâu au v
agglutinative Pipil Pr-s Pr-s; Prâu ? p
agglutinative Santali au Pr-s au p^Pr
agglutinative Kulina Pr-s; au – ? Pr-s
fusional English i; au^Pr au^Pr:i au^Pr auâd^Pr
fusional Albanian i; au^Pr i; au^Pr:i au au
fusional Persian i; au^Pr i au^Pr pr-Pr
fusional Somali Pr-s Pr-s ? p^Pr:i
fusional Hindi Pr-s, au Pr-s; Pr-sâu; Prâu p
Prâu
fusional German i; au^Pr au^Pr:i au^Pr ad
fusional Latvian i pr-Pr mode p^Pr; pr-Pr
fusional Armenian i; Prâu i ? pr-Pr; p^Pr
fusional Welsh i au^p^Pr au^Pr p
fusional French i – au^Pr ad^Prâd
fusional Spanish i i; au^Pr:i au^Pr ad^Pr
fusional Greek i; au^Pr i; au^Pr ? ad^Pr
fusional Russian i i au^Pr p^Pr
synthetic Arabic i i ? p^Pr
synthetic Tagalog – i au^Pr p^Pr
(continued)
Mor. type Language Fi ‘tense’ Fi ‘aspect’ Fi ‘modality’ Fi ‘negative’
synthetic Bardi Pr-a Pr-s ? p
isolating Hausa p^Pr p^Pr p^Pr p^p^Pr
isolating Fongbe p^Pr p au; p p^Pr
isolating Saramaccan au au au p
isolating Chinese – p; ad; au^Pr; au^Pr ad^Pr
re
isolating Hmong – p au p^Pr
isolating Thai – au; p au p^Pr
isolating Chiini – au au^Pr p^Pr
isolating Teiwa – ad; v v p^Pr; au
isolating Vietnamese – ad v ad^Pr
? Maidu Pr-s Pr-s ? Pr-s
? Pitjantjatjara i i ? Pr-s
? Diegueño Pr-s pr-Pr Pr-s Prâu
? Javanese au au ? au
? Dagaare p^Pr Pr-s p p^Pr
? Puyuma – Pr-a; Pr = c ? p^Pr
? Lango – i; au^Pr au^Pr p^Pr
? Jamsay – Pr-s ? Pr-s
? Ọ̀kọ́ – au au^Pr p^Pr
? Nama Pr-s Pr-s; p ? Pr^p
as affixes in reference grammars instead of independent auxiliaries. For example,

Iwasaki (2013: 78) terms auxiliaries in Japanese ‘auxiliary suffixes’; Krishnamurti
and Gwynn (1985: 219) report the auxiliary in Telugu ‘has lost its status as an inde-
pendent constituent and is gradually reduced to that of a mere suffix’. Thus, we iden-
tify them as the class of affixes/inflections, which is presented as ‘Pr-au’.
Table 5.5 illustrates the three typological generalizations about the realizations
of Finite we made above. One is that languages display intra-language consistency
in the realizations of Finite, which is indicated by the parts with bold type and
underline. The second one is that languages can be typologized into three types
along the parameter of realizations of Finite: (i) those mainly deploying inflec-
tional classes, (ii) those mainly deploying non-inflectional classes, and (iii) those
deploying both inflectional and non-inflectional classes. The third one is that the
classification we make correlates with the morphological types of language: pol-
ysynthetic and agglutinative languages tend to deploy inflectional classes in the
realizations of Finite; isolating languages tend to deploy non-inflectional classes;
and fusional languages tend to deploy both inflectional and non-inflectional
classes. Though some agglutinative languages deploy both inflectional and non-in-
flectional classes, they are still agglutinative languages, rather than fusional lan-
guages. They locate at a point closer to the end of ‘inflectional classes’ along the
continuum of ‘non-inflectional classes/inflectional classes’. This is because, on the
5.2 Subtypes of Declarative Mood and Their Realizations 115
Fig. 5.2 Language classification along the parameters of realizations of Finite and morphologi-
cal type
one hand, the majority of agglutinative languages in our sample tend to deploy
inflectional classes consistently, and on the other hand, none of the fusional lan-
guages merely deploy inflectional classes.
The classification of languages we make here along the parameter of realiza-
tions of Finite corresponds with the morphological classification made by Comrie
(1989) along the index of synthesis and the index of fusion. It also illustrates the
point he made that ‘it is inevitable that a language with a very high index of syn-
thesis will also have a low index of fusion’ (Comrie 1989: 46). This is shown in
Fig. 5.2. In this sense, the parameter of realizations of Finite proposed here can
also function as an index of morphological classification of language, which can
be used either in conjunction with or independently of other indexes. Table 5.5
displays that certain agglutinative languages are more similar to fusional lan-
guages in the sense that they deploy both inflectional and non-inflectional classes
in the realizations of Finite. Thus, we could say that they are more fusional along
the index of fusion compared with other agglutinative languages that mainly
deploy inflectional classes.
Up to now, we have investigated the cross-linguistic similarities and differences
in the realizations of three major functional elements in declarative mood structure,
namely the Subject, the Predicator, and the Finite. We have also investigated the
cross-linguistic similarities and differences in the meanings realized by Finite. We find
the realizations of functional elements, especially the realizations of Finite, have some-
thing to do with the realizations of mood system. This will be discussed in Sect. 8.1.5.
Now, we will make a survey of subtypes of declarative mood and their realizations.
5.2 Subtypes of Declarative Mood and Their Realizations
The declarative is the mood that realizes the speech function of statement. It func-
tions to give information. To give information to others and to enact our personal
and social relationships with people around us through giving information is the
basic need of human beings. Therefore, the declarative mood is observed in all the
languages in our sample.
The declarative mood is regarded as the unmarked option in mood system. This
is because, according to König and Siemund (2007), it is the most frequently used
mood, and it usually displays the basic word order of the language. Besides, it is
less restricted in distribution and exhibits the full paradigm of tense-aspect combi-
nations available in a language. From the perspective of SFL, the declarative mood
is considered the unmarked option in mood system because of its high frequency
of occurrence in texts. According to Matthiessen (1995), 93.6% of the English
clauses in texts are declarative clauses. Besides, the declarative mood is unmarked
because almost all the functional elements can appear in declarative mood struc-
ture, such as the Subject, the Predicator, the Finite, the Complement, the Adjunct,
the Mood Negotiator (including the Emotion Marker, the Evidentiality Marker,
the Emphasis Marker, and the Focus Marker), the Vocative, the Tenor Marker,
the Subject Indicator, and the Complement Indicator, whereas certain functional
elements usually are absent in the structure of other types of mood. For example,
the Subject and the Finite are frequently absent from imperative mood structure;
though many functional elements, for example, the Evidentiality Marker, can also
occur in interrogative mood structure, they are more likely to occur in declarative
mood structure.
Though the declarative is observed in all the languages in our sample, lan-
guages are at variance with each other in the number of grammaticalized subtypes
of declarative mood. As is shown in Fig. 5.3, some languages only have one basic
declarative mood, which only functions to give information, whereas some lan-
guages are characterized by having two or more than two subtypes of declara-
tive mood. In these languages, the declarative mood not only realizes the speech
function of statement but also realizes other interpersonal meanings. Besides,
Fig. 5.3 Number of declarative moods of each language

languages also vary in terms of the realizations of each subtype of declarative

mood. In the following sections, we will look at the subtypes of declarative mood
and their realizations in different languages.
5.2.1 The Declarative (Proper)
The declarative (proper) is the prototype of declarative. This term is used only in
languages where it is one of the subtypes of declarative mood contrasting with
other subtypes, such as the exclamative, the emphatic declarative, and the evi-
dential declarative. In languages where only the prototype of declarative is gram-
maticalized, we will use the term ‘declarative’ instead of ‘declarative (proper)’.
In languages where more than one subtypes of declarative is observed, some
other terms are also used with the same meaning of ‘declarative (proper)’, such
as the ‘conclusive’ in Japanese (contrasting with the ‘suppositive’), the ‘eviden-
tiality-neutral’ declarative (contrasting with the ‘evidential’ declarative), the
‘assessment-neutral’ declarative (contrasting with the ‘assessed’ declarative),
the ‘focus-neutral’ declarative (contrasting with the ‘focused’ declarative), the
‘emphasis-neutral’ declarative (contrasting with the ‘emphatic’ declarative), and
the ‘affirmative’ declarative (contrasting with the ‘negative’ declarative). The pur-
pose we use different terms to refer to the prototype of declarative in different lan-
guages is to highlight the semantic feature that characterizes the elaboration of
declarative mood in these languages. But they are all used to refer to the prototype
of declarative.
The declarative (proper) is observed in all the languages in our sample, except
in Hidatsa (see next section). In 20 languages, it is the only type of declarative
observed,5 and in the other 39 languages, it is the prototype of declarative contrast-
ing other subtypes of declarative (see the following sections). Being the prototype
of declarative means that it only functions to give information without realizing
other functions. It should be noted that the function we are talking about is the
grammaticalized one. If we leave the safe ground of lexicogrammar, there will be
many subtypes of declarative clauses.
Compared with other types of mood, languages display similarity in the realiza-
tions of declarative (proper). The majority of the languages in our sample (51 among
59) deploy no special lexicogrammatical resources in the realizations of declarative
(proper). That is to say, there is not a functional element in the declarative (proper)
mood structure that serves as the marker of mood type, as in example (47).
5 Wewill avoid saying that a certain mood is absent in a certain language, since no reference
grammar can offer an absolutely complete description of the language under study.
(47) Chinese, declarative: declarative (proper)
(tā) yǐjīng lái-le

3sg already come-pfv
Sub Ad Pr-Fi ‘perfective’
‘S/he has already been here.’
In eight languages in our sample, however, some types of lexicogrammatical

resources are deployed as the realizations of declarative (proper) clauses. These
resources are termed Mood Negotiator, the functional element that marks the
mood type of the clause.
The Mood Negotiator for declarative (proper) clauses (hereafter MN: declar-
ative) is realized by three types of grammatical class. The first one is the affix/
inflection. Languages making use of affixes/inflections to realize declarative
(proper) clauses include Korean, West Greenlandic, Maidu, and Tauya. In Korean,
each declarative (proper) clause is marked by a sentence ender that includes one or
more affixes whose function is to indicate the mood type, the speech level, and the
mode type. The speech level inflects the social relationship between the interact-
ants and is indicated by the functional element of Tenor Marker (see Sect. 5.2.7).
Mode in Korean has to do with evidentiality and thus is indicated by the functional
element of Evidentiality Marker (see Sect. 5.2.5). Therefore, the sentence ender in
Korean is a fusion of the functonal elements of Mood Negotiator, Tenor Marker,
and Evidentiality Marker. The MN: declarative in West Greenlandic fuses with the
Subject Indicator. It is generally regarded as indicative mode marker in class. The
MN: declarative in Maidu realized by the suffix -{’æ} is also an indicative mode
marker in class. Example (48), (49), (50), and (51) display the MN: declarative
(the part in bold type) in the four languages.
(48) Korean, declarative (proper): indicative mode: plain (Sohn 1999: 269)
pi ka o-n-ta
rain nom come-ind-decl
Sub SI Pr-EvM-TM/MN
‘It is raining.’
(49) West Greenlandic, declarative (Sadock 2003: 9)
(uanga = u-Vunga) uangaavunga

(I/me = be-ind.1sg)
Com = Pr-MN.SI
‘It’s me.’
(50) Maidu, declarative: declarative (proper) (Shipley 1964: 46)
(sôl-Ø-k-’ǽ-’Í-s) sólk̓as
(sing-prs/pst-na-ind-sg-1)
(Pr-Fi ‘present/past’-Fi ‘neutral aspect’-MN-SI–SI)
‘I sang’
(51) Tauya, declarative: declarative (proper) (MacDonald 1990: 4)
fanu-ni fenaʔa Ø-yau-a-ʔa

man-erg woman 3sg-see-3sg.aor-ind
Sub Com CI-Pr-SI.Fi ‘aorist’-MN
‘The man saw the woman.’
The second type of grammatical class that realizes the MN: declarative is the
particle. Languages deploying particles to realize the MN: declarative include
Somali, Dagaare, and Nama Hottentot. In Somali and Dagaare, the declarative is
the entry condition of two simultaneous systems: one is focus-neutral/focused, and
the other is affirmative/negative (for the discussion of these subtypes see following
sections). Thus, there are four subtypes of declarative in the two languages. We
consider the focus-neutral affirmative declarative mood the declarative (proper). In
Somali and Nama Hottentot, the particle that realizes the MN: declarative occurs
before the Predicator; the one in Dagaare occurs at the end of the clause, as in
example (52), (53) and (54).
(52) Somali, declarative: focus-neutral: affirmative (Saeed 1999: 80)
waannuu (waa = aannu) sug-n-ay

(decl = we.excl) wait.for-1pl-pst
MN.Sub Pr-SI-Fi ‘past’
‘We (exclusive) waited for it etc.’
(53) Dagaare, declarative: affirmative: focus-neutral (Mwinlaaru 2018: 140)
l̃ wõ a na
1sg hear.pfv 3pl.nhm aff/mp
Sub Pr.Fi ‘perfective’ Com MN

‘I heard it.’
(54) Nama Hottentot, declarative: proper (Hagman 1973: 105)
kxòep ke ʔa !ai
the person.3sg.m decl cop.prs good
Sub.SI MN Pr.Fi ‘present’ Com
‘The person (masculine) is good.’
The third type of grammatical class that realizes the MN: declarative is the
clitic. It is observed in Mian, where the enclitic = be realizing the MN: declarative
is added to the Predicator, as in example (55).
(55) Mian, declarative: declarative (proper) (Fedden 2011: 101)
ī futbol pilai ke-b-io = be

3pl.an football play do-ipfv-2/3pl.an.sbj = decl
Sub Com Pr Fi-Fi ‘imperfective’-SI = MN
‘They are playing football.’
5.2.2 The Hidatsa Subtypes of Declarative Mood
As mentioned in last section, Hidatsa is characterized by lacking the declarative

(proper) in mood system. All the subtypes of declarative in Hidatsa involve cer-
tain attitudes of the speaker toward the truth value of the clause. This feature of
Hidatsa has been noticed by the previous typological studies and SFT studies
on declarative mood, such as Sadock and Zwicky (1985), Matthiessen (2004),
and König and Siemund (2007). Their discussion is based on the description of
Matthews (1965), who classifies the declarative mood in Hidatsa into five sub-
types, namely the emphatic (the speaker knows the clause to be true), the period
(for clauses that describe the speaker’s desire of feelings), the quotative (the
speaker regards what he has said to be something that everyone knows), the report
(he speaker was told the information given in the clause by someone else), and the
indefinite (the speaker does not know whether or not the clause is true; the speaker
thinks the listener does not know). Obviously, at least two semantic dimensions
are deployed for the elaboration of declarative mood in Hidatsa: one is the speak-
er’s attitude toward the truth value of the clause; the other one is evidentiality. We
will offer a new description of the subtypes of declarative mood of Hidatsa based
on another reference grammar of this language by Boyle (2007).
Figure 5.4 displays the declarative mood system of Hidatsa. For the full mood
system of the language, see the Appendix. Since the declarative mood system of
Hidatsa is unique, the terms used here for the subtypes of declarative are mainly
Fig. 5.4 The declarative mood system of Hidatsa, based on Boyle (2007)
borrowed from Boyle (2007) and are exclusive to this language. The same term
used in the mood systems of other languages may be assigned to other meanings. It
is shown that all the subtypes of declarative mood in Hidatsa are realized by Mood
Negotiators which are realized by suffixes. We will discuss the functions of these
subtype.
The declarative mood in Hidatsa first is an entry condition of six options of
declarative mood, namely the declarative, the emphatic, the non-speculative,
the past definite singular, the past definite plural, and the speculative. The six
options of declarative indicate the speaker’s attitude toward the truth value of
the clause and are realized by ‘simple sentence final illocutionary markers’. The
declarative, which is termed ‘period’ in Matthews (1965), is the most commonly
used mood in Hidatsa, and only in this sense does it correspond to the declara-
tive (proper) in other languages. The declarative/period indicates the speaker
believes the information given to be true. In contrast, the emphatic indicates the
speaker knows the information given to be true, and if the information is proved
false, the speaker will be regarded a liar. It also expresses emphasis on the infor-
mation. The non-speculative expresses an emphatic statement of fact. Compared
with the declarative/period, it indicates the speaker is more certain about the truth
value of the information. The past definite intersects with the category of tense
and aspect. The singular form indicates the speaker is certain that a definite event
has occurred, and the plural form indicates the event happened more than one
time in the past. The speculative, which is termed ‘indefinite’ in Matthews (1965),
expresses an internal question addressed to the speaker himself/herself. Matthews
(1965) reports it indicates the speaker does not know the truth value of the infor-
mation. Example (56) illustrates the six subtypes.
(56a) Hidatsa, declarative: declarative (Boyle 2007: 197)
wúa-aʔ-s̆ cawéeri-c
fish-pl.def-det.def hot-decl
Sub Pr-MN
‘The fish was hot.’
(56b) Hidatsa, declarative: emphatic (Boyle 2007: 197)
waa-rée-raci-s̆ki
1act-go-approx-emph
Sub/SI-Pr-Fi ‘aspect’-EmM
‘I will follow him!’
(56c) Hidatsa, declarative: non-speculative (Boyle 2007: 198)
ihká-s̆ s̆ék te-háa-toores̆

mother-det.def dem die-3.caus.def.pl-nonspec
Sub Pr-Pr.SI-MN
‘They have killed my mother.’
(56d) Hidatsa, declarative: past definite singular (Boyle 2007: 199)
wía-eeca éeca-kaati waa-té-haa-s̆t

woman-all all- indf-die-3.caus.def.pl-pst.def.sg
Sub -Pr-Pr.SI-MN
‘The woman, all of them have been killed.’
(56e) Hidatsa, declarative: past definite plural (Boyle 2007: 199)
mia-s ii-kiracoopi-ʔa-aha
woman-def.det ins-kiss-pl.def-pst.def.pl
Com -Pr-SI-MN
‘They did kiss the woman.’
(56f) Hidatsa, declarative: speculative (Boyle 2007: 198)
xarée húu-took ii tahúuraki-took

rain come-spec conju thunder-spec
Sub Pr-MN Sub-MN
‘I wonder if there’s a storm and if that’s thunder?’
The declarative mood system of Hidatsa is elaborated further in delicacy along

the dimension of evidentiality. The decelerative realized by the MN::-c forms the
entry condition of another four evidential subtypes of declarative, namely the (evi-
dentiality-)neutral, the narrative, the opinion, and the reportative. According to
Boyle (2007), in addition to the declarative, it is also possible for the four evi-
dentials to intersect with other subtypes of declarative, but this is less frequent.
The narrative indicates knowledge handed down from the elders and assumed to
be true. The opinion indicates that the speaker is merely stating an opinion. The
reportative indicates the information which is told by someone else. Example (57)
illustrates the three evidential declaratives.
(57a) Hidatsa, declarative: narrative (Boyle 2007: 194)
iíchihkawaahiris̆ as̆i-a-ruwí-waaree-c
First Worker go.around-cont-go.along-naar-decl
Sub Pr-Fi ‘aspect’-Pr-EvM-MN
‘First Worker traveled around.’
(57b) Hidatsa, declarative: opinion (Boyle 2007: 194)
wáa-ruwa-ri wii-is̆íi-haa-ʔa-kikee-c
indf-some-foc 1sta-bad-3.caus.def.pl-pl.def-opin-decl
Sub CI-Pr-SI.Pr-SI-EvM-MN
‘Something must have made it bad to us’
(57c) Hidatsa, declarative: reportative (Boyle 2007: 199)
macee-a-heri ii-wa-giracoobi-rahaa-c
man-pl.def-dem ins-1act-kiss-rep.pl-decl
Sub -SI-Pr-EvM-MN
“The man said ‘I kissed her’”
5.2.3 The Exclamative
It is the basic communicative need of human beings to convey personal emotions,

such as affection, disgust, surprise, angry, and fears. Emotions are principally
expressed by paralanguages, such as facial expression, intonation, and body lan-
guage. Besides, languages frequently conventionalize the expressions of human
emotions in lexicogrammatical system. The mood for conveying human emotions
is the exclamative.
The exclamative is generally regarded an independent mood. But its status as
an independent type of mood is not as well-established as other mood types, such
as the declarative, the interrogative, and the imperative, because it bears resem-
blance with the declarative in meaning and with both the declarative and the inter-
rogative in form. Concerning meaning, both declarative and exclamative function
to give information, to represent a proposition as being true. The nuance, accord-
ing to Sadock and Zwicky (1985), is that exclamative clauses are intended to
be expressive, whereas declarative clauses are intended to be informative; in an
exclamative clause, the speaker emphasizes his/her strong emotional reaction to
what s/he takes to be a fact, whereas in a declarative, the speaker emphasizes his/
her intellectual appraisal that the proposition is true. In addition to the seman-
tic resemblance, the declarative and the exclamative also bear structural resem-
blance in some languages. For example, in English, declarative (proper) clauses
and exclamative clauses share the same sequence of Subject ^ Finite. In Tauya, the
exclamative suffix -ʔae, according MacDonald (1990), consists of the indicative
suffix -ʔa (MN: declarative) and the exclamative suffix -e. Though exclamative
clauses, similar to interrogative clauses, contain interrogative words in many lan-
guages, they never require an answer from the addressee. Due to the semantic and
structural connection between the exclamative and the declarative, the exclama-
tive in SFL is considered a subtype of declarative mood (cf. Halliday 1985, 1994;
Martin 1992).
The exclamative is observed in 16 languages in our sample. The functional
element realizing exclamative clauses is termed Emotion Marker (one type of
Mood Negotiator). These languages bear similarity in presenting adverbs of
degree or interrogative words in exclamative mood structure. They vary, however,
in the degree of grammaticalization of the realizations of exclamative clauses.
Languages with less grammaticalized realizations of exclamative clauses include
Chinese and Turkish. In these languages, the Emotion Marker is realized by
adverbs of degree or interrogative words, as in example (58) and (59). In some
Chinese exclamative clauses, an Emotion Marker realized by the mood particle a
is optionally present in exclamative mood structure.
(58) Chinese, declarative: emotion-involved: exclamative
nǐ zhēn měi (a)

2sg really beautiful (mp)
Sub EM Pr.Fi ‘neutral’ (EM)
‘How beautiful you are!’
(59) Turkish, declarative: exclamative (Göksel and Kerslake 2005: 125)
su o kadar soğuk-tu ki
water so- cold-pfv -so
Sub EM- Pr-Fi ‘perfective’ -EM
‘The water was so cold!’
Languages with more grammaticalized realizations of exclamative clauses

include Korean, Kulina, Nyigina, and Tauya. In these languages, exclama-
tive clauses are realized by exclamative suffixes, as in example (60) and (61).
In Korean, similar to the MN: declarative, the EM: exclamative fuses with the
Evidentiality Marker (either indicative or retrospective) and the Tenor Marker
(which indicates one of the six speech levels).
(60) Korean, declarative: exclamative: indicative mode: polite (Chang 1996: 90)
kui-nun cal cwumwusi-nun-kwunyo

he-top well sleep.hon-prs-pol.exc
Sub- Ad Pr.TM-Fi ‘present’-TM.EM
‘(Well, I see) he sleeps well!’
(61) Tauya, declarative: exclamative (MacDonald 1990: 214)
fofe-a-ʔae (ʔa-e)
come-3sg.aor-exc
Pr-SI.Fi ‘aorist’-MN
‘He’s coming!’
Other languages locate somewhere in the continuum of the degree of gram-

maticalization: some are characterized by a more grammaticalized realization of
exclamative clauses and some a less one. Languages of this group can be catego-
rized into three groups further according of the class deployed: (i) those deploy-
ing interrogative words and initial position, (ii) those deploying particles, and (iii)
those deploying clitics. Languages of group (i) are mainly Indo-European lan-
guages, such as Persian, English, French, Spanish, and Greek. In these languages,
the realizations of exclamative clauses involve an Emotion Marker which is real-
ized by initially-sequenced interrogative words as in example (62). Languages
of group (ii) include Lango, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and Maidu. In the former two
languages, the particle realizing the Emotion Marker is positioned initially, as in
example (63), and in the latter two languages, it is positioned at the end of the
clause. Mian is the only language in our sample that realizes the EM: exclamative
with an enclitic, as in example (64).
(62) French, declarative: exclamative
quels bons amis vous êtes

exc good.m.pl friends you.pl are.2pl
EM Com Sub Fi ‘present’.Pr.SI
‘What good friends you are!’
(63) Lango, declarative: exclamative (Noonan 1992: 187)
gwóggî dɔ̀ɲɔ̀ kònó bà

dogs 3sg.big.hab how exc
Sub SI.Pr.Fi ‘habitual’ EM EM

‘How big the dogs are!’
(64) Mian, declarative: exclamative (Fedden 2011: 143)
naka wanggel i-ta baka haa-bl-Ø-i = bale

man woman pl.an-emph with roam.ipfv-aux.ipfv-ipfv-1sg.sbj = exc
Com Pr-Fi ‘imperfective’-Fi ‘imperfective’-SI = EM
‘I was roaming with men and women!’
Though the exclamative is observed in 16 languages in our sample, it does not

necessarily mean that exclamative clauses are absent from other languages. These
languages without exclamative clauses observed in our descriptions may make use
of intonation and adverbs of degree more frequently, or may make use of one of
the realizations summarized above to realize exclamative clauses.
5.2.4 The Emotion-Involved and the Assessed Declarative
Some languages elaborate the declarative mood further in delicacy through involv-
ing the speaker’s various kinds of emotions, moods, tones, and attitudes in the
information. The subtype of declarative realizing the function of giving infor-
mation and simultaneously of conveying the speaker’s emotions, moods, tones,
and attitudes is termed emotion-involved declarative (in Chinese it is termed
emotive). The emotion-involved declarative is observed in Chinese, Thai and
Cavineña. Some other languages allow their speakers to signal their attitudes to
or different degrees of involvement in the proposition (and also proposal). The
subtype of declarative realizing this function is termed assessed declarative (the
term ‘assessed’ is borrowed from Halliday and McDonald 2004). The assessed
declarative is observed in Vietnamese, Japanese, Ọ̀kọ́, Mongolian, Finnish, and
Nenets. Both emotion-involved and assessed declarative are principally real-
ized by clause-final particles and clitics. Some languages have a set of particles/
clitics, typically in languages of East Asia and Southeast Asia, such as in Chinese,
Japanese, Mongolian, Thai, and Vietnamese, which are used frequently in collo-
quial speech to express the meanings mentioned above. The meanings realized
by these particles/clitics roughly correspond to those conveyed by intonations in
English. It is hard to assign a precise meaning to each of these particles/clitics,
and different contexts may allow different interpretations. The very abundance
of possibilities suggests that many functions of these particles/clitics may not be
completely grammaticalized. Besides, many particles/clitics realizing emotion-in-
volved declaratives also signal the speaker’s attitudes to and involvement in the
proposition and many particles/clitics realizing assessed declaratives also convey
the speaker’s emotions, moods, and minds. Therefore, though we use different
terms here, there may be semantic overlaps between the two subtypes of declar-
ative mood. The functional element realizing the emotion-involved and assessed
declarative, like that realizing the exclamative, is also termed Emotion Marker.
Since the exclamative also conveys the speaker’s emotions, the exclamative and
the emotion-involved declarative are similar in meaning. Despite of the semantic
similarity between the two subtypes of declarative mood, they are different sub-
types both in meaning and in form. Semantically, the exclamative, the emotion-in-
volved declarative (the emotive in Chinese), and the declarative (proper) can be
considered at different places along a semantic continuum of expressiveness-in-
formativeness. The exclamative locates closer to the end of expressiveness, the
declarative (proper) is closer to the end of informativeness, and the emotion-in-
volved declarative can be considered somewhere between the two moods. Thus,
the three types of mood form a mood continuum. Besides, the emotions con-
veyed in exclamative clauses are usually diretly related to the information itself,
especially to the Subject; whereas the emotions conveyed in emotion-involved
declarative may be less related to the information. Structurally speaking, the
emotion-involved declarative is usually realized by clause-final particles or clitics,

whereas the exclamative usually is expressed by adverbs of degree and interroga-
tive words.
Example (65) illustrates the emotive in Chinese. The meaning added in brack-
ets is just one possible interpretation of the meaning realized by the clause-final
particle in that situation. In other situations, they may convey other meanings. In
addition to particles and clitics, the emotion-involved declarative can also be real-
ized by affixes, as in example (66), but this is very seldom.
(65a) Chinese, declarative: emotion-involved: emotive
(tā) chīfàn-ne ya
(3sg) have a meal-prog mp
Sub Pr-Fi ‘progressive’ EM

‘S/he is having dinner’. (with a tone of impatience)
(65b) Chinese, declarative: emotion-involved: emotive
(tā) yǐjīng lái-le you

3sg already come-pfv mp
Sub Ad Pr-Fi ‘perfective’ EM

‘S/he has been here.’ (in a happy mood and with a sense of humor)
(65c) Chinese, declarative: emotion-involved: emotive
tā shì gòngchǎndǎngyuán li
3sg cop communist mp
Sub Pr Com EM
‘S/he is a communist.’ (with a sense of pride or with a hint of sarcasm)
(66) Cavineña, declarative: emotion-involved (Guillaume 2008: 242)
e-ra = ri iji-wana-ya
1sg-erg = 3prox.sg(-fm) drink-advr-ipfv
Sub = Com Pr-EM-Fi ‘imperfective’
‘I am going to drink it (that disgusting cod oil).’
The assessed declarative may indicate the speaker’s various kinds of attitudes
to or different degrees of involvement in the proposition: to emphasize it, to insist
on it, to affirm it, to express certain emotions at it, etc. Example (67), (68), and
(69) display the assessed declarative in Vietnamese, Ọ̀kọ́, and Finnish. The EM:
assessed declarative in Finnish is realized by clitics.
(67a) Vietnamese, declarative: assessed (Nguyễn 1997: 118)
tôi đã bảo mà
I pfv tell mp
Sub Fi ‘perfective’ Pr EM
‘I told you!’ (insistence, emphatic)
(67b) Vietnamese, declarative: assessed (Nguyễn 1997: 158)
em sǎ ́p khâu xong rồi ạ

younger sister ipros sew pfv already mp
Sub Fi ‘instant prospective’ Pr Fi ‘perfective’ Com EM

‘I’m about to fishing this sewing task.’ (polite)
(68) Ọ̀kọ́, declarative: assessed (Akerejola 2005: 221)
usiye e e mi go
festival ipfv neg dawn mp
Sub Fi ‘imperfective’ Fi ‘negative’ Pr EM

‘The day has not broken. (perhaps at 10 a.m.)’ (statement + sarcasm)
(69) Finnish, declarative: assessed (Karlsson 1999: 229)
tämä = hän on skandaali

this = part be.3sg.prs scandal
Sub = EM Pr.SI.Fi ‘present’ Com
‘This really is a scandal!’
Another feature of these particles/clitics that realize the emotion-involved and

assessed declarative is that in some languages, they are the realizations of the
system of emotion-involvement, whose options are emotion-neutral and emo-
tion-involved, or the system of assessment, whose options are assessment-neu-
tral and assessed. The two systems can intersect not only with declarative clauses
discussed here, but also with other types of clauses, such as interrogative clauses,
and imperative clauses. For example, in Chinese, in addition to the emotion-in-
volved declarative, there are emotion-involved interrogatives and imperatives; in
Vietnamese, there are assessed interrogatives and imperatives. We will discuss
them in later parts.
Another mood that can be regarded as an emotion-involved declarative is the

admirative, which serves to give information and to convey the speaker’s sur-
prise attitude to the information given. It is observed in Albanian and Fongbe. In
Fongbe, it is realized by particles, as in example (70), and in Albanian, it is real-
ized by inflections, as in example (71).
(70) Fongbe, declarative: admirative (Lefebvre and Brousseau 2002: 126)
Kɔ̀kú xɔ̀ àsɔ́n lɛ́ (l)á

Koku buy crab pl surp
Sub Pr Com EM
‘Has Koku (really) bought the crabs!’
(71) Albanian, admirative
ti fliske shqip
you.sg speak.2sg.admi Albanian
Sub Pr.SI.MN Com
‘You (surprisingly) speak Albanian!’
5.2.5 The Evidential Declarative
Another subtype of declarative mood is the evidential declarative, which is con-

cerned with evidentiality. Evidentiality is concerned with the source of informa-
tion. Languages vary in the types of information source that are grammaticalized
and in the degree of grammaticalization of evidential expressions. Almost all
languages offer lexicogrammatical resources for reported information, while
some types of information source are grammaticalized only in certain languages.
Evidentiality can be expressed lexically and periphrastically in almost all lan-
guages, such as I see, I hear, and it is said in English and jùshuō (‘it is said’) in
Chinese. In this sense, a declarative clause in any language is either an eviden-
tial one or an evidentiality-neutral one. However, what we will discuss here is
the grammaticalized evidential declarative mood, which is expressed by affixes,
clitics, and particles. The evidential declarative is observed in nine languages in
our sample, as in Table 5.6.
Compared with other types of clauses, evidentiality by nature interacts with
declarative clauses most closely. The evidential declarative thus gives informa-
tion and simultaneously indicates the information source. The evidential declara-
tive is realized by the Evidentiality Marker in mood structure. Languages vary in
the number of and the type of grammaticalized evidential declarative. Table 5.6.
5.2
Table 5.6 Types of evidential declaratives and their realizations

Qiang Nenets Hup Hinuq Kulina Cavineña Quechua Mapuche Kham
reportative -i Pr-s = /-mah = ƛen = pa -rke- di
inferential -k Pr-s = /-cud,-hi-
visual -u,-wu =Ø
narrative = (e)ƛ -hari/-haro
non-visual = /-hɔ̃
non-firsthand -rana/-rane
direct -mi
indirect -shi
Subtypes of Declarative Mood and Their Realizations
conjecture -chi
contrary to = tukwe
evidence
unwitness past -n
neutral past -s
131
above shows that in Mapuche and Kham, only one type of evidential declarative is
observed, and in Hup, four types are observed. Languages also vary in the realiza-
tions of evidential declarative: the three types of grammatical classes involved in
the realizations of evidential declarative are affixes (mainly suffixes), clitics, and
particles. Affixes and clitics are more frequently deployed than particles. Besides,
languages also display intra-language consistency in the realizations of evidential
declarative. In Hinuq, the evidential declarative is realized by evidential clitics; the
unwitness past suffix and the neutral past suffix are fusions of Finite ‘tense’ and
Evidentiality Marker. Now, we will look at the meanings of the evidential declara-
tive clauses set out in Table 5.6.
The evidential declarative clauses observed in our sample generally can be clas-
sified into three groups: (i) those reporting non-firsthand information, (ii) those
reporting firsthand information, and (iii) those reporting the information based on
personal judgment.
The first group includes the reportative, the narrative in Hinuq and Kulina, the
non-firsthand in Kulina, the indirect in Huallaga Quechua, and the unwitnessed
past forms in Hinuq. The reportative gives information that is based on hearsay.
The speaker makes no claims about the truth value of the statement. It is the most
widely grammaticalized evidential declarative. The narrative in Hinuq is mostly
used in traditional narration and marks the information as based on hearsay or
report but normally leaves the origin of the information unexpressed. It occurs pre-
dominantly with simple past tense, but all other verbal forms are also compatible
with its meaning. The narrative in Kulina is like that in Hinuq. The non-firsthand
in Kulina indicates the information is either reported or heard but not acquired
firsthand. The indirect in Huallaga Quechua indicates that the information is
learned by indirect experience (hearsay). The unwitnessed past forms in Hinuq
imply that the situation or event is not witnessed by the speaker. Example (72),
(73), and (74) illustrate the evidential declarative that reports non-firsthand infor-
mation in Nenets, Hinuq, and Kulina.
(72) Nenets, declarative: evidential: reportative (Nikolaeva 2014: 96)
sarm’ik° tex°qna tǣwo-ləxawi°

wolf reinder.pl.loc reach-rep
Sub Ad Pr.Fi ‘present’-EvM
‘Allegedly a wolf has come to the reindeer herd.’
(73) Hinuq, declarative: evidential: narrative/unwitnessed past (Forker 2013: 314)
hago seda ixu-ho-r Ø-aq’e-n = eƛ

he one.obl river-iloc-lat g1-come-uwpst = narr
Sub Ad -Pr-Fi ‘past’.EvM = EvM

‘He came to one river.’
(74) Kulina, evidential: non-firsthand (Dienst 2014: 115)
hidapana bakho Ø-ke-na-rana

now arrive 3-nsg-aux-nfrt.m
Ad Pr SI-Fi-EvM.SI
‘They’ve just arrived (I am told).’
The second group of evidential declaratives includes the visual in Qiang and
Hup, the non-visual in Hup, the direct in Huallaga Quechua, and the neutral past
forms in Hinuq. The visual gives witnessed information. The non-visual indicates
information that is acquired firsthand but nonvisually. The direct evidential indi-
cates that the speaker is convinced about what he is saying; it indicates that the
information is learned by direct experience. The neutral past forms in Hinuq con-
ventionally indicate that the speaker is an eye-witness of the situation or perceives
it with the appropriate senses. They convey the information belonging to the per-
sonal knowledge sphere of the speaker. Example (75) and (76) display the eviden-
tial declarative that reports firsthand information in Qiang and Huallaga Quechua.
(75) Qiang, declarative: evidential: visual (Randy and Huang 2003: 199)
the: jimi de-se-ji-w-a

3sg fertilizer dir-spread-csm-vis-1sg
Sub Com Fi ‘perfective’-Pr-Fi ‘change of

state’-EvM-SI
‘She spread the fertilizer.’ (I saw her spread it.)
(76) Huallaga Quechua, declarative: evidential: direct/assertive (Weber 1989: 421)
wanu-nqa-qaq-mi
die-3.fut-fut-dir
Pr-SI.Fi ‘future’-Fi ‘future’-EvM
‘(I assert that) it will die.’
The third group of evidential declaratives includes the inferential in Qiang,

Nenets, and Hup, the conjecture in Huallaga Quechua, and the contrary to evi-
dence in Cavineña. The inferential gives information that is based on inference.
The conjecture indicates that the speaker’s statement is a conjecture and is not the
sort of information for which anyone should be held responsible. The contrary to
evidence in Cavineña expresses the fact that a proposition is true despite the evi-
dence. Example (77) and (78) illustrate the evidential declarative that reports the
information based on personal judgment in Hup and Cavineña.
(77) Hup, declarative: evidential: inferential (Epps 2008: 646)
ʔám = ăn dohʔã́y ʔun’-yɨ́ʔ-ɨ́y = cud

2sg = obj Curupira suck-tel-dynm = infe
Com Sub Pr-Fi ‘telic’-Fi ‘dynamic’ = EvM
‘Curupira has sucked you (your brain), apparently.’
(78) Cavineña, declarative: evidential: contrary to evidence (Guillaume 2008: 642)
bina = ra = tukwe = Ø susu-wa

bat = erg = cont.evid(=1sg-fm) suck-prf
Sub = = EvM(=Com) Pr-Fi ‘perfect’
‘A (vampire) bat sucked me (but I didn’t feel it).’
In addition to the evidential declarative clauses discussed above, the declara-

tive clauses with retrospective mode in Korean, though generally not regarded
as evidential clauses, are also related to evidentiality. According to Sohn (1999),
the retrospective mode is one of the two options in mode system in Korean, the
other being indicative mode. An indicative clause in Korean (either declarative or
interrogative) can intersect with either indicative mode or retrospective mode. The
clause with retrospective mode denotes an act or state as the speaker’s past obser-
vation or experience while the one with indicative mode denotes an act or state
as an objective fact. In this sense, the retrospective declarative in Korean reports
firsthand information and can be regarded as an evidential declarative of the sec-
ond group. As mentioned above, the sentence ender in Korean is a fusion of the
Mood Negotiator, which indicates mood type, the Tenor Marker, which indicates
six speech levels, and the Evidentiality Marker, which indicates the evidentiality
(mode of Korean), as in (79).
(79) Korean, declarative (proper): retrospective mode (Sohn 1999: 359)
Mia ka kukcang ey ka-te-la/ ka-tey-yo/ ka-p-ti-ta

Mia nom theater to go-rt-dcle/go-rt-pol/go-ah-rt-decl
Sub Ad Pr-EvM-MN/Pr-EvM-TM/MN /Pr-TM-EvM-MN
‘I saw Mia going to the movie.’
5.2.6 The Emphatic and the Focused Declarative
All languages may have a repertoire of lexicogrammatical resources which ena-

ble the speaker to emphasize the proposition or a certain part of the proposition.
In most languages, this is done through lexical or analytical devices, such as ‘do,
did, really, indeed, and definitely’ in English, the cleft construction ‘it is…that’ in
English, and its counterpart ‘shì…de’ in Chinese. However, some languages have
the function grammaticalized, realizing the function through grammatical devices,
such as particles, clitics, and affixes. These grammaticalized resources intersect
with options in mood system, and thus a declarative clause can be either empha-
sis-neutral or emphatic. The emphatic declarative is observed in Qing, Maidu,
Hup, Diegueño, Cavineña, Mapuche, and Hinuq. Some reference grammars use
the term ‘focus’ instead of ‘emphasis’, and thus, a declarative clause can be either
focus-neutral or focused. In some cases, the two terms can be used alternatively.
A nuance between the two terms might be that the focused declarative usually has
one element in the clause emphasized, whose function corresponds to the cleft
construction ‘it is…that’, and an emphatic declarative can have both one element
in the clause and the whole clause emphasized, whose function corresponds to
both the cleft construction and lexical items ‘do, did, really, indeed, definitely’.
We will use the original term in reference grammars. Languages that have focused
declarative include Jamsay, Dagaare, Hup, Cavineña, and Saramaccan Creole.
The functional elements that realize emphatic and focused declarative clauses
are termed Emphasis Marker and Focus Marker, respectively. Both them are Mood
Negotiators. The emphasis Marker and the Focus Marker can be realized by particles
(in Qiang, Maidu, Dagaare, and Saramaccan Creole), clitics (in Hup, Cavineña, and
Jamsay), and affixes (in Diegueño and Mapuche), as in example (80), (81), and (82).
(80) Maidu, declarative: emphatic (Shipley 1964: 58)
ní ʔas (sôl-Ø-k-’ǽ-’Í-s) sólk̓as

I emph (sing-prs/pst-na-ind-sg-1)
Sub EmM (Pr-Fi ‘present/past’-Fi ‘neutral aspect’-MN-SI–SI)
‘I’m the one who sang.’
(81) Jamsay, declarative: focused (Jeffrey 2008: 457)
nìm = îː lùgùr-áːrà-m
cow-peas = foc look.for-hab-1sg.sbj
Com = FM Pr-Fi ‘habitual’-SI
‘It’s cow-peas that I’m look for.’
(82) Mapuche, declarative: emphatic (Smeets 2008: 245)
fe-m-lle-n
become.like.that-caus-aff-ind.1sg
Pr-Pr-EmM-MN.SI
‘I certainly did that.’
In Diegueño and Cavineña, there are two realizations of emphatic declarative

clauses, such as one for a mild one and the other for a strong one, as in example
(83). Thus, the declarative (proper), the mild emphatic, and the strong emphatic
form a mood continuum along the dimension of the degree of emphasis.
(83a) Cavineña, declarative: discourse-marking: emphatic (Guillaume 2008: 651)
wnapa-wa = taa = tuna-ra = ike

cry.for-prf = emph = 3pl-erg = 1sg-fm
Pr-Fi ‘perfect’ = EmM = Sub- = Com
‘They (my dogs) cried for me!’
(83b)
Cavineña, declarative: discourse-marking: strong emphatic/focused
(Guillaume 2008: 640)
uma-dama = dya = d = ni = ri-ke = Ø isha-wa?

many-neg = foc = strg.emph = maybe = 3prox.sg-fm (=1sg-erg) put.in-perf
Com-Fi ‘negative’ = FM = EmM = Fi ‘modality’ = Com- (=Sub-) Pr-Fi ‘perfective’
‘Maybe I haven’t poured enough of it (the powder)!’
In addition to the languages mentioned above, emphatic/focused declarative

clauses are observed in some other languages as well. For example, in languages
with assessed declarative clauses discussed in Sect. 5.2.4, emphasis and focus may
be two aspects of assessment, as in example (67a) and (69).
5.2.7 Tenor-Related Declaratives
Politeness and the tenor of the relationship between the interactants are cru-
cial domains of interpersonal meaning. They correlate with each other closely.
All human languages have enormous lexicogrammatical resources at their dis-
posal to express politeness and to enact the tenor of the relationship between the
interactants. The tenor of the relationship is frequently enacted by vocatives and
addresses. Politeness is frequently expressed by polite languages, such as please,
thank you, and excuse me. Besides, politeness and the tenor of the relationship can
be indicated by interpersonal grammatical metaphor (see Sect. 3.2.3; see Halliday
and Matthiessen 2014, Chapter 10). For example, when a speaker is addressing
to a person with higher social status or with far social distance, the grammatical
realization of command ‘could you open the door’ is more polite than the con-
gruent one ‘open the door’. Some languages have expressions of politeness
grammaticalized. For example, many languages encode politeness in personal pro-

nouns, such as nǐ (2sg) and nín (2sg.polite) in Chinese and tu (2sg) and vous (2sg.
polite; 2pl) in French. Concerning the declarative mood, some languages elabo-
rate it further along the dimension of politeness and the tenor of the relationship.
Languages doing so in our sample include Korean, Javanese, Japanese, and Thai.
In Korean, this is done though speech level system. We have mentioned several
times above that the sentence ender in Korean is a fusion of the Mood Negotiator,
which distinguishes four mood types, the Evidentiality Marker, which indicates
two mode types (another mode ‘requestive’ is termed Mood Negotiator), and the
Tenor Marker, which reflects six speech levels. Table 5.7 sets out the sentence
enders in Korean. It is shown that declarative and interrogative clauses in Korean
intersect either with indicative mode or retrospective mode, and simultaneously
with one of the six speech levels; imperative (jussive in our term) and propositive
(cohortative in our term) clauses intersect with speech level only.
speech level indicates the social relationship between the speaker and the
addressee. The number of its options and the terminology used for each option
vary in different reference grammars. Lee (1989) recognizes five speech levels,
namely high formal, low formal, high plain, low plain, and medium. Chang (1996)
and Sohn (1999) recognize six, namely formal/deferential, polite, blunt, familiar,
intimate, and plain. According to Sohn (1999), the plain speech level is used by
any speaker to any child, to one’s own younger siblings, children, or grandchil-
dren regardless of age, and to one’s daughter-in-law, and between intimate adult
friends whose friendship begins in childhood. The intimate speech level is used
by a child of pre-school age to his or her family members including parents, and
between close friends whose friendship begins in childhood or adolescence, and
to one’s adult or adolescent students or to one’s son-in-law. The familiar speech
level, which is more formal than the intimate, is used by a male adult to an adoles-
cent or to one’s son-in-law or between two close friends whose friendship begins in
Table 5.7 Sentence enders in Korean (cf. Sohn 1999: 234–237)

declarative interrogative imperative propositive
indicative retrospective indicative retrospective requestive
plain ka-n-ta ka-te-la ka-nu-nya ka-te-n(ya) ka-ca ka-la
inti- ka —— ka —— ka ka
mate
fami- ka-ne-y ka-te-y ka-nu-nka ka-te-nka ka-se-y ka-ke-y
liar
blunt ka-o —— ka-o —— ka-p-si-ta ka-o
polite ka-yo ka-te-yyo ka-yo ka-te-nka-yo ka-yo ka-yo
defe- ka-p-ni-ta ka-p-ti-ta ka-p-ni-kka ka-p-ti-ta ka-si-p-si-ta ka-si-p-si–o
rential
‘(He) goes.’ ‘I saw (him) ‘Does (he) ‘Do you see ‘Go, please!’ ‘Let’s go!’
go.’ go?’ (him) go?’
adolescence. The blunt speech level is used only to adult addressees and is gradu-
ally disappearing from daily usage. The polite and the deferential speech level are
used only to adult addressees. The most popularly used speech level is the polite
speech level, which is the informal counterpart of the deferential speech level. With
distant equals or superiors, male speakers usually intermix the polite and the defer-
ential speech level, while female speakers tend to use the polite speech level only.
Example (84) shows the intersection between declarative clauses and speech levels.
(84a) Korean, declarative (proper): indicative mode: intimate (Sohn 1999: 269)
pi ka w-a
rain nom come-int.decl
Sub SI Pr-TM/MN
(84b) Korean, declarative (proper): indicative mode: familiar (Sohn 1999: 269)
pi ka o-ney
rain nom come-fml.decl
Sub SI Pr-TM/MN
(84c) Korean, declarative (proper): indicative mode: blunt (Sohn 1999: 269)
pi ka o-o
rain nom come-bln.decl
Sub SI Pr-TM/MN
In Javanese, the elaboration of declarative clauses (also other clauses) is also

through speech level, but it is termed ‘speech style’ in Errington (1988), and we will
use the term ‘speech style’. The speech style is also of the function of enacting the
tenor of the relationship between the speaker and addressee in the exchange. Ngoko,
madya, and krama are the three widely recognized speech styles in Javanese,
which correspond to low, middle, and high speech level, respectively. According to
Errington (1988) and Robson (1992), ngoko is the basic language that one thinks in,
that one uses to intimates and inferiors and uses when feeling unstrained or losing
temper. It is the most natural and spontaneous form of verbal expression. Krama and
madya together are basa ‘non-ngoko’ styles. Basa is used to strangers and superiors,
to whom one feels worthy of respect. The speech level in Korean and the speech
style in Javanese are similar to each other in functions. They differ, however, in
realizations. The speech level in Korean as discussed above is realized by a set of

sentence enders, accompanied by using honorific terms. In contrast, each speech
style in Javanese is realized by a structurally unitary configuration of components
from its own sets. The lexicogrammatical realizations of different speech styles in
Javanese are so distinctive that they look like different languages, but they are dif-
ferent styles in the form of different sets of vocabulary in Javanese. Example (85)
illustrates the intersection between declarative clauses and speech styles.
(85a) Javanese, declarative: ngoko (Robson 1992: 16)
aku wis mangan segané

I already eat rice
Sub.TM Fi ‘past/perfect’.TM Pr.TM Com.TM
‘I have eaten the rice.’
(85b) Javanese, declarative: madya (Robson 1992: 17)
kula mpun nedha sekulé

I already eat rice
(85c) Javanese, declarative: krama (Robson 1992: 17)
kula sampun nedha sekulipun

I already eat rice
In Japanese and Thai, mood system intersects with politeness system. Politeness
is encoded in various grammatical classes in Japanese, among which verbs (also
adjectives) intersect with mood system most closely. Each verb in Japanese has a
polite form marked by the suffix -mas-, and thus any clause in Japanese is either
politeness unmarked (informal) or politeness marked (formal), as in example (86).
(86a) Japanese, declarative: conclusive: politeness unmarked (Teruya 2007: 163)
(watashi-wa) hon-o yon-ta

(i-nom) book-acc read-pst
(Sub) Com Pr.TM -Fi ‘past’
‘(I) read a book’
(86b) Japanese, declarative: conclusive: politeness marked (Teruya 2017: 221)
watashi-wa tegami-o kaki-mas-u

I-nom letter-acc write-pol-npst
Sub Com Pr-TM-Fi ‘non-past’
‘I write a letter.’
In Thai, according to Smyth (2002), politeness can be conveyed through defer-

ential pronouns, formal vocabulary, polite final particles, and pitch and volume of
voice. The polite final particles can be regarded as grammaticalized expressions
of politeness. Thus, like Japanese, a declarative clause in Thai is either politeness
unmarked or politeness marked. Thai is rich in polite final particles, as set out in
Table 5.8 below. It can be found that polite particles in Thai not only signal polite-
ness but also indicate the tenor of the relationship as the speech level/style does in
Korean and Javanese.
5.2.8 Other Subtypes of Declarative Mood
In the previous sections, we have discussed several common subtypes of declara-

tive clauses. In this section, we will see some less commonly observed subtypes of
declarative clauses.
First, we will see the affirmative declarative (the declarative (proper)) and
the negative declarative. It should be noted that the contrast between affirma-
tive declaratives and negative declaratives is different from that between positive
declaratives and negative declaratives. The former is a systemic contrast within
mood, which is indicated by Mood Negotiator, while the latter is a systemic con-
trast within polarity, which is indicated by Finite ‘negative’. In other words, a
positive declarative differs from a negative declarative only in polarity rather than
in mood type. The affirmative declarative and the negative declarative are observed
in Welsh, Somali, Dagaare, and Fongbe, where they are realized by a pair of mutu-
ally exclusive Mood Negotiators which are realized by particles in class. The
affirmative declarative, as mentioned in Sect. 5.2.1, is the declarative (proper).
The Mood Negotiator: affirmative in Welsh is optional, and in Fongbe, it is absent.
Even so, this does not mean that the negative declarative marker ǎ in Fongbe real-
izes the Finite ‘negative’, which is realized by the particle mà occurring between
the Subject and the Predicator. Besides, in Somali and Dagaare, the option
between affirmative and negative intersects with the option between focus-neutral
and focused. Table 5.9 sets out the Mood Negotiators for the affirmative declara-
tive and the negative declarative in Welsh, Somali, Dagaare, and Fongbe. Example
(87) and (88) show affirmative and negative declaratives in Welsh and Somali.
Table 5.8 Polite particles in Thai (cf. Smyth 2002)

Particle Mood Function and usage
khráp decl by males at the end of statements and questions
q
khâ decl by females at the end of statements

khá q by females at the end of questions
khăa by female speakers only after a name to attract the person’s
attention
há?/há decl by male speakers as an informal substitute for khráp; used by
q female speakers as an informal substitute for khá
hâ decl by female speakers as an informal substitute for khâ
cá q by adult male and female speakers at the end of questions
when talking to children, servants, or people of markedly
lower social status; as a ‘sweet talk’ question particle between
males and females or as a ‘best friends’ question particle
between females; used after the name of a child, servant,
or inferior to attract that person’s attention; used in polite
requests after the particle sí
câ decl by adult male and female speakers at the end of a statement
when speaking to children, servants, and people of inferior
status; between males and females denotes anything from
easy familiarity to ‘sweet talk’; between females signals
‘best friends talk’; used as a response when one’s name is
called (when the vowel is often lengthened to câa); used
in isolation as a ‘yes’ response; used to reassure speaker of
one’s attention
căa by older or senior male and female speakers after a younger
or junior person’s name to attract that person’s attention (e.g.,
parents or adults calling children); similarly used between
equals as a sign of affection; can also be used in isolation as
a response, more typically by females, when one’s name is
called
wá q decl an impolite or informal particle, used to indicate rudeness,
wâ/wóoy anger, and aggressiveness when speaking to strangers, or inti-
macy with close friends of equal status; wá is used with ques-
tions and wâ/wóoy with statements; more common in male
speech but can be used by females; it is the particle favored
by baddies on the big screen, used by drinking friends as the
evening progresses, and the one to snarl in the expression
tham aray wá? (‘What the hell are you doing?’) if you have
the misfortune to encounter an intruder in your house
yá/yâ an impolite or informal particle, similar to wá/wâ, but
restricted in usage to female speakers
phâyâkhâ/ pheekhá to royalty, male speakers use phâyâkhâ and female speakers
pheekhá
Table 5.9 Mood Negotiators for affirmative and negative declarative

Languages affirmative negative
Welsh < MNːp::mi, fe, y > MNːp::ni, nid
Somali focus-neutral MNːp::waa MNːp::má; + MNːi:neg
focused FMːp::bàa, ayàa,wáxa(a) FMːp::bàa, ayàa,wáxa(a);
MNːp::áan; + MNːi:neg
Dagaare focus-neutral MNːp::na MNːp::ɩ, e, ɛ
focused FMːp::nɩ,n,ɩ –
Fongbe – MNːp::ǎ
(87a) Welsh, declarative: affirmative (Borsley et al. 2007: 35)
y mae Gwyn yn yr ardd

aff be.prs.3sg Gwyn in the garden
MN Pr.Fi ‘present’.SI Sub Ad
‘Gwyn is in the garden.’
(87b) Welsh, declarative: negative (Borsley et al. 2007: 263)
nid yw Gwyn (ddim) yn darllen

neg be.prs.3sg Gwyn (neg) prog read.inf
MN Fi ‘present’.SI Sub (Fi ‘negative’) Fi ‘progressive’ Pr
‘Gwyn isn’t reading.’
(88a) Somali, declarative: focus-neutral: affirmative (Saeed 1999: 185)
wàad (waa = aad) i sóori kar-t-aa

(decl = you) me feed.inf can-2sg-prs
MN.Sub Com Pr Fi ‘modality’-SI-Fi ‘present’
‘You can feed me.’
(88b) Somali, declarative: focus-neutral: negative (Saeed 1999: 186)
qálabkíi má jebín
machine-the not break.caus.pst.neg
Com MN Pr.Fi ‘past’.MN
‘(I/you/he/she etc.) did not break the machine.’
The second subtype of declarative is the suppositive declarative, which is

observed in Korean and Japanese. It reflects the speaker’s suppositive attitude
toward the information given. In other words, the information given is not backed
up by strong bases but is based on the speaker’s imagination and conjecture. In
Japanese, the suppositive declarative contrasts with the conclusive declarative.
According to Teruya (2007), the conclusive presents information derived from the
actual world rather than being based on imagination or conjecture. The conclu-
sive declarative is the declarative (proper) in Japanese. In Korean, the suppositive
declarative can only intersect with indicative mode and plain, intimate, and polite
speech level, as in example (89).
(89) Korean, declarative: suppositive: indicative mode: plain (Chang 1996: 89)
ku.i-nun cal cwumwusi-ci

he-top well sleep.hon-su
Sub- Ad Pr.TM–TM/EvM
‘He sleeps well, I suppose.’
The third subtype of declarative is the assertive in Nama Hottentot and Hmong
realized by particles. Compared with declarative (proper) which makes no asser-
tion as to the truth or falsity of the information given, the assertive declarative
asserts the truth of the information. It is similar to the subtypes of declarative in
Hidatsa (see Sect. 5.2.2) and the emphatic declarative in function.
The fourth subtype is the mirative, which is observed in Kham, Qiang, and
Nenets. It presents newly discovered or unexpected information and conveys
the speaker’s surprise about new information. It is similar to the admirative in
Albanian and Fongbe (see Sect. 5.2.4). In Qiang and Nenets, it has the same reali-
zation as the inferential evidential declarative, as in example (90).
(90) Qiang, declarative: evidential: inferential/mirative (Randy and Huang 2003:
200)
the: ɕtɕimi ʑdʑi-k

3sg heart sick-infe
Sub Pr-MN
‘He is unhappy!’ (just discovered; relatively sure, not guess)
The fifth subtype is the determinative, which is a unique subtype of declarative

only observed in Fongbe. It indicates shared background information and is real-
ized by the same determiner used in nominal groups, as in example (91).
(91) Fongbe, declarative: determinative (Lefebvre and Brousseau 2002: 481)
súnû ɔ́ gbà mɔ́tò ɔ́ ɔ́

man def destroy car def def
Sub Pr Com MN
‘The man destroyed the car.’ (as was said before)
‘The man has destroyed the car.’ (as we knew he would)
‘The man has destroyed the car.’ (as we knew the car would be destroyed)
Finally, we will introduce the promissive and the admonitive in Korean. The
former implies the speaker’s promise or willingness for a future act and the latter
expresses a warning, as in example (92).
(92a)3 Korean, declarative: promissive: plain (Chang 1996: 91)
nay-ka ka-ma
I-nom come-pr
Sub Pr-TM/MN
‘I promise that I’ll go.’
(92b) Korean, declarative: admonitive (Sohn 1999: 273)
nwun-i o-l-la
snow-nom come-pros-adm
Sub Pr-Fi ‘modality’-MN
‘It may snow, I warn you.’
There remain some subtypes of declarative clauses undiscussed, which are

observed only in Hup and Cavineña. An interesting finding is that Hup displays four
dimensions for the elaboration of declarative mood, and each dimension is elabo-
rated further in delicacy with the help of a set of grammaticalized realizations. Thus,
Hup is characterized by owning the most elaborate declarative mood system among
all the languages in our sample. Figure 5.5 illustrates the declarative mood system
of Hup. We have discussed the assessed declarative and the evidential declarative.
The discourse-marking declarative (the term is from Epps 2008) is concerned with
emphasis, focus, contrast, topicality, etc. It is realized by suffixes, enclitics, and par-
ticles that are added to nominals. The assessed declarative is termed ‘sentence-level
affect’ by Epps (2008), which realizes the meanings of affect, intensification,
emphasis, focus, and other related meanings realized at clause rank. The subtypes
of assessed declarative are realized by inner suffixes, boundary suffixes, enclitics,
and particles. The modal declarative is realized by suffixes, and thus, it is also a
grammaticalized dimension for the elaboration of declarative clauses. The function
Fig. 5.5 The declarative mood system of Hup
of each subtype of declarative in Hup is indicated by their names, and we will not
discuss them one by one. Cavineña has a similar declarative mood system. For the
declarative mood system of Cavineña, see the Appendix.
5.3 Chapter Summary
In this chapter, we made a cross-linguistic comparison of declarative mood. The

comparison is arranged into two parts: the first part concentrates on the functional
elements in declarative mood structure, and the second part focuses on the sub-
types of declarative mood and their realizations.
Concerning the functional elements in declarative mood structure, we mainly
focused on the Subject, the Predicator, and the Finite. With regard to the Subject,
it is observed in the mood structure of all languages in our sample. However, lan-
guages vary in the ellipsis of Subject. Along this parameter, languages in our sam-
ple can be classified into two groups: (i) those generally allowing the ellipsis of
Subject and (ii) those generally not allowing the ellipsis of Subject. The ellipsis
of Subject requires certain conditions met: either it can be recovered from con-
text of situation or co-text or it is indicated by verbal inflections. The ellipsis
of Subject is related to the role it plays in the realizations of mood system and
other interpersonal meanings. The Subject playing certain roles in the realiza-
tions of mood system or other interpersonal meanings usually cannot be omitted.
Languages also vary in terms of the realizations of (personal) Subject: it can be
realized by independent personal pronouns, clitic pronouns, or affix pronouns in
different languages. With regard to the Predicator, languages bear strong similar-
ity in displaying the Predicator in mood structure (except in equative clauses in
some languages) and in realizing it with verb groups; some languages can realize
the Predicator with adjectives. Regarding the Finite, languages are at variance with
each other in the meanings realized by Finite. Along this parameter, languages
in our sample can be roughly classified into three groups: (i) those whose Finite
mainly realizes the meaning of tense, (ii) those whose Finite mainly realizes the
meaning of aspect, and (iii) those whose Finite equally realizes the meanings of
tense and aspect. In addition to tense and aspect, other meanings realized by Finite
include modality and polarity (negation) in most languages in our sample and
mode in a few languages. Moreover, languages also differ from each other in the
realizations of Finite. Along this parameter, languages in our sample can be cate-
gorized into three groups: (i) those mainly deploying inflectional classes, (ii) those
mainly deploying non-inflectional classes, and (iii) those deploying both inflec-
tional and non-inflectional classes. Languages of each group display intra-lan-
guage consistency in the realizations of Finite. The classification of languages
along the parameter of realizations of Finite correlates with the morphological
types of languages: polysynthetic and agglutinative languages mainly fall into
group (i), isolating languages mainly fall into group (ii), and fusional languages
mainly fall into group (iii).
Languages also vary in the number of subtypes of declarative mood. The
declarative (proper) exits in all the languages in our sample except Hidatsa, where
each subtype of declarative mood involves the speaker’s certain attitudes toward
the truth value of the clause. The exclamative is another common subtype of
declarative. Other subtypes of declarative mood include the evidential declarative,
the emotion-involved and the assessed declarative, the emphatic and the focused
declarative, tenor-related declarative clauses in Korean, Javanese, Japanese, and
Thai, the negative declarative, the assertive declarative, the mirative and the admi-
rative, etc. Besides, languages are at variance with each other in the realizations
of declarative mood. Languages display similarity in the realizations of declara-
tive (proper) mood. The majority of the languages in our sample deploy no special
lexicogrammatical resources for the realization of declarative (proper). Some lan-
guages have realizations for the declarative (proper) mood, which can be affixes/
inflections, particles, and clitics in class. As for the realizations of exclamative
References 147
mood, languages bear similarity in deploying adverbs of degree or interrogative

words, but they vary in the degree of grammaticalization of the realizations of
exclamative mood: in languages where the realization is less grammaticalized, it is
realized by adverbs of degree and interrogative words merely; in languages where
the realization is more grammaticalized, it is realized by affixes; in languages
which locate somewhere between the languages with less and more grammatical-
ized realizations, it can be realized by initially-positioned interrogative words, par-
ticles, or clitics. The emotion-involved and the assessed declarative are commonly
realized by particles and clitics and seldom by affixes. In contrast, the evidential
declarative is commonly realized by affixes and clitics and seldom by particles.
Languages also vary in the realizations of emphatic declarative, focused declara-
tive, tenor-related declarative, and other subtypes of declarative mood.
More generalizations about the realizations of declarative mood system and
the semantic dimensions for the elaboration of declarative mood system will be
made in Chap. 8.
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Chapter 6
of Interrogative Mood
6.1 The Polar Interrogative Mood
6.1.1 Subtypes of Polar Interrogative Mood
The polar interrogative mood demands information about the polarity of the prop-
osition realized by the clause. It is supposed to elicit an answer which is either
positive or negative in polarity. It is observed in almost all the languages in our
sample and realized by a wide variety of morphosyntactic devices among differ-
ent languages. Exceptions are Teiwa, Bardi, and Ute, where the polar interrogative
mood is not observed, either because it is not grammaticalized (neither is it indi-
cated by intonation) or because it is replaced by certain other subtypes of polar
interrogative. In Teiwa, according to Klamer (2010), polar interrogative clauses
may have a final rising pitch, but the rise is less obvious than that in other lan-
guages and often there is no rising intonation, so that polar interrogative clauses
sound like declarative clauses. Thus, they are recognized as interrogatives by the
pragmatics of the situation, instead of being realized by lexicogrammatical devices
or indicated by intonation. In Bardi, according to Bowern (2012), there is an inter-
rogative particle nganyji and two interrogative clitics = (g)arda and = bard(a), but
they serve to realize the biased polar interrogative and the focused polar interrog-
ative respectively (see the following parts). Thus, there are no special lexicogram-
matical realizations for neutral polar interrogative clauses. To elicit information
about the polarity of the proposition, the speaker makes a statement of what he/
she thinks is right and the hearer confirms or denies it. This is probably the closest
way of forming polar interrogative clauses. The same is true for the case of Ute,
where the polar interrogative is seldom neutral with respect to the answer expected
(Givón 2011).
152 6 A Systemic Functional Typology of Interrogative Mood
In addition to the typical polar interrogative mood, there are some subtypes of
polar interrogative, among which the most frequently observed one is the focused
polar interrogative. Compared with the typical polar interrogative (or the focus-neu-
tral polar interrogative contrasting with the focused one) which elicits information
about the polarity of the whole proposition, the focused polar interrogative requires
information about the polarity of a certain part in the clause and the rest of the
clause is taken for granted. In English, this is done phonologically by stressing the
focused part or by using the cleft construction ‘is it…that…?’, the interrogative form
of ‘it is..that..’. The focused interrogative can be regarded as the counterpart of the
focused declarative discussed in Sect. 5.2.6. It is observed in 13 languages in our
sample, namely Ute, Hinuq, Kulina, Turkish, Telugu, Finnish, Bardi, Hup, Udmurt,
Nama Hottentot, Russian, Hindi, and Somali. Except Russia, Hindi, and Somali,
which are fusional languages, others are agglutinative languages. We will discuss
the realizations of focused polar interrogative in next section. Example (93) shows
the contrast between focus-neutral and focused polar interrogative mood in Russian.
(93a) Russian, interrogative: polar: focus-neutral (Bailyn 2012: 78)
smotritt li Ivan televizor

watch.prs.ipfv q Ivan.nom TV.acc
Fi ‘prsent.imperfective’.Pr MN Sub Com.CI
‘Is Ivan watching TV?’
(93b) Russian, interrogative: polar: focused
knigu li Anna pročitala

book.acc q Anna.nom read.pst.pfv.3sg
Com MN Sub.SI Fi ‘past.perfective’.Pr
‘Did Anna read a BOOK?’
The second subtype of polar interrogative is the emphatic polar interrogative.

It is observed in Hup and Hinuq. The emphatic polar interrogative indicates the
speaker’s involvement in the required information, whose function is similar to
what expressed by ‘really’ and ‘even’ in English. In Hinuq, it is realized by adding
the emphatic clitic to the polar interrogative, as in example (94). In Hup, it is real-
ized by adding the emphatic particle to the polar interrogative, as in example (95).
(94) Hinuq, interrogative: polar: neutral past forms: emphatic (Forker 2013: 417)
hado=gozon uži Ø-iƛ’i-ye

this=even son(g1) g1-go- pst.q
=EmM Sub -Pr-Fi ‘past’.EvM.MN

‘Even this son went away?’
6.1 The Polar Interrogative Mood 153
(95) Hup, interrogative: polar: emphatic (Epps 2008: 694)
b’oy-tég ʔɨn tĭ
study-fut 1pl emph.int
Pr-Fi ‘future’ Sub MN.EmM

‘Are we really going to study?’ (doubting, emphatic)
The third subtype is the biased polar interrogative. Compared with the neu-
tral polar interrogative which does not indicate the speaker’s expectation toward
either a positive or a negative answer, the biased polar interrogative indicates the
speaker’s bias to either a positive or a negative answer. It is observed in Spanish,
Persian, Kham, Bardi, Mapuche, Ọ̀kọ́, and Dagaare. Languages show similarity
in realizing the biased polar interrogative with particles. However, they are at var-
iance with each other in the meaning realized by biased polar interrogatives. In
Bardi and Mapuche, the biased polar interrogative only indicates the speaker’s bias
toward a positive answer, as in example (96); in contrast, the biased polar interrog-
ative in other languages can indicate the speaker’s bias either to a positive or to a
negative answer and the expectation usually agrees with the polarity of the propo-
sition, as in example (97).
(96) Bardi, interrogative: polar: biased: positive-biased (Bowern 2012: 617)
nganyji mi-n-jala-gal jiy-irr ooldoobal

q 2-tr-see-repst 2 m.poss-3aug things
MN SI- -Pr-Fi ‘recent past’ Com
‘Did you see your things?’
(97a) Spanish, interrogative: polar: biased (Lavid et al. 2010: 249)
¿acasa has oído algún comentario

Q have.ind.prs.2sg hear.ptcp any comment
MN Fi ‘present’.SI Pr Com
‘So (you) have heard something?’
(97b) Spanish, interrogative: polar: biased (Lavid et al. 2010: 248)
¿es que no te importamos

Q neg you matter.prs.1pl
MN Fi ‘negative’ Sub Pr.Fi ‘present’.CI
‘You don’t care about us?’
A special case is observed in Ọ̀kọ́, where there are two particles for biased
polar interrogatives. One indicates the speaker’s bias is identical to the polarity of
the proposition and the other indicates the speaker’s bias is opposite to the polar-
ity of the proposition, as in example (98). Moreover, in Dagaare, the biased polar
interrogative can be the initiative move eliciting an answer or the responsive move
echoing another speaker’s statement, as in example (99).
(98a) Ọ̀kọ́, interrogative: polar: biased: same with proposition (Akerejola 2005: 200)
ama a-bẹrẹ nọ iwu ẹgan

q it-suit you.pl body so
MN SI-Pr Com Ad
‘I hope you are happy with that?’
(98b) Ọ̀kọ́, interrogative: polar: biased: opposite to proposition (Akerejola

2005: 200)
a-bẹrẹ nọ iwu ẹgan so

it-suit you.pl body so q
SI-Pr Com Ad MN
‘You are not happy with that, are you?’
(99a) Dagaare, interrogative: polar: biased: initiative (Mwinlaaru 2018: 150)
nɩ dɩ na wɛ
2pl eat.pfv aff q
Sub Pr.Fi ‘perfective’ MN MN

‘You have eaten, right?’
(99b) Dagaare, interrogative: polar: biased: responsive (Mwinlaaru 2018: 151)
ʋ bɩɛrɛ ya
3sg be.sick.ipfv q
Sub Pr.Fi ‘imperfective’ MN

‘She was sick, you say?’
In addition to the focused, the emphatic, and the biased polar interrogative,
there are some special subtypes of polar interrogative. In Kham, the interrogative
6 A Systemic Functional Typology of Interrogative Mood 155
mood and the imperative mood intersect with another system which indicates the
speaker’s involvement in the proposition or proposal. The two options in the sys-
tem are direct and indirect. The direct interrogative, according to Watters (2004),
implies that the speaker has some kind of personal investment in the situation
being questioned, and, as a result, has a right to the information; in contrast, the
indirect interrogative is perceived as more polite, often implying little more than
curiosity. The direct interrogative is realized by the interrogative prefix ma- and
the indirect by the particle ro plus a nominalized predicate, as in example (100).
(100a) Kham, direct interrogative: polar (Watters 2004: 303)
ŋa-gohr ma-bənəi-wa
my-plow q-fix-3sg.pfv
Com MN-Pr-SI.Fi ‘perfective’

‘Did he fix my plow?’
(100b) Kham, indirect interrogative: polar (Watters 2004: 305)
nə-re: o-ba–o ro
your-husband 3sg-go-nmlz tag
Sub SI-Pr-MN MN
‘Your husband left?’ (It appears he did; am I right?)
In Finnish, there is a clitic which makes the interrogative clause sound milder
and more polite, as in example (101). The same clitic can also intersect with
imperative clauses.
(101) Finnish, interrogative: polar: mild (Karlsson 1999: 230)
on=ko=kan Pentti kotona

be.3sg.prs=q=part Pentti at home
Pr.SI.Fi ‘present’=MN=TM Sub Ad
‘I wonder if Pentti is at home?’
Besides, the polar interrogative in some languages can also intersect with those
systems which intersect with declarative clauses, such as the emotion-involve-
ment system, the assessment system, the speech level/speech style system, the
politeness system, etc. Example (102), (103) and (104) illustrate some of these
subtypes.
(102) Chinese, interrogative: polar: emotion-involved
tā lái-méi-lái ya
3sg come-not yet-come mp
Sub Pr-Fi ‘negative’.Fi ‘perfective’-Pr/MN EM

‘Has s/he come?’ (with a tone of impatience)
(103) Vietnamese, interrogative: polar: assessed (Nguyễn 1997: 240)
chị bịnh sao

you sick or somehow
Sub Pr MN
‘Are you sick, sister?’ (mild surprise)
(104a) Javanese, interrogative: polar: ngoko (Errington 1988: 91)
apa kowe njupuk sega semono

q you take rice that much
MN.TM Sub.TM Pr.TM Com.TM Com.TM
‘Did you take that much rice?’
(104b) Javanese interrogative: polar: madya (Errington 1988: 90)
napa sampéyan njupuk/mendhet sega/sekul semonten

q you take rice that much
MN.TM Sub.TM Pr.TM Com.TM Com.TM
‘Did you take that much rice?’
6.1.2 Realizations of Polar Interrogative Mood
Now, we will turn to the realizations of polar interrogative mood. We will focus on
the realizations of typical polar interrogative clauses and focused polar interroga-
tive clauses. The realizations of other subtypes of polar interrogative mood have
been surveyed in last section.
Table 6.1 Realizations of polar interrogative

Realizations Numbers Languages
Intonation 12 Chiini, Spanish, Armenian, Greek, Santali, Nenets, Udmurt, etc.
Particle 28 Chinese, Thai, Hmong, Chiini, Fongbe, French, Welsh, Japanese,
etc.
Inflection 11 Korean, Nenets, Hidatsa, Quechua, Tauya, Diegueño, Maidu,
Nama, etc.
Construction 7 Chinese, Qiang, Manchu, Thai, Vietnamese, Nenets, Diegueño
Clitic 6 Turkish, Telugu, Hinuq, Finnish, Kulina, Mian
Sequence 4 English, German, French, Hup
The polar interrogative is the mood that displays most realizational variation
among different languages. Table 6.1 sets out the classes deployed in the reali-
zations of polar interrogative mood and the number of the languages where each
class is deployed. Teiwa, Bardi, and Ute, where the typical polar interrogative is
absent, are not included in the statistic.
Table 6.1 shows the classes deployed in the realizations of polar interroga-
tive mood include intonation, particles, inflections, constructions, clinics, and
sequence. Some languages, such as Chinese, French, Mian, Diegueño, etc., deploy
two classes and Nenets deploys three. Thus, the total number is 68 instead of 57.
Almost all languages can indicate polar interrogative mood with rising intona-
tion. One exception is Cavineña, where polar interrogative clauses do not have any
specific interrogative intonation, or any obligatory marking that would distinguish
these clauses from declaratives. In the majority of languages, the rising intonation
cooccurs with lexicogrammatical devices, whereas in some languages, such as in
Spanish, Lango, Armenian, Udmurt, Pitjantjatjara, Puyuma, Mapuche, and Pipil,
the rising intonation contour is the only way to realize typical polar interrogative
clauses.
Concerning lexicogrammatical devices, the particle is the most widely
deployed class in the realizations of polar interrogative mood. This has been
proved by previous typological studies (cf. Dryer 2005a, b, 2013). Table 6.2
shows the polar interrogative particles deployed in the languages in our sample.
Two possible generalizations can be made about the findings. Firstly, in the real-
izations of polar interrogatives, particles are deployed by languages of differ-
ent morphological types, but they are deployed more frequently in isolating and
fusional languages than in agglutinative languages. Among the 28 languages listed
in Table 6.2, six are considered agglutinative languages (six among 25); the oth-
ers are isolating languages (seven among nine), fusional languages (nine among
13), and languages whose morphological types are not identified (six among13).
Among the six languages whose morphological types are not identified, Javanese,
Ọ̀kọ́ and Dagaare are more like isolating languages along the parameter of reali-
zations of Finite—they mainly make use of non-inflectional classes in the realiza-
tions of Finite. Besides, among the six agglutinative languages listed in Table 6.2,
the particles in Qiang and Manchu behave like affixes or clitics because they and
Table 6.2 Mood Negotiator: polar interrogative realized by particles

Mor Languages MN: polar realized by particles Position Other realizations
iso Chinese ma; méi (not yet), bu (not) Final Pr^bú/méi^Pr
iso Thai máy, rʉ plàaw (or no), rʉ́ yaŋ (or still) Final Pr^mây^Pr
iso Hmong lào (or), ci tau (not yet); pùa Fin./ini.
iso Chiini wala (or) Final Intonation
iso Fongbe À Final
iso Saramaccan ɔ́, nɔ́ (nɔ́ɔ just) Final
iso Hausa kō, anyā̀ , shîn Initial
fu French est-ce que (is it what) Initial Fi^Sub
fu Hindi kya (what) Initial
fu Greek mήπως (I wonder), ή όχι (or no), Initial Intonation
aραγε (could it be the case that)
fu Persian âyâ Initial
fu Welsh a Initial
fu Russian li
fu Latvian vai Initial
fu Albanian a Initial
fu Somali ma Initial
agg Qiang -na (2sg), -ŋua Final Pr-a^mə-Pr-a
agg Manchu -na, -o; ni(n) Final Pr^Pr-neg^MN:p
agg Japanese ka Final
agg Cavineña are Initial
agg Nyigina gurru (whether) Initial
agg Mian mō+bleka (or) – Pr = a
? Ọ̀kọ́ i/u, hon Fin./ini.
? Dagaare bɩ Final
? Jamsay mà Final
? Arabic hal Initial
? Javanese apa, napa, menapa; durung, dèrèng Ini./fin.
(not yet)
? Tagalog ba –
the words they follow can be written as one word. In Mian, the particle usually
is used in conjunction with another interrogative clitic = mō. Secondly, the parti-
cle is the major class deployed by isolating and fusional languages in the realiza-
tions of polar interrogative. In the nine isolating languages covered in our sample,
except Teiwa, where polar interrogative clauses are absent, and Vietnamese, which
deploys constructions for polar interrogative and particles for assessed polar inter-
rogatives, the others all deploy particles to realize polar interrogatives. Among
the 13 fusional languages covered in our sample, except four languages that
only make use of sequence (English and German) or intonation (Spanish and
Armenian), the others all deploy particles in the realizations of polar interrogative,
though some of them also have other devices at their disposal. In contrast, agglu-
tinative languages deploy affixes and clitics more often in the realizations of polar
interrogative (see the following part).
Moreover, it can be found that the particles realizing polar interrogative clauses
in many languages are grammaticalized from certain lexical items, constructions,
or clauses. In Chinese, Thai, Hmong Njua, Javanese, and Greek, some particles
are grammaticalized from the disjunctive construction ‘A-not-A/A-or-not’. In
Hmong Njua, Koyra Chiini, Nyigina, Hindi, and Saramaccan Creole, the particles
are grammaticalized from lexical items, such as ‘or’, ‘whether’, ‘what’, and ‘just’.
The process is clear in Saramaccan Creole, where the nɔ́ retains the explicitly min-
imizing semantics of its source nɔ́ɔ ‘just’ while its derivant ɔ́ has bleached into the
neutral function of marking polar interrogative (cf. McWhorter and Good 2012).
In French and Greek, some particles are grammaticalized from a clause.
Besides, it can be observed Chinese, Qiang Manchu and Thai, in addition to
interrogative particles, also make use of the disjunctive construction ‘A-not-A’ to
realize polar interrogatives. It requires further studies to find out whether in these
languages there exists a systemic contrast between the polar interrogative realized
by particles and the one realized by disjunctive constructions. We will discuss the
case in Chinese here. Previous SFL studies hold the view that the interrogative
particle ma in Chinese realizes a biased polar interrogative clause whereas the
disjunctive construction ‘A-not-A’ realizes a neutral polar interrogative clause
(Halliday and MacDonald 2004; Li 2007; Yao and Chen 2017). If only seen ‘from
below’, the two types of polar interrogative do contrast with each other system-
ically. However, if seen ‘from above’, without considering other factors, such
as intonation and context, the two structurally differentiated polar interrogatives
display no semantic distinction. In other words, the particle ma in Chinese natu-
rally realizes a neutral polar interrogative rather than a biased one, as in example
(105).
(105a) Chinese, interrogative: polar (Halliday and MacDonald 2004: 334)
nǐ qù ma
you go mp
Sub Pr MN
‘Are you going?’
(105b) Chinese, interrogative: polar (Halliday and MacDonald 2004: 334)
nǐ qù-bú-qù
you go-neg-go
Sub Pr/MN
‘Are you going?’
The polar interrogative realized by ma can indicate the speaker’s bias to a cer-
tain answer under some circumstances. For example, when an emphatic stress is
placed on the Predicator qù in example (105a), it indicates the speaker expects a
negative answer. Besides, if used in the situation where the speaker is enticing the
addressee to do something, the clause in example (105a) then indicates the speaker
expects a positive answer, and the same is true for the case of example (105b).
In another case, as in example (105c), the particle ma can indicate the speaker’s
a positive bias. But this meaning is not realized by the particle ma alone, but by
the construction ‘bù…ma’, which realizes a rhetorical question instead of a typical
polar interrogative. In almost all languages, a rhetorical question (negative polar
interrogative) indicates the speaker’s positive bias. Therefore, if only lexicogram-
mar is taken into consideration, there exists no semantic distinction between the
polar interrogative realized by ma and the one realized by ‘A-not-A’ in Chinese.
(105c) Chinese, interrogative: confirmative (Halliday and MacDonald 2004: 334)
nǐ bú qù ma
you neg go mp
Sub Fi ‘negative’/MN Pr MN
‘Aren’t you going?’
The nuance between the two types of polar interrogative has nothing to do with
semantics, but has something to do with the context where they can be used. For
example, if the speaker surprisingly realizes that the addressee will also go some-
where with him whereas before he thought the addressee would not go, then only
the clause in example (105a) can be used in conjunction with some phonological
features which are absent when the clause is used in ‘neutral’ context. Besides,
only the polar interrogative realized by ‘A-not-A’ can intersect with the emo-
tion-involvement system. In other word, the Mood Negotiator ma and Emotion
Markers (one type of Mood Negotiator; see Sects. 5.2.4 and 6.1.1), such as ya, wa,
ne, etc., are exclusive to each other.
We will turn to the second lexicogrammatical device used in the realizations
of polar interrogative, the construction. Except Diegueño, the other six languages
listed in Table 6.1 all deploy the ‘A-not-A’ construction in the realizations of polar
interrogative. In Chinese and Thai, the construction ‘Pr-neg-Pr’ alone functions
as the Mood Negotiator, as in example (105b); in Qiang, Manchu, and Nenets,
another marker is involved in this construction and they together function as
the Mood Negotiator, as in example (106), (107), and (108).
(106) Manchu, interrogative: polar (Gorelova 2002: 325)
songgo-ho songgo-haku-n
cry-prf cry-prf.neg-q
Pr-Fi ‘perfect’-MN/MN
‘Did one cry or not?’
(107) Qiang, interrogative: polar (Randy and Huang 2003: 182)
ʔũ ʑdʑyta: ɦa-qə-n-a ha-mə-qə-n-a

2sg Chengdu dir-go-2sg-q dir-neg-go-2sg-q
Sub Com Fi ‘perfective’-Pr-SI-MN/MN

‘Did you go to Chengdu?’
(108) Nenets, interrogative: polar: past tense (Nikolaeva 2014: 207)
Wera to-sa n’i-sa

Wera come-q neg-q
Sub Pr-MN/MN
‘Did Wera come or not?’
The interrogative construction in Diegueño involves the use of the interrogative

word yu which inflects for person. The meaning of the interrogative word yu corre-
sponds with that of ‘is it that…?’, as in example (109).
(109) Diegueño, interrogative: polar (Langdon 1966: 260)
[m-əxano·-c] +m-ə-yu
2-be sick-sub +2-ə-be
SI-Pr SI- -MN
‘Are you sick?’
The third class deployed in the realizations of polar interrogative is the affix/
inflection. It is deployed in 11 languages, such as Korean, Nenets, Hidatsa, Tauya,
Diegueño, Maidu, West Greenlandic, etc. All these languages are agglutinative
(including polysynthetic) languages. Korean, West Greenlandic, Maidu and Tauya,
as discussed in last chapter, also deploy the affix/inflection to realize declarative
clauses. Kham deploys an interrogative prefix. It realizes the direct polar interrog-
ative which indicates the speaker has some kind of personal investment in the sit-
uation being questioned and has a right to the information, as in example (100a).
Except Kham, other languages all deploy suffixes or inflections, as in example
(110) and (111).
(110) West Greenlandic, interrogative: polar (Fortescue 1984: 4)
niri-riir-pit
eat-already-q.2sg
Pr-Fi ‘aspect’-MN.SI
‘Have you already eaten?’
(111) Tauya, interrogative: polar (MacDonald 1990: 206)
ni-ʔa-nae
eat-2sg.fut-q
Pr-SI.Fi ‘future’-MN
‘Will you eat?’
In Hinuq and Nenets, the polar interrogative intersects with tense system. As
mentioned in Sect. 5.2.5, the tense system in Hinuq has to do with evidentiality.
The unwitnessed past forms imply that the situation or event is not witnessed by
the speaker, whereas the neutral past forms conventionally indicate that the speaker
is an eye-witness to the situation. In declarative clauses, the neutral past forms
are indicated by the suffix -s, while in interrogative clauses, they are indicated by
suffixes -i/-y/-(y)e/-iye. Thus, the suffix for the neutral past forms in interrogative
clauses is a fusion of the Mood Negotiator, the Evidentiality Marker and the Finite
‘tense’, as in example (112). In Nenets, the past tense in declarative clauses is
unmarked, whereas in interrogative clauses, it is always marked by the suffix -sa.
(112)
Hinuq, interrogative: polar: neutral past forms: focus-neutral (Forker
2013: 189)
mežu-z b-aši-ye hagbe

you.obl.pl-dat hpl-find-pst.q they
Sub.SI- -Pr-Fi ‘past’.EvM.MN Com
‘Did you find them?’
The fourth class deployed in the realizations of polar interrogative is the clitic.
It is deployed in seven languages, viz. Turkish, Telugu, Hinuq, Finnish, Kulina,
Mian, and Mongolian, which are all agglutinative languages. Except in Mian and
Mongolian, the interrogative clitic in other languages can be attached to two kinds
of element. When it is attached to the Predicator, it realizes a focus-neutral polar
interrogative and when it is attached to the element focused, it realizes a focused
polar interrogative, which requires information about the polarity of a certain part in
the clause. Example (113) illustrates the focus-neutral and focused polar in Telugu.
(113a)
Telugu, interrogative: polar: focus-neutral (Krishnamurti and Gwynn
1985: 284)
kamala moguDi-too sinimaa-ku well-in-d = aa

Kamala husband-with cinema-to go-pst-3sg.f = q
Sub Ad Ad Pr-Fi ‘past’-SI = MN
‘Did Kamala go to a movie with her husband?’
(113b) Telugu, interrogative: polar: focused (Krishnamurti and Gwynn 1985: 284)
kamala=aa moguDi-too sinimaa-ku well-in-di

Kamala=q husband-with cinema-to go-pst-3sg.f
Sub=MN Ad Ad Pr-Fi ‘past’-SI
‘Was it Kamala that went to a movie with her husband?’
Previous typological studies on polar interrogative mood usually discuss

the particle and the clitic together, regarding the clitic one kind of particles (see
Dryer 2005a, b, 2013). But it is better to take the clitic as an independent class,
or at least to discuss clitics and affixes together. As our finding shows, particles
are mainly deployed in isolating and fusional languages, whereas clitics, together
with affixes/inflections, are mainly deployed in agglutinative languages. Thus, it
might be more helpful in making typological generalizations to discuss particles
and clitics independently.
The fifth class deployed in the realizations of polar interrogative clauses is the
sequence. It is deployed in English, German, French, and Hup. In English and
German, the sequence is the only realization of polar interrogative. French, in
addition to sequence, also deploys the interrogative particle est-ce que. In Hup,
both declarative and interrogative clauses display two types of sequence, either
Subject ^ Predicator or Predicator ^ Subject, and the two types of sequence indi-
cate different meanings. Thus, the sequence is not the only device distinguish-
ing interrogative clauses from declarative clauses. The declarative clause is also
marked by the declarative suffix -Vh, which is never deployed in interrogative
clauses though it is optional in declarative clauses. Concerning interrogative
clauses, the sequence ‘Predicator ^ Subject’ realizes the neutral polar interrogative,
whereas the sequence ‘Subject ^ Predicator’ is the congruent realization of focused
polar interrogatives, as in example (114).
(114a) Hup, interrogative: polar: neutral (Epps 2008: 784)
ʔəg-naʔ-yɨʔ-ɨy nɨŋ
drink-lose.consciousness-tel-dynm 2.pl
Pr-Pr-Fi ‘telic’-Fi ‘dynamic’ Sub
‘Did you all get drunk?’
(114b) Hup, interrogative: polar: focused (Epps 2008: 788)
nɨ̆ hɔ̆ ̃ p pog-ó ʔam wǽd-ǽʔ

1sg.poss fish big-q 2sg eat-q
Com-MN Sub Pr-MN
‘It was my big fish you ate?’
Thus far, we have made a comparison of the realizations of (typical) polar

interrogative, now we will make a brief survey of the realizations of focused polar
interrogative, which is observed in 13 languages. Most languages (10 among 13)
make use of the same Mood Negotiator that realizes the (typical) polar interroga-
tive, but it is added to the focused element, instead of the Predicator, as in exam-
ple (113). In these languages, the Predicator cannot become the focus, whereas in
Somali and Nama Hottentot, in addition to the Mood Negotiator that realizes the
polar interrogative, there is an additional Focus Marker added to the mood struc-
ture, as in example (115). In Nama Hottentot, in addition to the Focus Marker,
another way to realize the focused polar interrogative is to initialize the focused
element. Thus, the Predicator in Nama Hottentot can become the focus element, as
in example (116). To initialize the focused element is also deployed in Hup, as in
example (114b).
(115) Somali, interrogative: polar: focused (Saeed 1999: 198)
ma Cáli bàa teg-áy

q Ali foc go-pst
MN Sub MN Pr-Fi ‘past’
‘Did ALI go?/Was it Ali who went?’
(116a) Nama Hottentot, interrogative: polar: focused (Hagman 1973: 268)
≠ʔũú kè //ʔĩip-à //ańʔè

eat rpst he-sub the meat
Pr Fi ‘remote past’ Sub-MN Com
‘Did he EAT the meat?’
(116b) Nama Hottentot, interrogative: polar: focused (Hagman 1973: 268)
≠ʔũú kxa kè //ʔĩip-à //ańʔè

eat q.emph rpst he-sub the meat
Pr MN.EmM Fi ‘remote past’ Sub-MN Com
‘Did he EAT the meat?’
Up to now, we have made cross-linguistic comparisons of the subtypes and the

realizations of polar interrogative. The (typical) polar interrogative is observed in
almost all the languages in our sample. The focused polar interrogative is mainly
observed in agglutinative and fusional languages, where they are realized by add-
ing the Mood Negotiator to the focused element. Another commonly observed
subtype of polar interrogative is the biased polar interrogative. It is mainly real-
ized by particles. Other subtypes of polar interrogative include the emphatic polar,
6.2 The Elemental Interrogative Mood 165
the indirect polar, the mild polar, etc. Polar interrogative clauses can also intersect
with the emotion-involvement system, the assessment system, the speech level/
style system, and the politeness system in relevant languages. Concerning the
realizations of polar interrogative, it is found that isolating and fusional languages
mainly deploy particles, whereas agglutinative languages mainly deploy affixes/
inflections and clitics.
6.2 The Elemental Interrogative Mood
6.2.1 Subtypes of Elemental Interrogative Mood
The elemental interrogative is the mood that demands information about a par-
ticipant or circumstance that is selected by an interrogative word. It is observed
in all the languages in our sample. It is less frequently elaborated than the polar
interrogative. One dimension for the categorization of elemental interrogatives is
according to the type of information they demand: either the participant or the cir-
cumstance, either animate or inanimate participants, etc. This dimension applies to
all the languages.
Huallaga Quechua is the only language in the sample that elaborates the ele-
mental interrogative further in delicacy along a dimension that applies to elemen-
tal interrogative exclusively. The two types of elemental interrogative in Huallaga
Quechua are realized by two interrogative suffixes: one realizes the elemental
interrogative 1, which indicates the speaker presupposes that the addressee knows
the answer to the question being asked, and the other realizes the elemental inter-
rogative 2, which indicates the speaker does not presuppose that the addressee
knows the answer to the question. This systemic distinction is not observed in
polar interrogative clauses in Huallaga Quechua. Example (117) illustrates the two
subtypes of elemental interrogative in Huallaga Quechua.
(117a) Huallaga Quechua, interrogative: elemental 1 (Weber 1989: 20)
pi-ta-taq qoyku-shka-nki
who-obj-q give-prf-2
IW/Com- -MN Pr-Fi ‘perfect’-SI
‘To Whom did you give it?’
(117b) Huallaga Quechua, interrogative: elemental 2 (Weber 1989: 76)
pi-raq Chaya-mu-sha
who-q arrive-afar-3prf
IW/Sub-MN Pr-Ad-SI.Fi ‘perfect’
‘Who might have arrived?’
Besides, what is more commonly observed is that the elemental interrogative

intersects with those interpersonal systems that also intersect with polar interrog-
ative clauses. For example, the direct–indirect distinction made in polar interroga-
tives in Kham also applies to elemental interrogatives; the emphasis system in Hup
and Hinuq and the assessment system in Nenets and Mapuche, which intersect
with polar interrogative clauses, also serve as dimensions for the classification of
elemental interrogative clauses. More examples include the emotion-involvement
system in Chinese and Thai, the assessment system in Vietnamese, the speech
level/style system in Korean and Javanese, the politeness system in Japanese and
Thai, etc. Example (118) and (119) illustrate the assessed and the emphatic ele-
mental interrogative in Mapuche and Hinuq.
(118) Mapuche, interrogative: elemental: assessed (Smeets 2008: 330)
chumül mungel am amu-a-y-m-ün eymün

when exactly part go-nrld-ind-2-pl you
IW/Ad Ad MN Pr-Fi ‘future’-MN-SI–SI Sub
‘When exactly do you go?’ (for more precise information; to express surprise or to provoke)
(119) Hinuq, interrogative: elemental: emphatic (Forker 2013: 428)
haw nete = yem y-uh-an

she when = doubt g2-die-intfut
Sub IW/Ad = EmM -Pr-Fi ‘intentional future’

‘When will she ever die?’
6.2.2 Realizations of Elemental Interrogative Mood
Now we will move to the realizations of elemental interrogatives. Languages

bear striking similarity in displaying the Interrogative Word (hereafter IW) in
the structure of elemental interrogatives. The basic IWs in each language are set
out in Table 6.3. Due to space limitations, some less frequently observed IWs
are not listed in the table. Besides, many languages have more than one inter-
rogative words as the realizations of each type of IW. Taking the IW for animate
Participant1 (who, whom) as an example, many languages make a distinction
1 The Participant, the Circumstance, the Locative, the Manner, etc. are functional elements in
transitivity structure that realize ideational metafunction.
6.2 The Elemental Interrogative Mood 167
between nominative case and accusative case, such as who and whom in English,
qui and quoi in French, we and webe in Manchu, kto and kogo in Russian.
Moreover, many languages have different interrogative words for different num-
bers and genders, such as ɲà (who, singular) and ɲàgí (who, plural) in Lango,
kúma (who, masculine) and túma (who, feminine) in Somali. In addition to case,
number and gender, Santali and Ute also make a distinction between referential
and non-referential interrogative words. The referential is used when the identity
of the person or object is known to the addresser, and the non-referential is used
when it is uncertain. In Dagaare, the IW intersects with number and textual mean-
ing, and therefore, three interrogative words for animate Participant are observed,
viz. ãa (thematic, singular), anʋ (focal, singular) and a mɩnɛ (thematic and focal,
plural). In Japanese, the IW for animate Participant intersects with honorification,
thus Japanese has dare for ‘who’ and donate for honorific ‘who’. Many distinc-
tions discussed above may also apply to inanimate Participant ‘what’. The IW for
Location intersects with case more frequently. For example, Finnish has four types
of ‘where’, namely missä (where), mistä (from where, whence), mihin (where to,
more precise), and minne (where to, less precise). Some languages have IWs real-
ized by nominal group, such as mɛ̀ tɛ́ (person-which, who) and fí (tɛ́) (place-which,
where) in Fongbe, saa foo (which time, when) in Koyra Chiini. Due to space lim-
itations, for each type of IW, only one interrogative word is offered in Table 6.3.
The number in the table refers to the position in the clause where the IW occurs
(0 = in situ; 1 = initial; 2 = flexible).
Though languages bear striking similarity in displaying the IW in the mood
structure of elemental interrogative clauses, they vary in several dimensions con-
cerning the mood structure. The first dimension is the position of IW in the clause;
the second dimension is the number of devices deployed in the mood structure; the
third dimension is the systemic relationship between the polar interrogative and
the elemental interrogative. Table 6.4 sets out the matrix of the three dimensions.
Along the first dimension, the languages in our sample can be classified into
two groups: (i) those whose IWs occur in clause-initial position and (ii) those
whose IWs occur in non-clause-initial position. The position of IWs in languages
of the second group can be either in situ or flexible. The number of languages
of group (i) is 24 and that of group (ii) is 36. A possible typological generaliza-
tion can be made concerning this dimension. Fusional languages show a slight
tendency toward positioning IWs initially (10 among 13); in contrast, aggluti-
native languages (21 among 25) show a strong tendency and isolating languages
(six/seven among nine) show a slight tendency toward positioning IWs non-in-
itially. The three isolating languages positioning IWs initially are Koyra Chiini,
Saramaccan Creole, and Fongbe. In Koyra Chiini, the IW also occurs in situ,
though a clause-initial position is more normal. And in Saramaccan Creole, the
poison of IW is influenced by English. Thus, isolating languages may also be sup-
posed to position IWs non-initially.
Along the second dimension, languages in our sample fall into two groups:
(i) those merely deploying interrogative words realizing elemental interrogative
clauses and (ii) those deploying interrogative words and another grammatical
Table 6.3 Basic Interrogative Words in different languages and their positions
168
Languages Participant Deictic Location Manner Cause

Animate Inanimate Which How many Place Time Means Reason
Chinese shuí shénme nǎ-gè duōshǎo nǎlǐ shénme zěnme wèishíme 0
shíhòu
Qiang sə niyi niyi-le na-wu tca-la niyi-lai ni-ke niyi-xuani 2
Kham su: kata kha: kan- khərkə kəi jəidə karao 0
Hmong lȇng tẘ kláng ci tẘ pì cåw hăo tẘ tha̐u tẘ ua cång 0
Thai khray năy thâwrày thîi năy mʉ̂arày yaŋŋay 0
Korean nwuku mues ani eti encey ettehkey way 0
Japanese dare nani dore doko itsu doo naze 0
Turkish kim ne hangi kac hani ne zaman niye 2
Mongolian xen yuu/n aly//n xe-d xaa xedzee xe-r yuun-d 0
Manchu we ai ai; ya udu aide aide ainu 0
Arabic man maaðaa ʔayy kam ʔayn mataa kayfa limaaðaa 1
Puyuma manay manay isuwa miasama isuwa asuwa daw 2
Tagalog sino ano aling ilan nasaan kailan paano bakit 1
Javanese sapa apa endi pira endi kapan kepriyé 0
Teiwa yilag amidan ta'a yiran ita'a taxaran gigala(l) 2
Vietnamese ai gì̀ bao-nhiêu nào bao-giò làm-sao tại-sao 0
Santali ɔkɔ oka tinək oka tis ceka/cikə cedak 0
Telugu ewaru ēmiti ēdi ekkada eppudu enduku 0
Hindi kɔn kya kitna kəhã kəb kɛse kyõ 0
Persian ki ce chand ta kojā key cetowr cerā 0
English who what which how many where when how why 1
German wer was wo wann wie warum 1
Welsh pwy be(th) pa sawl, ble pryd sut/shwt pam 1
6 A Systemic Functional Typology of Interrogative Mood
(continued)
French qui que quel combien où quand comment pourqupi 1
Spanish quién qué cuál/es cuánto dónde cuándo cómo 1
Greek ποιος τι πόσος πού πότε πώς γιατί 1
Russian kto čto kakoj skol'ko gde kogda kak počemu 1
Latvian kas kas kurs̆ cik kur kad kā kāpēc 1
Albanian kush c̦farë sa ku kur si pse 1
Armenian ov inc̆̕ or k̕ani ur erb inc̆̕pes inc̆̕u 1
Hinuq ɬu se nišƛa somo ni nete deru sira 2
Nenets xībʹa ŋəmke xənʹaŋi° sʹan° xənʹana sʹax°h xəncʹer°q ŋəmke-h 2
Finnish kuku mikä mikä missä koska miten miksi 1
Udmurt kin ma kud ke̮ńa 2
Somali kúma máxay ímmisa xaggée góorma sidée máxay…ú 0
Hausa wā̀ mḕ yàushē 2
Lango ɲà ɲɔ̀ mɛ́nɛ́ àdî kàkwènè àwènè níɲɲɔ̂ pìɲɔ̀ 0

Chiini mey maa foo marje man saa foo mote maa se 1
Jamsay ǎː ì ñé yɔ́kkyɔ̀ àːŋá yɔ̌ː yàŋárnà yɔ̌ː-jìn ì ñé jɛ́ 0
Dagaare ãa bʋʋ buor a ŋmɩn nyɩn debor ŋmɩŋmɩn bʋʋ so 0
Ọ̀kọ́ ẹ̀ra ẹ̀na ẹ̀ẹ́na ẹ́tẹka ẹ̀mọ̀óna gàna ẹ̀naǎ 1
Fongbe mɛ̀ tɛ́ àní ɖè-tɛ́ nàbí fí (tɛ́) hwènù tɛ́ nɛ́gbɔ̀n (é)-tɛ́ (w)útú 1
Nama tarí- taré- mãá maátíkó mãápá mãátí taré!ʔáróma 1
Greenlandic kina suna su-mi qanuq suur 0
Diegueño ma·p ?u·c mu·yum ma·y mu?yu mu?yum 1
Maidu homóni hèsí homó homón hesása hesádom 1
169
(continued)
170

Hidatsa tápeʔowa táapa 0
Ute ʹáa ʹágna-rʉ̱ ʹagha-vaa ʹanɵ-khwa ʹagha-ni ʹagha-nẖ 2
Pipil ka: ta: kadiya anka ka:nka ke:man ke:n ke:nka 1
Hup ʔŭy hɨ-̃ n'ɨh hɨ́ p̃ hɨ-̃ ʔăp hɨ́ t̃ hɨ-̃ m'ǽ hɨ́ p̃ hɨnɨykeyóʔ 1
Kulina nehekohari neheko nehekohari nehekoma neheko = za nehekoma na- nehekoma na- neheko towi 0
na-
Cavineña ai ai eje = ke eju ejetupu ejebucha…-e ejebuchajuatsu 1
Quechua pi ima mayqan ayka may imay imanir 2
Saramaccan ambɛ́ andí ṹ ṹ mɛ́ni naṹsɛ́ ̃ naṹtẽ́ ṹfá andí makéi 1
Mapuche iney ~ iniy chem chem mufü chew chumül chumngechi chumngelu 1
Pitjantjatjara ŋanalu nja jaltjitu jaltji jalaṛa jaltjijaltji njaku 1
Nyigina yaŋ̇gi yaŋ̇gi dynana yaŋgi-yunu ?
Bardi anggaba anggi jana nganyjirrgoor- jana baanigarr nyirroo anggi 2
doo
Mian wan fatnàmin fatnàmin fàb fatnàmin dim fatnàmin fatnàmin 0
ōta
Tauya we wame mafo mafi asa wametipa wame-pe 2
Table 6.4 Dimensions of variation in the realizations of elemental interrogative

Classes IW: non-initial IW: initial Total
Polar= Polar+ Polar= Polar+
iw 25: Chinese/ 15: Greek/ 40
Hindi/Kham/ Welsh/Russian/etc.
Bardi/etc.
iw+a/i 3: Hidatsa/ 2: Greenlandic/ 1: Hup 3: Maidu/Nama/ 9
Tauya/Quechua Korean Diegueño
iw+p 1: Somali 2: Japanese/ 1: Ọ̀kọ́ 1: (Tagalog) 5
Qiang
iw+c 2: Mongolian/ 1: Hinuq 3
Mian
iw+seq 3: English/ 3
French/German
Total 31 5 17 7 60
class, such as affixes/inflections, clitics, particles, and sequence. The number of

languages of group (i) is 40, and that of group (ii) is 20. Another possible gen-
eralization can be made concerning this dimension. Isolating languages display
a strong tendency (all the nine isolating languages in our sample) toward merely
deploying interrogative words to realize elemental interrogative clauses; fusional
languages show a slight tendency (9 among 13) with this regard; agglutinative lan-
guages show no preference as to merely deploying interrogative words or deploy-
ing both interrogative words and other grammatical classes simultaneously: 14
agglutinative languages belong to group (i), as in example (120), and 11 belong to
group (ii), as in example (121).
(120) Kulina, interrogative: elemental (Dienst 2014: 190)
kahawiri neheko kha i-na-hari

ocelot what bite.dead 3-aux-narr.m
Sub IW/Com Pr SI-Fi-EvM.SI
‘What (kind of animal) did the ocelot kill?’
(121) Japanese, interrogative: elemental: politeness unmarked (Iwasaki 2013: 15)
hanako-wa ken-ni nani-o yarimashi-ta k

Hanako-top Ken-dat what-acc give.pol-pst q
Sub- Com IW/Com Pr.TM-Fi ‘past’ MN

‘What did Hanako give to Ken?’
The third dimension is concerned with the systemic relationship between the
polar interrogative and the elemental interrogative. In the mood system of each
language, the polar interrogative and the elemental interrogative are grouped
together into the less delicate mood option of interrogative mood due to the
semantic similarity between them: they both demand information. The interrog-
ative then contrasts with the declarative due to the semantic difference between
them: one demands information and the other gives information. In the mood sys-
tems of some languages, in addition to the semantic similarity, the polar interroga-
tive and the elemental interrogative are grouped together also due to the structural
similarity. For example, in Japanese, the interrogative particle ka is deployed both
in polar interrogative and in elemental interrogative; similarly, in English, the
sequence of Finite ^ Subject is deployed both in polar interrogative and in elemen-
tal interrogative. In contrast, in Chinese, the interrogative particle ma and the inter-
rogative construction ‘Pr-neg-Pr’ are only deployed in polar interrogative mood.
Those languages that display structural similarity between polar interrogative and
elemental interrogative are listed in the column labeled ‘polar+’ in Table 6.3 and
those that display no such structural similarity are listed in the column labeled
‘polar=’. Example (122) and (123) display the structural similarity between the
polar and the elemental interrogative in Diegueño and Qiang.
(122a) Diegueño, interrogative: polar (Langdon 1966: 223)
Ø-nur-kəx-a
3-know-maybe-q
SI-Pr-Fi ‘modality’-MN
‘Would (s)he/they know?’
(122b) Diegueño, interrogative: elemental (Langdon 1966: 260)
ʔu·c m-aṛ-a
what 2-want it-q
IW/Com SI-Pr-MN
‘What do you want?’
(123a) Qiang, interrogative: polar (Randy and Huang 2003: 180)
ʔile ʐme ŋua-n-ŋua

2pl Qiang cop-2sg-q
Sub Com Pr-SI-MN

‘Are you (pl) Qiang?’
6.3 The Alternative Interrogative Mood 173
(123b) Interrogative: elemental (Randy and Huang 2003: 184)
pi:-tsa-la sə-wu ʔũ-(tɕ) de-l-ŋua

pen-this.one-clf who-agt table-def.clf dir-give-q
Com IW/Sub Com Fi ‘perfective’-Pr-MN

‘Who gave you this pen?’
Contrasting with those languages that show structural similarity between polar
interrogative and elemental interrogative, some languages show structural con-
trast between polar interrogative and elemental interrogative. In these languages,
the Mood Negotiators for polar and elemental interrogative are realized by the
same class, such as affixes, clitics, and particles, but the Mood Negotiators for the
two types of interrogative differ from each other. Table 6.5 shows the eight lan-
guages in our sample that show structural contrast between polar and elemental
interrogative.
Up to now, we have discussed the subtypes of elemental interrogative clauses
and have made a cross-linguistic comparison of the realizations of elemental
interrogative clauses. We have also made some possible generalizations about the
realizations of elemental interrogative mood. Now we will turn to the alternative
interrogative mood.
6.3 The Alternative Interrogative Mood
The alternative is one type of interrogative with which the speaker offers the
addressee a closed choice of answers and demands the information about the
addressee’s choice. It is observed in 15 languages in our sample, but it is supposed
to exit in most, if not all, languages. It can intersect with those interpersonal sys-
tems that intersect with other types of interrogative, such as the emotion-involve-
ment and the assessment system.
One possible dimension for the classification of alternative interrogatives is the
content of the choice. Along this dimension, alternative interrogative clauses can
be classified into two types: (i) those demanding a choice between a positive and
a negative polarity (will you go or not) and (ii) those demanding a choice between
one element and another element (will you go to Beijing or Wuhan). Alternative
interrogative clauses of group (i) are similar to polar interrogative clauses in
demanding information about polarity. Besides, in manly languages, the realiza-
tions of polar interrogative usually are derived from the realizations of alternative
interrogative clauses of group (i), as in example (124). Clause (a) of example (124)
may be considered a clause complex which consists of two clauses with oppo-
site polarity; clause (b) and (c) can be regarded alternative clauses; clause (d), (e)
and (f) are polar interrogatives. Obviously, the interrogative particle bu in clause
Table 6.5 Structural Languages Classes MN: polar MN: elemental

contrasts between MN: polar
Hidatsa Affixes -ʔ -Ø
and MN: elemental
Tauya -nae/-yae -ne/-e
Quechua -chu -taq/-raq
Hup -Vy -Vʔ
Mongolian Clitics =UU =b
Mian =a =e
Somali Particles ma bàa
Ọ̀kọ́ i, u, hon a
(d) and the interrogative construction qù-bú-qù in clause (f) are derived from the
mood structure of clause (b) and (c). This indicates a blurred boundary between
the two types of interrogative clause and clause (f) sometimes is considered an
alternative interrogative. We will focus on alternative interrogatives of group (ii),
those demanding a choice between/among different elements.
(124) Chinese, interrogative: alternative and polar
(a) nǐ qù Beijing háishì bú qù Beijing

(b) nǐ qù Beijing háishì bú qù
(c) nǐ qù Beijing bú qù
you go Beijing or neg go Beijing
‘Will you go to Beijing or not?’
(d) nǐ qù Beijing bu
(e) nǐ qù Beijing ma
you go Beijing mp
(f) nǐ qù-bú-qù Beijing
you go-neg-go Beijing
‘Will you go to Beijing?’
Languages display similarity in deploying the alternative construction ‘A or B’

in the mood structure of alternative clauses. In nine languages among the 15, the
alternative construction is the only device deployed. Most of these languages are
isolating languages, such as Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Hmong Njua, Teiwa, etc.
In contrast, in the other six languages (all agglutinative languages), another class,
usually the one realizing the Mood Negotiator for polar interrogative, is deployed
in conjunction with the alternative construction. The additional class deployed can
be either clitics or affixes. In these languages, the conjunction ‘or’ sometimes can
be omitted, as in example (125). In Hup, a clitic which is dedicated to alternative
interrogative is deployed, as in example (126).
6.3 The Alternative Interrogative Mood 175
(125) Turkish, interrogative: alternative (Göksel and Kerslake 2005: 255)
Tosca-yı Verdi mi yaz-mış-tı (yoksa) Puccini mi

Tosca-acc Verdi q compose-ev/pfv-pst.cop (or) Puccini q
Com Sub Pr-Fi ‘evidential/perfective’-Fi Sub

‘past’
MN- -MN
‘Did Verdi or Puccini compose Tosca?’
(126) Hup, interrogative: alternative (Epps 2008: 791)
picána bĭʔ mæh-ní-h, ʔó yãʔambŏʔ=haʔ

cat rat kill-infe-decl or dog = alt.int
Sub1 Com Pr-EvM-MN MN Sub2-MN
‘The cat killed the rat, or was it the dog?’
Moreover, languages display variation with respect to the alternative construc-

tion. The commonly observed alternative construction is ‘A ^ or ^ B’. In Nenets,
the alternative construction can be ‘A ^ Predicator, B’ and in West Greenlandic, it
can be ‘A ^ B-or’, as in example (127) and (128).
(127) Nenets, interrogative: alternative (Nikolaeva 2014: 268)
noxa-m xada-sa-n°, t’on’a-m

polar.fox-acc kill-q-2sg fox-acc
Com Pr-MN-SI Com
‘Did you kill a polar fox or a red fox?’
(128) West Greenlandic, interrogative: alternative (Fortescue 1984: 9)
Maniitsu-mi Nuum-mi-luunniit najugaqar-pa

Manitsoq-loc Nuuk-loc-or live-q.3sg
Ad- Ad- -MN Pr-MN.SI
‘Does he live in Maniitsoq or Nuuk?’
6.4 The Confirmative Mood
6.4.1 Subtypes of Confirmative Mood
Now we will proceed to discuss the confirmative mood. The confirmative mood
functions to solicit confirmation of the validity of the proposition from the
addressee, such as the clause ‘he will come soon, won’t he?’. It is difficult to
define its status in mood system. Firstly, it bears similarity with declarative mood
and interrogative mood in exchanging the commodity of information, rather than
goods-&-services. The speech role it realizes is between giving and demanding
because sometimes it requires no response from the addressee and sometimes
it requires a response. Therefore, together with declarative mood and interroga-
tive mood, it can be regarded a subtype of indicative mood whose function is to
exchange information, as in system (a) in Fig. 6.1. Secondly, it bears structural
similarity with interrogative mood since they both are marked by a question
mark. It differs from the interrogative mood in being of a lower degree of inter-
rogativity. Thus, it can be regarded a type of interrogative mood, as in system (b)
in Fig. 6.1. Thirdly, it is more similar to polar interrogative mood compared with
elemental interrogative mood since they both solicit information about polarity. It
differs from polar interrogative in the degree of interrogativity. Therefore, it can be
regarded a subtype of polar interrogative mood, as in system (c) in Fig. 6.1.
The difficulty of positioning confirmative mood in mood system is brought
about by the blurred semantic boundary between confirmative mood and other
moods, such as declarative and interrogative. Many SFL studies on mood do not
describe it or consider one of its subtypes, the tagged confirmative, as one type
Fig. 6.1 The possible positions of confirmative mood in mood system

6.4 The Confirmative Mood 177
of declarative mood, which is termed ‘tagged declarative’. But this does not solve
the problem since semantically the confirmative mood also bears similarity with
interrogative mood and structurally it bears more similarity with interrogative
mood. Moreover, some other subtypes of confirmative mood obviously cannot be
regarded ‘tagged declarative’. Considering the semantic and structural similarity
between confirmative mood and interrogative mood and also the practice in pre-
vious studies on mood, we will take confirmative mood as one subtype of inter-
rogative mood. The functional element that realizes confirmative clauses is termed
Proposition Negotiator (PnN).
There are two major subtypes of confirmative mood: one is the rhetorical ques-
tion and the other is the tagged confirmative, which is what traditionally called
tagged question. The rhetorical question is observed in eight languages in our
sample and the tagged confirmative in 18 languages. However, like the alterna-
tive interrogative, they are supposed to exit in almost all languages. Example (129)
illustrates the rhetorical question and the tagged confirmative in Somali.
(129a) Somali, interrogative: confirmative: rhetorical question (Saeed 1999: 200)
miyàanú (ma=ánn=uu) sóo noqónayn

(q=not=he) ven return.prog.neg
PnN=PnN=Sub Ad Pr.Fi ‘progressive’. PnN
‘Isn’t he coming back? / Won’t he come back?’
(129b) Somali, interrogative: confirmative: tagged confirmative (Saeed 1999: 205)
adàa arkáy, sòw má ahá

you.foc saw q not be.neg
Sub Pr.Fi ‘past’ PnN
‘YOU saw it, didn’t you?’
Rhetorical questions and tagged confirmatives are realized by different struc-

tures, as in example (129). The semantic distinction between them, however, is not
as clear-cut as that between declarative mood and interrogative mood, which has
to do with the distinction between speech roles (either giving or demanding). It
is even less obvious than that between neutral and focused/biased polar interrog-
ative, which is a distinction between without (focus/bias) and with (focus/bias).
In contrast, it is concerned with degree: the rhetorical question generally indicates
the speaker’s higher degree of certainty, whereas the tagged confirmative generally
indicates the speaker’s higher degree of interrogativity. In other words, the rhetor-
ical question seeks more agreement than confirmation and thus it usually expects
no response from the addressee; while the tagged confirmative seeks relatively
more confirmation than agreement and therefore sometimes it expects a response
from the addressee.
In addition to the rhetorical question and the tagged confirmative, Chinese has
another two subtypes, namely the inserted confirmative and the dubitative. The
inserted confirmative is realized by the construction shì-bú-shì which is inserted
before the Predicator. The dubitative is realized by the mood particle ba. The
nuance between the inserted confirmative and the dubitative is also a matter of
degree. Generally, the inserted confirmative indicates the speaker’s higher degree
of certainty than the dubitative does, but it indicates the speaker’s lower degree of
certainty than the tagged confirmative does. Thus, the four subtypes of confirma-
tive mood in Chinese form a mood continuum along the dimension of the degree
of interrogativity, where the rhetorical question locates at the end of low degree
of interrogativity, the dubitative locates at the end of high degree of interroga-
tivity, and the tagged confirmative and the inserted confirmative locate between
them. Besides, the confirmative locates between the declarative and the interroga-
tive in an inter-mood continuum organized along the same dimension, as is shown
in example (130). The positions of the four subtypes of confirmative mood in the
mood continuum are not rigidly fixed and sometimes may be determined by con-
textual factors.
(130) Chinese, declarative-confirmative-polar interrogative
(a) declarative tā gāngcái lái-guò

3sg just now come-exp
‘He was here just now.’
(b) confirmative: rhetorical tā gāngcái méi lái-guò ma
question
3sg just now neg come-exp q
‘Wasn’t he here just now?’

(c) confirmative: tagged tā gāngcái lái-guò, shì-bú-shì
confirmative
3sg just now come-exp yes-neg-yes
‘He was here just now, right?’
(d) confirmative: inserted tā gāngcái shì-bú-shì lái-guò
confirmative
3sg just now yes-neg-yes come-exp
‘He was here just now, right?’
(e) confirmative: dubitative tā gāngcái lái-guò ba
3sg just now come-exp mp
‘He was here just now, right?/ Was he here just now?’
(f) polar interrogative tā gāngcái lái-guò ma
3sg just now come-exp q
Was he here just now?

6.4 The Confirmative Mood 179
The dubitative mood is also observed in Fongbe, where it is realized by the

clause-final mood particle cé. In Thai, there are two subtypes of tagged confirm-
ative. One is realized by the particle ná and functions to invite agreement with the
preceding statement rather than to confirm the validity of the statement. The other
one is realized by the particle lə̆ə or construction chây máy and functions to make
an assumption and to seek confirmation of that assumption. In Turkish, there are
also two subtypes of tagged confirmative. One is used when the speaker seeks cor-
roboration of a statement that s/he believes to be true. The other one, in contrast,
follows a much more tentative assertion.
The tagged confirmative and the rhetorical question are considered biased
polar interrogative in some typological studies (Sadock and Zwicky 1985; Whaley
1997). We will make a distinction between the confirmative and the biased polar
interrogative. Semantically, the biased polar interrogative indicates the speaker’s
higher degree of interrogativity than the confirmative does. It usually expects
a response from the addressee, though the speaker has a bias to the polar-
ity of response. In contrast, the confirmative may or may not expect a response.
Structurally, the biased interrogative, as discussed in Sect. 6.1.1, is usually realized
by mood particles whereas the confirmative is usually realized by negative polar
questions and tag questions. The dubitative in Chinese is realized by the mood par-
ticle ba and, compared with other subtypes of confirmative, it usually expects a
response from the addressee. Thus, the dubitative mood in Chinese can also be
identified as biased polar interrogative.
6.4.2 Realizations of Confirmative Mood
Now we will discuss the realizations of confirmative mood. We will concentrate

on the realizations of rhetorical question and tagged confirmative.
The rhetorical question is frequently realized by a negative polar question, as in
examples (129a) and (130b). We will consider the negative polar question a con-
struction in grammatical class. Besides, in Chinese, it can be realized by adverbs.
The rhetorical question realized by negative polar questions usually expects a pos-
itive answer, while the one realized by the adverb nándào in Chinese can expect
both a positive and a negative answer, as in example (131).
(131) Chinese, interrogative: confirmative: rhetorical questions
zhè nándào shì gōngpíng-de (ma)

this rq cop fair-sp (q)
Sub PnN Pr Com (MN)
‘Is this fair?’/‘Isn’t this unfair?’
Table 6.6 Proposition negotiators for tagged confirmative

Languages PnN: constructions PnN: particles
French Clause, n’est-ce pas Clause, hein/eh
Tagalog #^dili nga ba't/diyata't/diyala/hindi ba't Clause, ano (what)
Vietnamese Clause, phải không nhi^#
Hindi Clause, Pr.Fi^nə/Pr.Fi^ya^nəhī̃ nə^#
Hup -ah^tǐ yă^#
Turkish Clause, değil mi/öyle mi
Somali Clause, sòw má aha
Chinese Clause, shì-ma/duì-ma/
shì-bú-shì/duì-bú-duì
Greek Clause, δεν είναι έτσι/έτσι δεν είναι
Hmong Clause, pùa yáo
Puyuma Clause, maku/amau
Quechua Clause, aw
Teiwa maan/le^#
Greenlandic ilaa, aat
Thai ná/lə̆ə/chây máy^#
Hausa kō (or/what)/kùwa (really, then)/nḕ^#
Telugu gā/gadā^#
Qiang luʁua^#
In some languages, in addition to the rhetorical question construction, the rhetor-

ical question can also be indicated by particles and affixes. In Qiang, the rhetorical
question is realized by interrogative particles ja, tca, and ŋui, while the interrogative
particles deployed in polar interrogative clauses are a and ŋua. In West Greenlandic,
the realization of rhetorical question involves the use of the suffix -nir-.
Concerning the realizations of tagged confirmative, the most common way is
to append the Proposition Negotiator to the clause, which is separated from the
clause by a comma. The appended Proposition Negotiator can be realized by either
a construction or a particle. The construction can be derived from a negative polar
interrogative, such as the n’est-ce pas (isn’t it) in French, or from a polar interrog-
ative, such as shì/duì-ma (right-q) in Chinese and degil mi (like.that- q) in Turkish,
or from a disjunctive construction, such as shì-bú-shì (yes-neg-yes) in Chinese
and phải không (correct or not) in Vietnamese. In some languages, the Proposition
Negotiator can also be realized by clause-final particles. Table 6.6 sets out the
Proposition Negotiators for tagged confirmative.
6.5 Chapter Summary
In this Chapter, we made a cross-linguistic comparison of interrogative mood.

The major types of interrogative mood include the polar interrogative, the elemen-
tal interrogative, the alternative interrogative, and the confirmative. Languages
display similarities and differences in the subtypes and the realizations of each
type of interrogative mood.
Concerning the polar interrogative, in addition to the typical type which is
observed in most languages in our sample, other subtypes include the focused
polar interrogative, the emphatic polar interrogative, and the biased polar interrog-
ative. Some less frequently observed subtypes include the direct and indirect polar
interrogative in Kham and the milder polar interrogative in Finnish. Besides, in
some languages polar interrogative clauses can also intersect with the emotion-in-
volvement system, the assessment system, the speech level/style system and the
politeness system discussed in last chapter. Concerning the realizations of polar
interrogative, languages deploy various kinds of grammatical classes. The com-
monly deployed classes include particles, constructions, affixes/inflections, clitics,
sequence, and merely intonation. Two possible typological generalizations can be
made about the realizations of poplar interrogative. Firstly, particles are deployed
by languages of different morphological types, but they are more frequently
deployed by isolating and fusional languages. Secondly, isolating and fusional lan-
guages mainly deploy particles and constructions to realize polar interrogatives,
whereas agglutinative languages mainly deploy affixes/inflections and clitics.
Some languages have more than one classes deployed but it requires further stud-
ies to find out whether the polar interrogative clauses realized by different classes
are of different meanings. In Chinese, there is no systemic contrast between the
poplar interrogative realized by particles and the one realized by disjunctive con-
structions. With regard to the realizations of focused polar interrogative, the most
common way is to add the Mood Negotiator that realizes typical polar interroga-
tives to the focused element. Some languages also use focus particles or initialize
the focused element.
Regarding the element interrogative, languages display less variation in the
subtypes. Huallaga Quechua elaborates the elemental interrogative further accord-
ing to whether the speaker presupposes the addressee knows the answer. Besides,
the elemental interrogative can intersect with some systems that intersect with
polar interrogatives. Languages share similarity in displaying the Interrogative
Word (IW) in elemental interrogative mood structure. But they are at variance
with each other in three dimensions. The first one is the position of IWs in the
clause. Along this dimension, languages in our sample fall into two groups: (i)
those positioning IWs non-initially and (ii) those positioning IWs initially. A pos-
sible typological generalization is that fusional languages show a slight tendency
toward positioning IWs initially; agglutinative languages show a strong tendency
and isolating languages show a slight tendency toward positioning IWs non-ini-
tially. The second dimension is concerned with the number of devices deployed in
the realizations of elemental interrogative mood. Along this dimension, languages
in our sample can be categorized into two groups: (i) those merely deploying inter-
rogative words to realize elemental interrogative clauses and (ii) those deploying
interrogative words in conjunction with and another grammatical class. It is found
that isolating languages in our sample show a strong tendency toward merely
deploying interrogative words to realize elemental interrogative clauses; fusional
languages show a slight tendency with this regard; agglutinative languages show
no preference with this regard. The third dimension is concerned with the systemic
relation between the polar interrogative mood and the elemental interrogative
mood. Languages in our sample fall into three groups along this dimension: (i)
those displaying no structural similarity between polar and elemental interrogative
mood, (ii) those displaying a structural similarity between the two types of mood,
and (iii) those displaying a structural contrast between the two types of mood.
Concerning the alternative interrogative, languages display the least variation
in its subtypes. The two possible subtypes of alternative interrogative clauses are
(i) those demanding a choice between a positive and a negative polarity and (ii)
those demanding a choice between one element and another element. In some lan-
guages, the realizations of polar interrogative mood are derived from the realiza-
tions of the first subtype of alternative interrogative mood. As for the realizations
of alternative interrogative mood, isolating languages in our sample (and possi-
bly fusional languages as well) mainly deploy alternative constructions, whereas
agglutinative languages may deploy alternative constructions in conjunction with
the Mood Negotiator for polar interrogative mood.
As for the confirmative mood, the major subtypes include the rhetorical ques-
tion and the tagged confirmative. Chinese has two more subtypes, namely the
inserted confirmative and the dubitative. The four subtypes form a mood contin-
uum along the dimension of the degree of interrogativity. Besides, the confirma-
tive mood, the declarative mood, and the interrogative mood form a larger mood
continuum along the same dimension. Languages bear similarity in realizing rhe-
torical questions with negative polar questions; it can also be realized by adverbs
or indicated by other markers. The classes realizing tagged confirmative can be
constructions and particles which are appended to the clause or clause-initial/final
particles.
More generalizations about the realizations of interrogative mood system and
the semantic dimensions for the elaboration of interrogative mood system will be
made in Chap. 8.
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Chapter 7
of Imperative Mood
7.1 The Jussive Mood
The jussive mood is second person imperative. It is the typical type of imperative
mood, which is the congruent realization of the speech function of command. The
use of the term ‘jussive’ in the book corresponds to the use of the term ‘imper-
ative’ in narrow sense in literature. All languages have a good variety of lexico-
grammatical resources that enable the speaker to express his/her will to have an
action performed by the addressee. The most common way is through the jussive
mood, though the declarative mood and the interrogative mood can also fulfill
this function metaphorically. The jussive is observed in all the languages in our
sample. But languages vary in the subtypes of jussive mood. We will first make a
survey of the subtypes of jussive mood, and then, we will make a cross-linguistic
comparison of the realizations of jussive mood.
7.1.1 Subtypes of Jussive Mood
The most observed subtype of jussive mood is the polite/formal jussive mood. We
have mentioned in the previous chapters that Japanese and Thai have a grammat-
icalized politeness system which intersects closely with mood system. Thus, any
type of mood in these two languages is either politeness unmarked (informal) or
politeness marked (formal). But this is rarely observed in other languages. However,
it is more frequently observed among languages to have the polite/formal jussive
mood. This is because the commodity exchanged by jussive mood is goods-&-ser-
vices and the exchange of goods-&-services, compared with the exchange of infor-
mation, generally requires more physical effort from the addressee. The polite/
formal jussive mood is observed in 15 languages in our sample (not including
186 7 A Systemic Functional Typology of Imperative Mood
Japanese and Thai). In Qiang, more than one polite/formal jussive mood is
observed, which differ from each other in the degree of politeness, as in example
(132). Thus, the neutral jussive mood and the three polite/formal forms of jussive
mood form a mood continuum along the dimension of the degree of politeness,
where the neutral jussive mood is unmarked for politeness, the polite/formal jussive
realized by the particle pu is the politest one, and the one realized by the particle ba
and the one realized by the particle na locate between the other two.
(132a) Qiang, imperative: jussive: polite 1 (Randy and Huang 2003: 173)
ə-z-na
dir-eat-imp
MN-Pr-TM
‘Eat!’
(132b) Qiang, imperative: jussive: polite 2 (Randy and Huang 2003: 177)
ə-tɕhə-n-ba
dir-eat-2sg-imp
MN-Pr-SI-TM
‘Please eat!’
(132c) Qiang, imperative: jussive: polite 3 (Randy and Huang 2003: 177)
ʔũ ʐ o:kum-le: a-ʂ de-ʐge-n-pu

2sg window-def.clf one-time dir-open-2sg-dtv
Sub Com Ad MN-Pr-SI-TM

‘Could you open the window a bit?’
The case of Qiang where more than one polite/formal jussive moods is gram-
maticalized is not observed in other languages in our sample. Languages usually
have one polite/formal form of jussive mood grammaticalized. The polite form
can be realized by polite particles, such as na, pa/ba/wa, and pu in Qiang, mȃ in
Hmong Njua, nag and naman in Tagalog, and re in Nama Hottentot. It can also
be realized by affixes, such as -e.gten and -AArai in Mongolian, maki- and paki-
in Tagalog, -du-wu/ru in Telugu, -iye and -iyega in Hindi, and -lla in Huallaga
Quechua. Among Indo-European languages, a commonly observed way to realize
a polite/formal jussive clause is through the use of the second person plural imper-
ative form (French, Greek, Latvian) or the third person present subjunctive mode
(Spanish). In Armenian, the polite/formal jussive mood can be realized by the sec-
ond person future subjunctive mode, the second person future conditional mode,
7.1 The Jussive Mood 187
and the second person present indicative mode. Example (133), (134), and (135)
illustrate the polite/formal jussive mood in French, Spanish, and Armenian.
(133) French, imperative: jussive: 2sg: formal/polite
parlez
speak.ind.2pl
Pr.MN
‘Speak!’
(134) Spanish, imperative: jussive: formal/polite
venga aquí (usted)

come.sbjv.prs.3sg here (you.sg.hon)
Pr.MN.SI Ad (Sub)
‘Please come here.’
(135) Armenian, imperative: jussive: formal/polite (Dum-Tragut 2009: 240)
mi šarži-es ays at̕or̊-ĕ

part move-sbjv.fut.2sg this chair.nom-the
Pr-MN Com
‘Move this chair, please!/Would you please move this chair?’
Though the polite jussive mood is not observed in many languages in our sam-
ple, its meaning can be realized by intonations, lexical items, or interpersonal
grammatical metaphor in these languages.
In addition to the polite jussive mood, the mild/soft jussive mood and the
strong/empathic jussive mood are also frequently observed in our sample. The
mild/soft jussive mood is observed in Finnish, Teiwa, Albanian, Maidu, and
Hidatsa. It correlates with the polite jussive mood in meaning. The strong/
emphatic jussive mood is observed in Qiang, Mongolian, Fongbe, and Diegueño.
In Fongbe, there are two subtypes of emphatic jussive mood. One entails the pre-
supposition that the speaker and the hearer disagree with each other, and the other
entails the presupposition that the speaker and the hearer agree on the content of
the proposal. Besides, in Nenets, Udmurt, West Greenlandic, and Cavineña, both
the mild and the strong jussive are observed. Thus, in these languages, the mild
jussive, the neutral jussive, and the strong jussive form a mood continuum along
the dimension of directive force. Example (136) illustrates the mild, neutral, and
strong jussive mood in Nenets.
(136a) Nenets, imperative: jussive: milder (Nikolaeva 2014: 270)
nʹa-mʹi xo-kər°-q
companion-1sg fetch-prec-imp.2sg
Com Pr-TM-MN.SI
‘Fetch my younger brother.’
(136b) Nenets, imperative: jussive: neutral (Nikolaeva 2014: 194)
(pidər°) ti xada-q
you.sg reindeer kill-imp.2sg
Sub Com Pr-MN.SI
‘Kill a reindeer!’
(136c) Nenets, imperative: jussive: stronger (Nikolaeva 2014: 270)
nʹa-mʹi xo-k°r-xər°-q
companion-1sg fetch-prec-prec-imp.2sg
Com Pr-TM-MN.SI
‘Do fetch my younger brother immediately!’
Both mild and strong jussive mood can be realized by particles (Teiwa, Udmurt,
Maidu, Qiang, Fongbe), clitics (Finnish, Cavineña, Mongolian), affixes (Nenets,
Greenlandic, Hidatsa, Diegueño, Cavineña), and inflections (Albanian, second per-
son future tense inflection for mild jussive mood).
The third subtype of jussive mood observed is non-immediate jussive mood.
The typical jussive mood enacts the addressee to perform an action immedi-
ately. Most languages can adjust the time for the action to be performed by
using Adjuncts realized by temporal lexical items, such as later, tomorrow, and
often. Six languages in our sample, namely Kham, Hindi, Greek, Nenets, West
Greenlandic, and Hup, have grammaticalized devices for non-immediate jussive
mood. The immediate (typical) jussive mood and non-immediate jussive mood are
usually realized by different affixes/inflections. For example, in Kham, the imme-
diate jussive is realized by the suffix -ke and the non-immediate jussive by suffixes
-yo/o and -Ø. In Greek, the immediate jussive is realized by perfective stem and
the non-immediate jussive by imperfective stem. Tagalog distinguishes three types
of jussive mood according to the time for the action to be performed, namely the
proper jussive, the habitual jussive, and the immediate jussive. The proper jussive
is realized by the basic form of verb and an explicit second person Subject, the
habitual jussive is realized by the contemplated aspect form of verb and an explicit
second person Subject, and the immediate jussive is realized by an unaffixed verb
base, as in example (137).
(137a) Tagalog, imperative: jussive (proper) (Schachter and Otanes 1972: 402)
kumain ka (nga)
eat 2sg please
Pr Sub TM
‘(Please) Eat.’
(137b) Tagalog, imperative: jussive: habitual (Schachter and Otanes 1972: 404)
ito ang gagawin mo

this foc do.conte 2sg
Com Pr Sub
‘Do this (regularly).’
(137c) Tagalog, imperative: jussive: immediate (Schachter and Otanes 1972: 402)
alis!
leave
Pr
‘Leave!’
In Maidu, there are two Mood Negotiators for jussive mood. The Mood Negotiator
-pi realizes the jussive mood that is used when the action is supposed to be carried
out in the presence of the speaker. In contrast, the Mood Negotiator -padá realizes
the jussive mood that is used when the action is to be carried out in the absence or
the speaker. This distinction in Maidu is similar to the distinction between imme-
diate and non-immediate jussive mood.
The fourth group of subtypes of jussive mood is observed in Korean, Javanese,
and Manchu. We have discussed the speech level/style system in Korean and
Javanese in Sect. 5.2.7. In the two languages, the speech level/style system inter-
sects with the holistic mood system. Thus, the subtypes of jussive mood in the two
languages indicate the social relationship between the speaker and the addressee.
This is also observed in Manchu, where there are five subtypes of jussive mood,
each of which indicates the social relationship between the interactants. The bare
stem in Manchu realizes the jussive mood that is used to the addressee occupying
lower or similar social position in respect to the speaker. The suffix -ki realizes
the jussive mood that is used to the addressee with equal social position. It is with
softer directive force compared with the one realized by a basic stem. The suffix
-kini realizes the jussive mood that is used to the addressee with lower social posi-
tion. It denotes an order to perform an action immediately. The suffix -cina real-
izes the jussive mood that is used to the addressee with lower social position. It
expresses a polite request. The suffix -re–o realizes the jussive mood that is used
to the addressee who is older or with higher social position.
The fifth group of subtypes of jussive mood is observed in Chinese and is con-
cerned with proposal negotiability. The system only intersects with imperative
mood. Options in the system inflect the negotiability of the proposal put forward
by the speaker. That is to say, to what extent is the addressee able to negotiate
with the speaker for accepting the proposal. The meaning is related to the mean-
ing of modulation (see Sect. 3.2.2) but they are different. The meaning of mod-
ulation is speaker-oriented, which indicates how strong the speaker’s will is to
have something done or to do something. Besides, it is realized as indicative mood
rather than as imperative mood (see Halliday 1994: 356). In contrast, the mean-
ing of proposal negotiability is addressee-oriented. It indicates how much choice
the addressee has in relation to accepting the proposal. It is realized as impera-
tive mood rather than as indicative mood. In Chinese, there are four options in
this system, which, arranged from low to high degree of negotiability, are negoti-
ation neutral, suggestive, tagged negotiation, and inserted negotiation. The func-
tional element realizing proposal negotiability is termed Proposal Negotiator
(PlN). The neutral imperative displays no or a low degree of negotiability. It indi-
cates the addressee has no choice but to carry out the command or accept the offer.
It is unmarked in realization. The suggestive is realized by adding the Proposal
Negotiator ba to the end of neutral imperative clauses. It is of a milder directive
force than the neutral imperative and thus is of a higher degree of negotiability.
The tagged negotiation is realized by appending hǎo-ma, xíng-ma, kěyǐ-ma, hǎo-
bù-hǎo, xíng-bù-xíng, kě-bù-kěyǐ, etc., to the end of neutral imperative clauses.
The inserted negotiation is realized by inserting néng-bù-néng or kě-bù-kěyǐ in
neutral imperative clauses, whose meaning is similar to ‘can you’. The inserted
negotiation is close to interrogative mood in structure and thus indicates a high
degree of negotiability. Example (138) illustrates the intersection between jussive
mood and proposal negotiability system in Chinese.
(138a) Chinese, imperative: jussive: proposal negotiability neutral
bǎ dēng guān-le
ba light close-pfv
Com Pr-Fi ‘perfective’
Turn off the light.’
(138b) Chinese, imperative: jussive: suggestive
bǎ dēng guān-le ba
ba light close-pfv mp
Com Pr-Fi ‘perfective’ PlN

‘Turn off the light.’ (milder force)
(138c) Chinese, imperative: jussive: tagged negotiation
bǎ dēng guān-le, hǎo-ma

ba light turn off-pfv all right-q
Com Pr-Fi ‘perfective’ PlN
‘Turn off the light, all right?’
(138d) Chinese, imperative: jussive: inserted negotiation
néng-bù-néng bǎ dēng guān-le

can-neg-can ba light turn off-pfv
PlN Com Pr-Fi ‘perfective’
‘Could you turn off the light?’
In addition to the major subtypes of jussive mood discussed above, there are some
less frequently observed subtypes, such as the benefactive in Japanese and the
exigent in Kham. The benefactive is realized by the auxiliary -kure. According to
Teruya (2007), the benefactive always involves one person who benefits from the
exchange of goods-&-services. Usually, the beneficiary is the speaker or both the
speaker and the addressee. Thus, it expresses the meaning like ‘do it for me/us’.
The exigent is one subtype of jussive mood in Kham which indicates the speaker’s
impatience and anger. It is realized by the suffix -sã-. Moreover, the jussive mood
also intersects with some systems discussed in the previous chapters, such as the
emotion-involvement system in Chinese and Thai and the assessment system in
Vietnamese and Ọ̀kọ́. The emotion-involved and assessed jussive mood indicate
the speaker’s various kinds of emotions and involvement in the proposal. The exi-
gent in Kham is similar to an emotion-involved jussive mood. Example (139) and
(140) illustrate the exigent in Kham and the assessed jussive mood in Vietnamese.
(139) Kham, imperative: jussive: immediate: exigent (Watters 2004: 86)
cyu:-na-ci-sã-ke
∼
watch-1sg-2pl-s a-imp
Pr-Com-SI-EM-MN
‘(You pl) watch me!’
(140) Vietnamese, imperative: jussive: assessed (Phan 2010: 217)
đi nào
go come-on
Pr MN
‘Go!’ (intimate urging)
7.1.2 Realizations of Jussive Mood
We have discussed the subtypes of jussive mood in last section. Now, we will turn
to the realizations of jussive mood. Since the realizations of subtypes of jussive
mood have been discussed in last section, we will only focus on the realizations of
proper jussive mood in this section.
Languages display considerable diversity in the realizations of jussive mood.
The realizations of jussive mood in different languages are displayed in Fig. 7.1 in
the form of system network.
The languages in our sample roughly fall into two groups according to the
Mood Negotiators they deploy for jussive mood: (i) those having no explicit Mood
Negotiators for jussive mood and (ii) those having explicit Mood Negotiators for
jussive mood.
Fig. 7.1 Mood Negotiators for jussive mood

There are 12 languages in group (i), namely Chinese, Hmong Njua, Thai,
Teiwa, Koyra Chiini, Fongbe, Nama Hottentot, Saramaccan Creole, Hausa,
Dagaare, Ọ̀kọ́, and English. Among the 12 languages, eight are identified as iso-
lating languages. The morphological types of Dagaare, Ọ̀kọ́, and Nama Hottentot
are not identified, but they behave more like isolating languages along the param-
eter of realizations of Finite discussed in Sect. 5.1.3. English is a language that
locates between isolating and fusional languages. In these languages, there is
no Mood Negotiator in jussive mood structure. Thus, in many cases, one cannot
easily distinguish a jussive clause from a declarative one base on structural fea-
tures. For example, the English clause ‘you go home more often’ can be either a
declarative clause or a jussive clause according to the context it is used. Thus, in
these languages, the way to distinguish a jussive clause from a declarative one
is not through inserting a functional element in the realization statement, but
through deleting some functional elements from the declarative mood structure
(see Sect. 3.5.1 and the part of Abbreviations and Conventions). In English, for
example, the Finite ‘tense’ which is always present in declarative mood structure
is absent in jussive mood structure. Since the Finite for non-third person singular
present tense in English declarative clauses fuses with the Predicator, thus, with-
out indications from context or intonation, one cannot not identify whether the
Predicator go in the clause above fuses with the Finite ‘tense’ or not, and there-
fore, one cannot easily judge it is a declarative clause or a jussive one. The case in
Hausa is simpler. The verb in Hausa does not inflects for person, number, tense,
aspect, and mode/modality. But in each declarative mood structure, there is always
a person-aspect complex (PAC) before the Predicator. The PAC is a fusion of the
functional elements of Subject Indicator and Finite. In jussive mood structure,
however, the PAC is absent. Thus, one can easily distinguish a jussive mood from
a declarative one, though the jussive is not marked by any Mood Negotiator.
But not all the languages in group (i) are like English and Hausa, where the
jussive mood can be relatively easily distinguished from the declarative one. This
is because, in English and Hausa, the Finite, either the Finite ‘tense’ or the Finite
‘aspect’, is always present in declarative clauses and absent in jussive clauses.
Whereas in many other languages, the Finite ‘aspect’ is not present in every
declarative clause (many clauses are with a neutral aspect or a certain aspect is
unmarked), and it can also be present in jussive clauses (the imperative clause
with the Finite ‘aspect’ is not rarely observed in world languages, see Sadock and
Zwicky 1985; at least eight languages in our sample are observed with the impera-
tive mood intersecting with aspect). Therefore, in these languages, one cannot dis-
tinguish a jussive mood from a declarative one by using the realization statement
of “delating Finite ‘aspect’”. For example, the two Chinese clauses in example
(141) can be either declarative mood or jussive mood.
(141a) Chinese, jussive/declarative
nǐ tuī wo
you push me
Sub Pr Com
‘You push me!/You pushed me! (How dare you!)’
(141b) Chinese, jussive/declarative
nǐ shā-le ta
you kill-Fi ‘perfective’ 3sg
Sub Pr Com
‘You kill it!/You killed it! (with a tone of surprise)’
Since it is difficult to distinguish a jussive mood from a declarative mood ‘form

below’ in these languages, we can do this ‘from roundabout’. For example, the
declarative clause in Chinese can intersect with modality system, whereas the
imperative clause cannot. Thus, if we can add some elements that realize modal
meanings, such as bìxū (must), yīnggāi (should), kěnéng (may, possibly) in the
structure of the two clauses above, they are declarative clauses, and if we cannot,
they are imperative clauses. The view ‘from roundabout’ also applies to other lan-
guages, but it may work in different ways. For example, in Teiwa, as mentioned
in Sect. 5.1.3, declarative clauses can be with either realis mode or irrealis mode,
but imperative clauses can never intersect with realis mode. Thus, if a clause
is marked by realis mode, it can never be an imperative clause. Another way is
through the intersection between mood and negation. As mentioned in Sect. 5.1.3,
many languages have two sets of negative markers, such as one for indicative
clauses, the other for imperative clauses. Thus, if a clause in these languages
can be negated by a Finite ‘negative’ for imperative mood, the clause is imper-
ative clause rather than a declarative one. But up to now we have been making
distinction between imperative mood and declarative mood, rather than between
jussive and declarative mood. The view ‘from roundabout’ applies to all types of
imperative mood in these languages. Thus, to distinguish the jussive mood from
other types of imperative mood, we should simultaneously insert a second person
Subject in the realization statements of jussive mood.
Now, we will see the languages of group (ii), those having explicit Mood
Negotiators for jussive mood. Languages of this group can be further classified
into two groups: (a) those having no exclusive Mood Negotiators to realize jussive
clauses and (b) those having exclusive Mood Negotiators to realize jussive clauses.
There are five languages in group (a), namely Qiang, French, Lango, Nyigina, and
Bardi. In Qiang, the Mood Negotiator for jussive mood is realized by directional
prefixes, such as ə- and de- in example (132). These directional prefixes are also
deployed in declarative clauses. Then, according to Randy and Huang (2003), it

is only the intonation and the context that separate a jussive clause from a declar-
ative one. In jussive clauses, unlike non-imperative directional prefixes, the direc-
tional prefix is stressed. In French, the jussive mood is realized by the present
tense verbal conjugation. Then, a jussive clause in French is distinguished from a
declarative clause with a second person Subject and a Finite expresssing present
tense merely by the absence of Subject. In Lango, the Mood Negotiator for jus-
sive mood is realized by a prefixless subjunctive mode. The prefix in subjunctive
mode indicates the person and the number of the Subject. In Nyigina and Bardi,
the Mood Negotiator for jussive mood is realized by verbal inflections for second
person future tense, as in example (142). Besides, Hausa, which has been identi-
fied as a language in group (i), can also be identified as a language in the group (a)
of group (ii), because the jussive mood in Hausa can be realized in two ways: one
way is to delete the PAC (Finite ‘aspect’ and Subject Indicator), and the other way
is to deploy a PAC for second person subjunctive mode.
(142) Bardi, imperative: jussive (Bowern 2012: 629)
joo a-n-arl-a ngoordingan

2min 2-tr-eat-fut alone
Sub SI/MN- -Pr-Fi ‘future’/-MN Ad
‘You eat it all (alone)!’
The majority of languages in our sample(43 among 60) fall into group (b).
They deploy a Mood Negotiator which is dedicated to jussive mood. Among these
languages, except Vietnamese which deploys jussive mood particles, the other
42 languages deploy jussive mood affixes/inflections. Jussive mood particles in
Vietnamese include đi, đã, hãy for the neutral jussive mood and nào, nghe, nhé/nhó,
vói, etc., for the assessed jussive mood. Sometimes these jussive mood particles are
optional, and thus, Vietnamese can also be regarded a language in group (i).
Concerning the 42 languages deploying affixes/inflections for the realizations
of jussive mood, 23 languages are agglutinative languages, 11 are fusional lan-
guages, and the other eight are languages whose morphological types are not iden-
tified. These languages can be classified further along different dimensions. One
dimension is the property of the inflectional markings. The Mood Negotiator can
be jussive/imperative mood affixes, such as in Kham, Korean, Telugu, and Nenets
or jussive/imperative mood inflections, such as in Welsh, Spanish, Russian, and
Albanian or bare verb stems, such as in Turkish, Mongolian, Manchu, and Ute or
special verb stems, such as in Mian. Besides, the jussive/imperative mood affixes
can be either prefixes, such as in Persian and Pipil, or suffixes. We will not dis-
cuss this dimension in detail. The second dimension is the number of devices
deployed. As Fig. 7.1 shows, 39 of these languages merely deploy affixes/inflec-
tions while three languages, namely Kham, German, and Tagalog, deploy another
device meanwhile to realize jussive clauses. In Kham, in addition to deploying
the jussive mood suffix -ke, the Subject Indicator in jussive clauses is realized by
object personal suffixes in declarative clauses rather than subject personal suf-
fixes. In German, in addition to deploying jussive/imperative inflections, jussive
clauses also require a reverse of word sequence. The word sequence of declarative
clauses is ‘Subject ^ Predicator’, while in jussive and interrogative clauses, it is
‘Predicator ^ Finite’. In Tagalog, in addition to the use of a basic form of the verb,
jussive (proper) clauses also require an explicit second person Subject. The third
dimension is concerned with the intersection between the Mood Negotiator: jus-
sive and the person of Subject (second person singular and second person non-sin-
gular). In 12 languages among the 38 languages with available data, the same
Mood Negotiator is deployed for both the second person singular jussive mood
and the second person non-singular jussive mood, such as in Korean, Japanese,
Manchu, and Hinuq. In contrast, in the other 26 languages, the Mood Negotiator
for second person singular jussive mood is different from the one for second per-
son non-singular jussive mood. For example, in Turkish, the second person sin-
gular jussive mood is realized by verb stem, whereas the second person plural
jussive mood is realized by the suffix -(y)In; in Mapuche, Mood Negotiators for
second person singular, dual, and plural jussive mood are -nge, -Ø-m-u and -Ø-m-
ün, respectively; in Latvian, the second person singular jussive mood is realized
by the second person singular present tense inflection, while the second person
plural jussive mood is realized by adding the imperative suffix -iet(ies) to the sec-
ond person singular present tense inflection. One generalization can be made about
this dimension: if a language displays verbal inflections for person and number
in declaratives clauses, then it may deploy different Mood Negotiators for second
person singular and non-singular jussive clauses.
Besides, languages also vary in the presence or absence of second person singu-
lar Subject in jussive clauses. Languages in our sample can be classified into three
groups along this dimension: (i) those whose second person singular Subject can-
not be omitted; (ii) those whose second person singular Subject must be omitted;
and (iii) those whose second person singular Subject can be omitted. The only lan-
guage that requires an explicit Subject in jussive (proper) clauses is Tagalog. This
possibly is because an implicit Subject in Tagalog jussive clauses functions to real-
ize the immediate jussive mood. There are several languages in our sample whose
second person singular Subject in jussive clauses must be omitted, such as French,
Korya Chiini, and Somali. In these languages, the absence of second person singu-
lar Subject functions to distinguish jussive clauses from declarative clauses. Most
languages in our sample belong to group (iii), where the second personal singu-
lar Subject is optional and is usually omitted. In these languages, when the sec-
ond person singular Subject is presented in the mood structure of jussive clauses, it
usually indicates emphasis or contrast, such as in Qiang, Vietnamese, Russian, and
Saramaccan Creole.
Up to now, we have made a cross-linguistic comparison of jussive mood, which
includes a survey of the subtypes of jussive mood a comparison of the realizations
of jussive mood. Now, we will turn to the second major type of imperative mood,
the cohortative mood.
7.2 The Cohortative Mood 197
7.2 The Cohortative Mood
7.2.1 Subtypes of Cohortative Mood
The cohortative is first person plural inclusive imperative mood, which involves
both the speaker and the addressee into the action to be performed (‘let’s do some-
thing’). It realizes the speech function of suggestion, something that is both com-
mand and offer at the same time. It is observed in 48 languages in our sample. In
10 languages among the 48 languages, the cohortative is a subtype of hortative
mood, which will be discussed in Sect. 7.5.
The cohortative mood is less frequently elaborated than the jussive mood.
One subtype of cohortative mood is the polite cohortative. It is observed in
Qiang and Nama Hottentot. As mentioned in last section, Qiang has three parti-
cles for the polite jussive. The one realizing polite cohortative clauses is different
from those deployed in polite jussive clauses. In Nama Hottentot, the polite par-
ticle realizing the polite cohortative is the same one realizing the polite jussive.
Example (143) illustrates the polite cohortative in Qiang.
(143) Qiang, imperative: cohortative: polite (Randy and Huang 2003: 176)
tcile bəl-ʂaʴ-wu
1pl do-hor.1pl-requ
Sub Pr-MN-TM
‘Let’s do it, O.K.?’
Other subtypes of cohortative mood include the assessed cohortative in Ọ̀kọ́,

the emphatic cohortative in Mongolian, and the mild/neutral/strong and non-im-
mediate cohortative in Nenets. The cohortative mood in Chinese intersects with
the proposal negotiability system as the jussive mood does. It can also intersect
with the emotion-involvement system in Chinese but it does so less frequently
than the jussive mood does. In Korean, the cohortative mood intersects with the
speech level system. In Japanese and Thai, it intersects with the politeness system
as other types of mood do. Example (144), (145), and (146) illustrate some sub-
types of cohortative in Nenets, Mongolian, and Chinese.
(144) Nenets, imperative: cohortative: non-immediate (Nikolaeva 2014: 89)
xūn’nan m’er’esə-rka-yi-waq
tomorrow hurry.up-compa-sbjv-1pl
Ad Pr- -MN-SI
‘Let’s hurry up tomorrow.’
(145) Mongolian, imperative: cohortative: emphatic (Janhunen 2012: 154)
soo-y = aa
to sit.imp-volu = emph
Pr.MN-MN = EmM
‘Let’s sit down!’
(146) Chinese, imperative: cohortative: suggestive
wǒmen zǒu ba
2pl go mp
Sub Pr PlN
‘Let’s go, shall we?’
Now, we will move to the realizations of cohortative mood.
7.2.2 Realizations of Cohortative Mood
As mentioned in last section, in 10 languages of the 48 languages with cohortative

mood, the cohortative mood is a subtype of hortative mood. The realizations of
hortative mood will be discussed in Sect. 7.5. In this section, we will focus on the
realizations of cohortative mood in the other 38 languages. We will adopt the same
method for the classification of Mood Negotiators for jussive mood to survey the
Mood Negotiators for cohortative mood. And we add a new dimension, namely
the homogeneity between the two kinds of Mood Negotiators. In other words, we
will see whether the same Mood Negotiator is deployed in the two types of imper-
ative mood. Table 7.1 sets out the Mood Negotiators for cohortative mood. Name
Hottentot has two Mood Negotiators for cohortative clauses and it is counted
twice. Therefore, the total number is 39 rather than 38.
The languages in the sample first can be classified into two groups according to
the realizations of cohortative mood: (i) those with no explicit Mood Negotiators
for cohortative mood and (ii) those with explicit Mood Negotiators. Languages
of group (i) include Chinese, Teiwa, English, Ọ̀kọ́, and Nama Hottentot. They are
Table 7.1 Mood Negotiators for cohortative mood

= jussive ≠ jussive Total
No explicit Mood Negotiator: cohortative 5 5
With explicit Non-dedicated MN 3 3 6
MN: cohortative Dedicated MN Particle 1 4 5
Affixes 2 21 23
Total 11 28 39
7.2 The Cohortative Mood 199
all (near-)isolating languages, and they are all languages without explicit Mood
Negotiators for jussive mood either. Thus, the realizations of cohortative mood in
these languages are homogeneous to those of jussive mood, and the only differ-
ence is the Subject person. For example, the realization statement for English jus-
sive mood is ‘ − Finite’ and that for cohortative mood is ‘ − Finite; + Sub::let’s’; the
realization statement for Chinese jussive mood is ‘*Finite ‘modality’; < + Sub:2 > ’,
and that for cohortative mood is ‘*Finite ‘modality’; + Sub:1pl’.
Languages of group (ii) are further classified into two groups: (a) those with
non-dedicated Mood Negotiators and (b) those with dedicated Mood Negotiators.
Languages of group (a) include French, Nyigina, Bardi, Udmurt, Latvian, and
Kulina. As mentioned in Sect. 7.1.2, French uses the second person present tense
conjugation and Nyigina and Bardi use the second person future tense inflection
to realize the jussive mood. They use homogeneous devices to realize the cohor-
tative mood: French deploy the first person plural present tense conjugation, and
Nyigina and Bardi deploy the first person plural future tense inflection to realize
the cohortative mood. Udmurt, Kulina, and Latvian deploy the first person plural
or non-singular future tense inflection to realize the cohortative mood, but they use
dedicated jussive/imperative affixes/inflections for jussive mood. Thus, the two
types of Mood Negotiators in the three languages are not homogeneous.
The other 28 languages all have dedicated Mood Negotiators as the realiza-
tions of cohortative mood. Five of them have dedicated Mood Negotiators real-
ized by particles, including Thai, Saramaccan, Nama Hottentot, Korya Chiini, and
Vietnamese. All of them are (near-)isolating languages. Except Vietnamese whose
Mood Negotiator for cohortative mood is homogeneous to that for jussive mood,
the other four languages have Mood Negotiators for cohortative mood only, while
they have no explicit Mood Negotiators for jussive mood. Example (147) and
(148) illustrate the Mood Negotiator for cohortative mood in Vietnamese and Thai.
(147) Vietnamese, imperative: cohortative (Nguyễn 1997: 159)
chúng-ta hãy chǎm-chỉ học-hành

we.inclusive exho diligent study
Sub MN Com Pr
‘Let’s study diligently!’
(148) Thai, imperative: cohortative (Smyth 2002: 124)
pay kin khâŋ nɔɔ̀k thə̀ə

go eat outside mp
Pr Ad MN
Let’s go and eat out!’
The other 23 languages have dedicated Mood Negotiators realized by affixes/

inflections. Most of them are agglutinative and fusional languages. Among these
languages, Tagalog and Persian deploy the Mood Negotiator for cohortative
mood which is also deployed in jussive mood; the other 21 languages deploy the
Mood Negotiator which is not homogeneous to that for jussive mood. For exam-
ple, in Kham, the Mood Negotiator for jussive mood is -ke, and meanwhile the
Subject Indicator is realized by object personal markers in declarative mood.
Whereas the Mood Negotiator for cohortative is a bare verb stem, and the Subject
Indicator is realized by subject personal markers in declarative mood. In West
Greenlandic, Huallaga Quechua, German, Russian, Finnish, and Pipil, the Mood
Negotiator for cohortative mood is identified as ‘first person plural imperative
inflection’. It requires further studies to explore whether it is homogeneous to that
for jussive mood, which is termed as ‘second person imperative inflection’. In
Armenian, Spanish, and Ute, the Mood Negotiator for cohortative mood is real-
ized by the first person plural subjunctive/irrealis mode. We do not identify the
three languages as those with non-dedicated Mood Negotiators for cohortative
mood because the subjective/irrealis mode is frequently deployed as realizations
of imperative mood (see Sect. 7.5). Example (149), (150), and (151) illustrate the
Mood Negotiator for cohortative mood realized by affixes/inflections in Persian,
Japanese, and Ute. The Mood Negotiator realized by the prefix be- in Persian is
also deployed in jussive mood structure.
(149) Persian, imperative: cohortative
be-rav-im
imp-go.prs stem-1pl
MN-Pr-SI
Let’s go!
(150) Japanese, imperative: cohortative (Teruya 2007: 165)
hon-o yom-oo
book-acc read-vol
Com Pr-MN
‘Let’s read the book!’
(151) Ute, imperative: cohortative (Givón 2011: 307)
wʉ́ʉka-vaa-rami̱
work-irr-1du.incl
Pr-MN-SI
‘Let’s (you and I) work!’
7.3 The Optative Mood 201
Thus far, we have discussed the subtypes and realizations of cohortative mood.
Now, we will move to the third major type of imperative mood, the optative mood.
7.3 The Optative Mood
7.3.1 Subtypes of Optative Mood
The optative is third person imperative mood. It expresses the addressee’s desire or
hope or wish to have an action performed by a third person agent (‘let/may he/she/
they do’). It is observed in 23 languages in our sample, among which 17 are agglu-
tinative languages, three are fusional languages, and three are languages whose
morphological types are not identified. Among the three fusional languages, only
Albanian has optative mood realized by the optative mode; Latvian and Armenian
have optative mood realized analytically.
Two subtypes of optative mood can be identified. One subtype is third per-
son imperative. It expresses the addressee’s desire or will to have an action per-
formed by a third person Subject (‘let him/her/they do’). It is the core usage of
this term, which is observed in 16 languages, such as Turkish, Santali, Tagalog,
Nenets, Udmurt, and Hup. The other subtype of optative mood is the peripheral
usage of this term. It expresses the speaker’s wishes and blessings, whose function
is similar to ‘may, I wish’. The peripheral usage is observed in Kham and Huallaga
Quechua. In Ute, Jamsay, Hinuq, Mongolian, and Albanian, both the core optative
and the peripheral optative are observed. In Albanian, Mongolian, and Hinuq, the
core and peripheral optative are realized by the same Mood Negotiator; in Ute and
Jamsay, the two subtypes are realized by different Mood Negotiators.
The two subtypes of optative can be distinguished from three aspects. First, the
core optative indicates the speaker’s desire to have an action performed, while the
peripheral optative indicates the speaker’s hope or wish to have an expected situ-
ation realized. Second, the core optative indicates a situation that is possible to be
realized; while the peripheral optative indicates a situation that is less possible to
be realized. Third, the core optative only intersects with the third person Subject,
whereas the peripheral optative in Mongolian, Albanian, and Hinuq can also inter-
sect with Subjects of other persons. Example (152) and (153) illustrate the optative
mood in Mongolian and Hinuq.
(152) Mongolian, imperative: optative (peripheral) (Janhunen 2012: 155)
udz-e.g
to see.imp-perm
Pr.MN-MN
‘May s/he see!’
(153a) Hinuq, imperative: optative (core) (Forker 2013: 231)
ʡali = n Madina = n di-de-r nox-ƛo

Ali = and Madina-and I.obl-aloc-lat come-opt
Sub Ad Pr-MN
‘May/Let Ali and Madina come to me!’ (exhortation)
(153b) Hinuq, imperative: optative (peripheral) (Forker 2013: 232)
debez ked y-aši-ƛo

you.sg girl(g2) g2-find-opt
Sub Pr-MN -Pr-MN

‘May you find yourself a girl!’
The core optative mood can be elaborated further in delicacy, but this is less fre-
quently observed than the jussive and cohortative mood. For example, in Nenets,
two subtypes of (core) optative mood are observed, which differ from each other
in directive force. The one realized by the subjunctive mode is milder than the one
realized by the optative mode, as in example (154). The milder optative is also
observed in Finnish, where it is realized by the clitic = han, which is also deployed
in milder jussive and cohortative clauses.
(154a) Nenets, imperative: optative: mild (Nikolaeva 2014: 89)
temta-yi
buy-sbjv
Pr-MN
‘let him buy/ tell him to buy’
(154b) Nenets, imperative: optative (Nikolaeva 2014: 89)
temta-ya
exist-opt
Pr-MN
‘let him buy/ he should/must buy’
7.3 The Optative Mood 203
7.3.2 Realizations of Optative Mood
Languages display less variation in the realizations of optative mood compared

with the realizations of jussive and cohortative mood. Almost all languages realize
optative mood with affixes/inflections. Nenets, Jamsay, and Ute have two subtypes
of optative mood which are realized by different Mood Negotiators. In Nenets,
the optative mood is realized by the optative mode, and the milder optative mood
is realized by the third person present subjunctive mode, as in example (153). In
Jamsay, the core optative is realized by a third person Subject plus an imperative
root, and the peripheral optative is realized by the third person Subject plus the
hortative suffix -ḿ. In Ute, the core optative is realized by the third person irrea-
lis inflection, and the peripheral optative is realized by a construction, which con-
sists of the subjunctive suffix -guu-, the nominalizer -pʉ̱, and the inanimate distal
demonstrative -uru ‘that’ suffixed to the first word in the clause. Example (155)
illustrates the two subtypes of optative mood in Ute.
(155a) Ute, imperative: optative (peripheral) (Givón 2011: 309)
ʹaavʉ-ʹuru wʉ́ʉka-guu-pʉ̱
now-that.obj work-sbjv-nom
Ad-MN Pr-MN-MN
‘I wish/hope that s/he would work now.’
(155b) Ute, imperative: optative (core) (Givón 2011: 307)
wʉ́ʉka-vaa-ʹu
work-irr-3sg
Pr-MN-SI
‘Let him/her work!/ S/he should work’
Except the three languages mentioned above, the other 20 languages have one
realization for optative mood (Albanian, Mongolian, and Hinuq deploy the same
realization for both core and peripheral optative mood). These languages can be
classified into two groups: (i) those deploying constructions to realize the optative
mood and (ii) those deploying affixes/inflections. Languages of group (i) include
Latvian, Udmurt, Pipil, and Armenian. In Latvian, the optative mood is realized
by the particle lai plus the third person present tense verb form. Latvian deploys
the second person singular present tense verb form for second person singular jus-
sive mood and the first person plural future tense verb form for cohortative mood.
Thus, it can be found that the three types of imperative mood are not well gram-
maticalized in Latvian. In Udmurt, the optative mood is realized by the particle
med plus the third person future tense verb form. The cohortative mood in Udmurt
is realized by the first person future tense verb form. Therefore, both the two types
of imperative mood are not well grammaticalized in Udmurt. In Pipil, the optative
mood is realized by the exhortative particle ma plus the present verb stem. The
same particle is also deployed in cohortative mood, but it is optional. In Armenian,
the optative mood is realized by the particle toł plus the third person future sub-
junctive mode. The future subjunctive mode is also deployed in cohortative mood.
The other 16 languages all deploy affixes/inflections to realize the optative
mood. Among the 16 languages, Nyigina deploys the third person future tense
verb form for optative mood. As mentioned in the previous sections, Nyigina also
deploys the future tense verb form for jussive mood and cohortative mood. The
cases of Nyigina and Latvian and the fact that the jussive mood is more frequently
grammaticalized than the cohortative and the optative mood might illustrate a hier-
archy of grammaticalization of different types of imperative mood. That is, if a
language has one type of imperative mood grammaticalized, it is most possible to
be the jussive mood. In other words, if the jussive mood is not grammaticalized
in a language, the cohortative and the optative mood in this language will not be
grammaticalized either. We will discuss this further in Chap. 8.
Except Nyigina, the remaining 15 languages deploy dedicated Mood Negotiators
realized by affixes/inflections. Some of these Mood Negotiators are termed ‘opta-
tive mode’, such as in Santali, Albanian, Hinuq, West Greenlandic, Hup, and
Cavineña; some are termed ‘third person imperative inflections’, such as in Turkish,
Finnish, Huallaga Quechua, and Mapuche; some are termed ‘subjunctive mode’,
such as in Tauya; the others are labeled with other terms. Example (156) and (157)
display the realizations of optative mood in Mapuche and Cavineña.
(156) Mapuche, imperative: optative (core) (Smeets 2008: 185)
i-pe mütem engün

eat-imp.3 only they
Pr-MN Ad Sub
‘Let them just eat.’
(157) Cavineña, imperative: optative (core) (Guillaume 2008: 99)
pa-kwadisha = tu sudaru = kwana elicoptero = tsewe

opt-send = 3sg(-erg) soldier = pl helicopter = asso
MN-Pr = Sub Com Ad
‘Let it (the government) send soldiers with a helicopter!’
7.4 The Oblative Mood 205
7.4 The Oblative Mood
Now, we will move to the fourth type of imperative mood, the oblative mood. The
oblative mood is first person singular imperative mood. It differs from the jus-
sive, cohortative, and optative mood not only in the Subject person, but also in
the speech function realized. The jussive, the cohortative, and the (core) optative
mood all realize the speech function of command (for the cohortative mood, both
command and offer), while the oblative mood realizes the speech function of offer.
It gives goods-&-services rather than demanding goods-&-services. Besides, the
oblative mood is the least likely to be grammaticalized among the four types of
imperative mood. This is because, as Halliday (1994: 70) points out, in the con-
text of offer, ‘language is functioning simply as a means toward achieving what
are essential non-linguistic ends’. The oblative is observed in 10 languages in our
sample. Even so, as Martin and Cruz (2018) note, ‘for some speakers, the oblative
and optative imperative options are unnatural and would have to be removed from
the (mood) network’.
The grammatical classes deployed in the realizations of oblative mood include
constructions, particles, and affixes/inflections. Japanese and Jamsay deploy con-
structions to realize the oblative mood. In Japanese, the construction consists of the
volitional form of the verb and the interrogative particle ka. The volitional form
of verbs also realizes the cohortative mood in Japanese. Jamsay deploys a similar
construction, which consists of the imperative stem and the interrogative particle
má. Javanese deploys the particle dak to realize the oblative mood. However, in
passive voice, the word occurs as a prefix. Other languages deploy affixes/inflec-
tions to realize the oblative mood. Still the terminology used to describe these
affixes/inflections varies among different reference grammars, such as first person
singular imperative inflection, first person singular present subjunctive mode, first
person singular optative form, and hortative marker. Example (158), (159), and
(160) illustrate oblative clauses in Japanese, Javanese, and Mapuche.
(158) Japanese, imperative: oblative (Teruya 2007: 165)
hon-o yom-oo ka
book-acc read-vol q
Com Pr-MN- -MN

‘Shall I/ let me read the book (for you)?’
(159) Javanese, imperative: oblative (Robson 1992: 92)
aku dak lunga

I prop go
Sub.TM MN Pr.TM
‘I’ll go./ Let me go.’
(160) Mapuche, imperative: oblative (Smeets 2008: 185)
entu-chi tüfá
take.out-imp.1sg this
Pr-MN.SI Com
‘Let me take this out.’
7.5 The Hortative Mood
Up to now, we have discussed the four major types of imperative mood. Now, we
will proceed to see another type of imperative mood which is closely related to
the four types of imperative mood discussed above. We term it ‘hortative mood’.
The term and the meanings assigned to it are borrowed from Fedden (2011).
According to Fedden (2011), the hortative in Mian is a form of speaker-oriented
modality used to express the speaker’s wish that an action take place immediately
or as soon as possible. Its meaning is roughly equivalent to the meaning of should.
The Subject of hortative clauses can be first person singular, first person plural
(inclusive), second person, and third person. Therefore, the hortative mood can be
classified into four subtypes according to the Subject person, namely the first per-
son plural hortative, the first person singular hortative, the second person hortative,
and the third person hortative. The hortative mood is observed in 11 languages in
our sample. Languages vary in the subtypes of grammaticalized hortative mood.
Table 7.2 sets out the subtypes of hortative mood in these languages and their
realizations.
Table 7.2 Subtypes of hortative mood and their realizations

Languages 1 pl 1sg 2 3 Realizations
Mian + + + + hortative clitics = e, = o
Maidu + + + + hortative suffixes -b-á, -t-é
Lango + + + + subjunctive inflections
Somali + + + + optative inflections
Manchu + + + + optative suffix -ki
Hausa + + + subjunctive inflections of PAC
Albanian + + + present subjunctive inflections
Qiang + + + hortative/indirect directive marker
Greek + + + subjunctive inflections
Fongbe + + subjunctive marker ní
Kham + hortative prefix gəh-
7.5 The Hortative Mood 207
It can be found that the first person plural hortative and the third person hor-
tative are most frequently observed in these languages. The meaning realized by
the first person plural hortative mood in these languages corresponds with the
meaning realized by the cohortative mood in other languages, and the meaning
realized by the third person hortative mood corresponds with the meaning real-
ized by the optative mood in other languages. By analogy, the meaning realized
by the first person singular hortative corresponds with the meaning realized by
the oblative mood. Due to the semantic correspondences between the subtypes of
hortative mood and the cohortative, the optative, and the oblative mood, they are
usually complementary in terms of distributions. That is to say, if the first person
plural, the first person singular and the third person hortative mood are observed
in a language, then the cohortative, the oblative and the optative mood will be
absent from the language. This is proved by our investigation. Two exceptions
are Albanian and Maidu. In Albanian, both the third person hortative mood and
the optative mood are observed. But the optative mood in Albanian is the periph-
eral subtype which expresses wishes or blessings rather than the speaker’s desire
to have something done. The meaning of core optative mood then is realized by
the third person hortative mood. In Maidu, both the first person singular horta-
tive mood and the oblative mood are observed. But the oblative mood in Maidu
expresses the speaker’s intention to do something, whose function is similar to
‘I’m going to’ in English; and the meaning of oblative is realized by the first per-
son singular hortative, as in example (161).
(161a) Maidu, imperative: oblative (Shipley 1964: 50)
ʔy..́k̓oj-Ø-Ø-’Í-s
go-opt-int-sg-1
Pr-MN-MN-SI-SI
‘I’m going to go’
(161b) Maidu, imperative: hortative: 1sg (Shipley 1964: 50)
(ʔy..́k̓oj-t-á-’Í-s) ʔyk̓ójʔìs
(go-opt-hor-sg-1)
(Pr-MN-MN-SI-SI)
‘Let me go’
In addition to the three subtypes of hortative mood mentioned above, some lan-
guages also have the second person hortative. The second person hortative in
Kham functions to urge the addressee to ‘go ahead and do something’ with the
intention to remove what the speaker perceives as a restraint on the part of the
addressee. It realizes encouragement. In other languages, the second person horta-
tive serves as a mild/polite/non-immediate jussive mood, as in example (162).
(162a) Mian, imperative: jussive (Fedden 2011: 314)
te
come.pfv
Pr.MN
‘Come!’
(162b) Mian, imperative: hortative: second person (Fedden 2011: 311)
ase fa-n-al = o
fire make.pfv-real-2sg = hor
Pr.Fi ‘perfective’-Fi ‘realis’-SI = MN
‘You should make a fire!’
Another example is Manchu. We have mentioned in Sect. 7.1.1 that there are
five Mood Negotiators for jussive mood in Manchu, one of which is realized by
the suffix -ki. The suffix -ki is the Mood Negotiator for hortative mood. It realizes
the jussive mood/second person hortative mood which is used to a addressee with
equal social position and is with a softer directive force compared with the one
realized by a basic stem. The correspondence between the second person horta-
tive mood and the polite jussive mood is more obvious in Lango, where the cor-
respondence is not only a semantic one, but also a structural one. As mentioned in
Sect. 7.1.2, there is no dedicated Mood Negotiator for jussive mood in Lango. The
jussive mood then is realized by deleting the second person prefix in the second
person hortative mood, as in example (163).
(163a) Lango, imperative: hortative: second person (Noonan 1992: 144)
ì-bîn
2sg-come.sbjv
SI-Pr.MN
‘You should come.’
163b Lango, imperative: jussive (Noonan 1992: 98)
bîn
come.sbjv
Pr.MN
‘Come!’
7.5 The Hortative Mood 209
Table 7.3 Some options in the imperative mood system of Nenets and their relationship
Options Realizations Options Realizations
Jussive (proper) 2.imp Hortative: 2 = mild/polite/non-immedi- 2.sbjv
ate jussive
Cohortative (proper) 1du/pl.hor Hortative: 1du/pl = non-immediate 1du/pl.sbjv
cohortative
Optative (proper) 3.hor Hortative: 3 = mild optative 3.sbjv
Hortative: 1sg = oblative 1sg.sbjv
Thus far, we have discussed the subtypes of hortative mood and the one-to-one
correspondence relationship between them and the four types of imperative dis-
cussed in the previous sections. To sum up, the first person plural hortative mood
corresponds with the cohortative mood, the first person singular hortative mood
corresponds with the oblative mood, the second person hortative mood serves as
a mild/polite/non-immediate jussive mood, and the third person hortative mood
corresponds with the (core) optative mood. Since there exists a one-to-one cor-
respondence between the four subtype of hortative mood and the four types of
imperative mood discussed earlier, why do we use different terms? This is because
the realizations of the four subtypes of hortative mood usually are homogeneous
to each other. As Table 7.2 illustrates, the four subtypes of hortative mood are
realized by the same class of device. In Mian, they are all realized by hortative
clitics = e and = o; in Maidu, they are all realized by hortative suffixes -b-á and -t-
é; in Lango, they are all realized by the subjunctive mode. The only structural dis-
tinction among them is the Subject person. In contrast, the structural homogeneity
is not observed among the jussive, the cohortative, the optative, and the oblative
mood. In most cases, they are realized by different grammatical classes. Though it
is possible that some of them are homogeneous to each other in realizations, it is
rarely observed that the structural homogeneity occurs among all of them.
Besides, we use different terms also because in some languages, there may
exit a systemic contrast between the subtypes of hortative mood and the jussive,
the cohortative, the optative, and oblative mood. For example, Nenets has the
jussive mood, the cohortative mood, and the optative mood. They are realized
by different grammatical classes, as Table 7.3 shows. Meanwhile, it has the four
subtypes of hortative mood, which are all realized by the subjunctive mode. The
systemic contrast between the subtypes of hortative mood and the jussive, the
cohortative, and the optative mood is set out in Table 7.3. We used the terms in
bold type replacing the term ‘hortative’ when describing the mood system of
Nenets to show that each type of imperative mood in Nenets is fully elaborated.
But actually, these terms correspond to the four subtypes of hortative mood. The
example of Nenets shows that the hortative mood is an independent type of imper-
ative mood.
7.6 Other Types of Imperative Mood
Thus far, we have discussed five major types of imperative mood. These types of
imperative mood have a higher frequency of occurrence. In this section, we will
discuss some other types of imperative mood, which include the prohibitive mood,
the permissive mood, the impersonal imperative mood, the Mongolian types of
imperative mood, and the apprehensive mood. These types of mood are less fre-
quently elaborated than the types of imperative discussed previously, and thus, we
will mainly focus on their meanings and realizations.
7.6.1 The Prohibitive Mood
The prohibitive is the type of imperative mood with which the speaker stops the
addressee from doing something. The meaning expressed by prohibitive clauses
corresponds to that of negative jussive clauses, but not every negative jussive
clause is a prohibitive clause. A negative jussive clause usually is realized by
adding a negative marker to a positive jussive clause. In contrast, a prohibitive
clause, in addition to a negative marker, also uses another device as its realiza-
tion. Negative jussive clauses are observed in most of the languages in our sample,
whereas prohibitive clauses are observed in some languages. Example (164) illus-
trates the prohibitive mood in Japanese. It can be found that the prohibitive mood
in Japanese differs from the jussive mood not only in presenting the negative parti-
cle na, but also in the verb form.
(164a) Japanese, imperative: jussive (Teruya 2007: 165)
hon-o yom-e
book-acc read-imp
Com Pr.TM-MN
‘Read the book!’
(164b) Japanese, imperative: prohibitive (Teruya 2007: 165)
hon-o yom-u na
book-acc read- neg
Com Pr-MN- -MN

‘Don’t read the book!’
The prohibitive mood is observed in 16 languages in our sample. Most of these lan-
guages deploy a construction which consists of a negative marker and a verb form
which is different from the one in jussive clauses to realize the prohibitive mood, as
7.6 Other Types of Imperative Mood 211
in example (163). The verb form in prohibitive clauses can be a participle, such as
in Maidu, a subjunctive mode, such as in Spanish and Armenian, an irrealis mode,
such as in Bardi or a verb stem which is different from the one in jussive clauses,
such as in Dagaare. In Welsh, the prohibitive is realized by a construction which
consists of the imperative mood negative particle paid, the word â, and the infini-
tive form of the verb, as in example (165). In Dagaare, negative particles ɩ, e, and
ɛ are deployed in prohibitive clauses. These negative particles also realize the neg-
ative declarative mood, which contrasts with the affirmative declarative mood (see
Table 5.9 in Sect. 5.2.8). Besides, Dagaare also makes a distinction between imme-
diate prohibitive mood and non-immediate prohibitive mood, as in example (166).
(165) Welsh, imperative: prohibitive (Borsley et al. 2007: 21)
paid â phoeni
neg.imp.2sg with worry.inf
MN Pr.MN
‘Don’t’ worry’
(166a) Dagaare, imperative: prohibitive: immediate (Mwinlaaru 2018: 163)
ta yɛrɛ nɩ mãa ɩ
neg.imp.im speak.ipfv com me mp
MN- Pr.Fi ‘imperfective’ Com -MN

‘Don’t talk to me!’
(166b) Dagaare, imperative: prohibitive: non-immediate (Mwinlaaru 2018: 163)
taa yarɛ yél-faa san ɛ

neg.imp.nim pay.ipfv matter-evil debt mp
MN- Pr.Fi ‘imperfective’ Com Com -MN

‘Don’t pay back evil! (=Never pay back evil!)’
7.6.2 The Permissive Mood
The permissive mood is the type of imperative mood with which the speaker
requires permission from the addressee for someone to perform an action. The
performer can be the speaker (let/allow me (to) do) or someone else (let/allow
him/her/them (to) do). The permissive can be considered a special subtype of
jussive mood since they both select a second person Subject (you do and you let/
allow me (to) do). They are different, however, in the property of the goods-&-ser-
vices exchanged. The jussive mood demands concrete goods-&-services from the
addressee, the exchange of which usually is accompanied by some physical effort
from the addressee; the permissive, in contrast, demands abstract goods-&-ser-
vices, which is the permission or agreement of the addressee. In some languages,
the permissive indicates the speaker’s indifference (who cares, let him/her/them
do, do not hinder him/her/them).
The permissive is observed in six languages in our sample, namely Chinese,
Vietnamese, Mongolian, Kham, Tagalog, and Hidatsa. In Chinese and Vietnamese,
the permissive is not highly grammaticalized. In Chinese, it is realized by the con-
struction ‘ràng ^ wǒ ^ Predicator’ (let me do), and in Vietnamese, it is realized by
the construction ‘để ^ tao ^ Predicator’ (let me do). This construction may exit in
many other languages as well. In Mongolian, the permissive mood is realized by
the Mood Negotiators for cohortative and optative mood. This is easy to under-
stand, since the word ‘let’ in the construction ‘let us/me/him do’ can be either of
the meaning of ‘ask’ or ‘allow’. Therefore, the Mood Negotiators for optative
mood (let him) and oblative mood (let me) in some languages may also realize
the permissive mood. For example, as Forker (2013) reports, the optative in Hinuq
expresses hopes and wishes (the peripheral optative mood), exhortations to actions
by third person agents (the core optative mood) or permissions and indifference
(the permissive mood). In Kham, the permissive mood is realized by adding the
hortative marker gəh- to the optative mood structure. In Tagalog and Hidatsa, the
permissive mood is realized by the prefix pa- and the suffixe –ahka, respectively.
Example (167) and (168) illustrate the permissive mood in Kham and Tagalog.
(167) Kham, imperative: permissive (Watters 2004: 313)
gəh-cyu:-na-zya-rə-kə
hor-look-1sg-cont-3pl-opt
MN-Pr-CI-Fi ‘continuous’-SI-MN
‘Let them go ahead and keep looking at me!’
(168) Tagalog, imperative: permissive (Schachter and Otanes 1972: 404)
painom (ako/kami) ng tubig

permit to have (me/us) p water
MN.Pr Sub Com
‘Let me/us have some water.’
7.6.3 The Impersonal Imperative Mood
The impersonal imperative mood is different from the other types of imperative
mood discussed previously in that it does not indicate a specific person to perform
the action. In contrast, the jussive mood indicates a second person performer, the
cohortative mood indicates a first person plural inclusive performer, the optative
mood indicates a third person performer, and the oblative mood indicates a first
person singular performer. The impersonal imperative mood is observed in four
Indo-European languages, viz., German, Spanish, Latvian, and Armenian. They
bear similarity in realizing the impersonal imperative mood with the infinitive
form of the verb. In German, past participles and in Spanish, the subjunctive mode
are also deployed for peremptory commands and formal impersonal imperatives,
respectively. The impersonal imperative is often deployed in instructions or for
very strong imperative commands and prohibitions. Example (169) illustrates the
impersonal imperative mood in Spanish.
(169) Spanish, imperative: impersonal: informal (Lavid et al. 2010: 239)
tirar después de usar

throw.inf after use.inf
Pr.MN Ad
‘Throw away after using it.’
7.6.4 The Mongolian Types of Imperative Mood
Finally, we will make a brief survey of the types of imperative mood in

Mongolian. Languages vary in the types of mood elaborated. In English, for
example, none of the declarative mood, the interrogative mood, and the impera-
tive mood is fully elaborated, whereas in Korean, as mentioned in the previous
chapters, all the three major types of mood are elaborated further in delicacy along
the dimension of speech level. Besides, the declarative mood and the interrogative
mood in Korean are also elaborated along the dimension of evidentiality through
the selection of mode (either indicative or retrospective), and the declarative mood
is also elaborated along other dimensions. In Hup, it is the declarative mood that
is fully elaborated (see Sect. 5.2.8), while in Mongolian, it is the imperative mood
that is fully elaborated, as shown in Fig. 7.2.
Some types of imperative mood displayed in the imperative mood system
of Mongolian have been discussed in the previous sections, such as the jussive
mood, the cohortative mood, the permissive mood, and the optative mood. We will
focus on the other types of imperative mood, some of which are only observed in
Mongolian, and some of which are observed in other languages as well. The terms
Fig. 7.2 The imperative mood system of Mongolian
for the types of imperative mood discussed here are borrowed from Janhunen
(2012).
First, we will see the prescriptive mood, the benedictive mood, and the preca-
tive mood, all of which are related to the jussive mood. The prescriptive mood,
according to Janhunen (2012), expresses a somewhat milder and/or more polite
command than the jussive mood. At the same time, it is often more demand-
ing in the sense that the request expressed by the prescriptive is expected to be
agreed to. Thus, the prescriptive mood is a fusion of the polite jussive mood and
the emphatic jussive mood. The benedicative mood, compared with the prescrip-
tive mood, expresses a more polite request. The precative mood expresses an
emphatic command directed to a second person Subject. The three types of mood,
together with the jussive mood, form a mood continuum along the dimension of
directive force or politeness. The more polite one is of a milder directive force.
Now, we will see the desiderative and the dubitative mood. Both of them are
directed to a third person Subject. The desiderative is a rather peripheral type of
imperative mood. It expresses an irreal wish (I wish that, if only it were so that).
It is similar to the peripheral optative mood in that they both express a wish. They
are different in the sense that the wish expressed by a desiderative clause is unre-
alizable while that by a peripheral optative clause may be realizable (see Jespersen
1924: 320). The desiderative mood is also observed in Nenets and Ute. The dubi-
tative mood has been discussed in Sect. 6.4.1, where it is identified as a sub-
type of confirmative mood in Chinese and Fongbe. But the usage of this term in
Mongolian is totally different from that in Chinese and Fongbe. In Mongolian, the
dubitative mood involves an inherent negative or precautionary (there is a danger
that) presupposition, thought the form itself is not marked as negative. It is with
the implication ‘if only it were not so that/let it not be that’, which is opposite to
that of desiderative. Example (170) displays the desiderative and dubitative mood
in Mongolian.
(170a) Mongolian, imperative: desiderative (Janhunen 2012: 155)
yab-aasai
to depart-des
Pr-MN
‘If only s/he would go!’
(170b) Mongolian, imperative: dubitative (Janhunen 2012: 155)
ux-uudzai
to die-dub
Pr-MN
‘I wish s/he will not die! / There is a danger that s/he might die.’
There is another peripheral type of imperative mood observed in Hup, Kulina,

Maidu, Nenets, and Teiwa which has a similar function to the dubitative mood
in Mongolian. It is termed the ‘apprehensive’, which indicates the speaker’s fear
about an unpleasant or undesirable event (if only it were not so that/if only it would
not be that/let it not be that). It is often used to deliver a warning or threat to the
addressee about a possible unpleasant event. It is considered a peripheral type of
imperative mood in that, as Epps (2008) notices, it expresses an implied com-
mand. Example (171) and (172) illustrate the apprehensive mood in Nenets and
Hup.
(171) Nenets, imperative: apprehensive (Nikolaeva 2014: 90)
nʹi-r°wa-d°m pūda-q
neg-appr-1sg late-conneg
Fi ‘negative’-MN-SI Pr-Fi ‘negative’
‘If only I wouldn’t be late!’
(172) Hup, imperative: apprehensive (Epps 2008: 631)
ʔam nɔ́h
2sg fall.appr
Sub Pr.MN
‘(Watch out,) you’ll fall!’ (don’t do that)
The desiderative and the dubitative mood in Mongolian and the apprehensive
mood in Nenets, Hup, Maidu, Teiwa, and Kulina are the peripheral types of imper-
ative mood. These imperatives, together with the canonical types of imperative
mood, such as the jussive mood, the cohortative mood, and the optative mood,
may form a mood continuum along the dimension of imperativity, just like the
declarative mood, the confirmative mood, and the interrogative mood form a mood
continuum along the dimension of interrogativity. There are two variables correlat-
ing with the imperativity of different types of imperative mood. One is the involve-
ment of the addressee in the proposal. Generally, the type of mood involving the
addressee is of a higher degree of imperativity. Thus, the jussive mood (merely
the addressee) is of a higher degree of imperativity than the cohortative mood
(the addressee and the speaker), and the cohortative mood is of a higher degree of
imperativity than the optative mood (no involvement or indirect involvement of the
addressee). The second variable is the possibility for the action to be performed. A
lower possibility for the performance of the action usually indicates a lower degree
of imperativity. The action expressed by the desiderative mood and the dubita-
tive mood is unrealizable; thus, they are of the lowest degree of imperativity. The
action expressed by the peripheral optative mood is less possible to be performed
than that expressed by the core optative mood; thus, the core optative mood is
of a higher degree of imperativity than the peripheral optative mood. The action
directed to a third person performer is less possible to be performed than that
directed to a second person performer because the third person performer is absent
from the conversation; thus, the optative mood is of a lower degree of imperativity
than the jussive mood. The long double-headed arrow in Fig. 7.2 above indicates
the imperative mood continuum in Mongolian along the dimension of imperativ-
ity. The same mood continuum also exits in other languages where the imperative
mood is fully elaborated, such as Nenets and Ute (see the Appendix).
7.7 Chapter Summary
In this chapter, we made a cross-linguistic comparison of imperative mood. It is

found that languages bear similarity in elaborating the imperative mood further
in delicacy along the dimension of the Subject person. Along this dimension,
the imperative mood can be classified into several major types, such as the jus-
sive mood (the second person), the cohortative mood (the first person plural), the
optative mood (the third person), the oblative mood (the first person singular), and
the hortative mood (all the three persons). Languages vary in the types of impera-
tive mood that are grammaticalized; they also vary in the subtypes and the realiza-
tions of each major type of imperative mood.
The most frequently grammaticalized type of imperative mood is the jussive
mood. It directs an action to a second person Subject. The subtypes of jussive
mood include the polite jussive mood; the mild/soft and strong/emphatic jussive
mood; the immediate, non-immediate and habitual jussive mood; the subtypes of
jussive mood in Korean, Javanese, and Manchu, which indicate the social relation-
ship between the interactants; and the subtypes of jussive mood in Chinese, which
indicate different degrees of proposal negotiability. Concerning the realizations of
jussive mood, the languages in our sample can be classified into two major groups:
(i) those deploying no explicit Mood Negotiators for jussive mood and (ii) those
deploying explicit Mood Negotiators. Languages of group (i) are mainly isolating
languages. Languages of group (ii) can be further classified into two groups: (a)
those deploying non-exclusive Mood Negotiators and (b) those deploying exclu-
sive Mood Negotiators. The jussive mood in languages of group (a) is less gram-
maticalized than that in languages of group (b). Most exclusive Mood Negotiators
for jussive mood are realized by affixes/inflections. Languages deploying affixes/
inflections to realize jussive clauses vary along different parameters, such as the
number of devices deployed and the homogeneity between the Mood Negotiators
for second person singular and non-singular jussive clauses. It is found that lan-
guages displaying verbal inflections for person and number in declarative clauses
very possibly will use different Mood Negotiators for second person singular and
non-singular jussive clauses.
The second frequently grammaticalized type of imperative mood is the cohorta-
tive mood. It directs an action to a first person plural Subject. It is less frequently
elaborated than the jussive mood. Concerning the realizations of cohortative mood,
languages can be classified into different groups along the same dimensions for the
classification of the realizations of jussive mood. Languages having no explicit Mood
Negotiators or having non-exclusive Mood Negotiators for jussive mood very possi-
bly will have no explicit Mood Negotiators or have non-exclusive Mood Negotiators
for cohortative mood. Exceptions are four isolating languages, which have no
explicit Mood Negotiators for jussive mood but have Mood Negotiators realized by
particles for cohortative mood. Languages having exclusive Mood Negotiators for
cohortative mood are mainly agglutinative and fusional languages, where the Mood
Negotiators are realized by affixes/inflections. Except Tagalog and Persian which
deploy the same Mood Negotiator for both jussive and cohortative mood, other lan-
guages deploy a different Mood Negotiator for cohortative mood.
The third frequently grammaticalized type of imperative mood is the optative
mood. It directs an action to a third person Subject. The major subtypes of obla-
tive mood include the core optative mood, which expresses the addressee’s desire
or will to have an action performed by a third person Subject, and the peripheral
operative mood, which expresses the speaker’s wishes and blessings. Regarding
the realizations of optative mood, a few languages deploy constructions and most
languages deploy affixes/inflections. It is found that those deploying non-dedi-

cated Mood Negotiators for jussive mood have no dedicated Mood Negotiators for
optative mood either.
The oblative mood, which realizes the speech function of offer, is least likely to
be grammaticalized among the four major types imperative mood. It can be real-
ized by constructions, particles, and affixes/inflections in different languages.
Another type of imperative mood that correlates with the four major types of
imperative mood closely is the hortative mood. It is a form of speaker-oriented
modality used to express the speaker’s wish that an action take place immediately
or as soon as possible. The subtypes of hortative mood include the first person
plural hortative, the third person hortative, the first person singular hortative, and
the second person hortative, which correspond, respectively, with the cohortative
mood, the optative mood, the oblative mood, and the polite/mild jussive mood.
The subtypes of hortative mood and their counterparts are usually complementary
in distribution. The four subtypes of hortative mood usually are realized by struc-
turally homogeneous Mood Negotiators.
In addition to the major types of imperative mood, some languages display other
options in imperative mood system, such as the prohibitive mood, the permissive
mood, the impersonal imperative mood, the Mongolian types of imperative mood,
and the apprehensive mood. Languages also vary in the realizations of these types
of imperative mood. In languages with a highly elaborated imperative mood system,
the options may form a mood continuum along the dimension of imperativity.
More generalizations about the realizations of imperative mood system and the
dimensions for the elaboration of imperative mood system will be made in Chap. 8.
References
Cambridge
Dum-Tragut J (2009) Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian. John Benjamins, Amsterdam/
Philadelphia
Jespersen O (1924) The philosophy of grammar. George Ellen & Unwin L.T.D, London
Continuum, London
Mwinlaaru IN-I (2018) A systemic functional description of the grammar of Dagaare.
References 219

pp 155–196
Chapter 8
A Systemic Functional Typology of mood
System
8.1 The Realizations of mood System
8.1.1 The Realizations of declarative mood System
In Chap. 8, we have discussed the subtypes of declarative mood and we have made
cross-linguistic comparisons of the realizations of each subtype of declarative
mood. In this section, we will make a survey of the realizations of declarative
mood system. Table 8.1 sets out the grammatical classes deployed by the lan-
guages in our sample in the realizations of declarative mood system. The numbers
in the second line are the numbers of the languages where the class is deployed;
the numbers in the third line are the numbers of realization statements where the
class occurs. For example, the particle is deployed in 17 languages. In some lan-
guages, it occurs in several realization statements and the total number of the reali-
zation statements where the particle occurs is 32.
It can be found that the zero (unmarked) form is deployed most frequently in
the realizations of declarative mood system. It is deployed in different types of
languages. However, as discussed in Chap. 5, the zero (unmarked) form is ded-
icated to the realization of declarative (proper) mood. In other words, the zero
form is not a productive device in the realizations of declarative mood system.
Other unproductive devices in the realizations of declarative mood system include
the interrogative word, the initial position, the adverb, the structure/construction,
and the sequence. The interrogative word, the adverb, and the initial position in
all the languages where they are deployed are almost dedicated to the realiza-
tions of exclamative mood. The structure/construction is deployed in two lan-
guages. In Kham, it realizes the mirative mood, and in Diegueño, it realizes the
strong emphatic declarative mood. The sequence is only deployed in Hup, where
it makes the systemic contrast between the ‘Subject ^ Predicator’ subtype and the
‘Predicator ^ Subject’ subtype of declarative mood. The ‘Subject ^ Predicator’
subtype is standard in past-tense narrative, descriptive, and other time-neutral
222 8 A Systemic Functional Typology of mood System
Table 8.1 The grammatical classes in the realizations of declarative mood system

zero Affix Particle Clitic iw Position: initial ad st seq
Number of 51 18 17 8 8 7 2 2 1
languages
Number of 51 70 32 24 8 7 2 2 1
realizations
discourse, and it is commonly used in clauses with future-tense or past-tense ref-

erence generally. The ‘Predicator ^ Subject’ subtype, in contrast, is more frequent
when the clause encodes an ongoing or currently relevant event and thus is par-
ticularly common in everyday conversation.
The remaining grammatical classes, namely the affix/inflection, the particle,
and the clitic, are productive in making systemic contrasts among different sub-
types of declarative mood. The affix/inflection is deployed in 18 languages and
70 realization statements. Among the 18 languages, 13 are agglutinative lan-
guages, three are languages whose morphological types are not identified (Jamsay,
Diegueño, and Maidu), and two are fusional languages (Albanian and Somali).
Though the affix/inflection is deployed in two fusional languages, it is unproduc-
tive in the two languages. In Albanian, it is deployed in the realization of admira-
tive declarative mood, and in Somali, it is deployed in conjunction with negative
declarative particles to realize the negative declarative mood (contrasting with
the affirmative declarative mood). The affix/inflection in Jamsay, Diegueño, and
Maidu is not productive either, where it realizes the focused declarative, the mild
emphatic declarative, and the declarative (proper) mood, respectively. Therefore,
the affix/inflection is mainly deployed in a productive way in agglutinative lan-
guages (13 languages and 65 realization statements). In some agglutinative lan-
guages, it is the only grammatical class deployed in the retaliations of declarative
mood system. For example, in Korean, all the subtypes of declarative mood, such
as the declarative (proper), the exclamative, the suppositive, the promissive, and
the admonitive are realized consistently by suffixes. Similarly, in Hidatsa, the suf-
fix realizes 10 subtypes of declarative mood.
The second productive class in the realizations of declarative mood system is
the particle. It is deployed in 17 languages and 32 realization statements. In the 17
languages, nine are (near-)isolating languages, three (Qiang, Hup, and Kham) are
agglutinative languages, two (Welsh and Somali) are fusional languages, and three
are languages whose morphological types are not identified. Though it is deployed
in three agglutinative languages, it is not the major class deployed in these lan-
guages. For example, in Hup and Qiang, it is the affix/inflection and the clitic that
are deployed most frequently. Therefore, the particle is mainly deployed produc-
tively in isolating languages in the realizations of declarative mood system.
8.1 The Realizations of mood System 223
The third productive class in the realizations of declarative mood system is

the clitic. It is deployed in eight languages and 24 realization statements. Seven
among the eight languages are agglutinative languages, and one (Jamsay) is a lan-
guage whose morphological type is not identified.
To sum up, a possible typological generalization can be made about the real-
izations of declarative mood system: agglutinative languages tend to deploy
affixes/inflections and clitics principally in the realizations of declarative mood
system; isolating languages tend to deploy particles principally in the realizations
of declarative mood system; fusional languages may take both affixes/inflections
and particles, but neither class is deployed in a productive way.
8.1.2 The Realizations of interrogative mood System
Now, we will look at the realizations of interrogative mood system. The grammat-
ical classes deployed in the realizations of interrogative mood system are set out
in Table 8.2.
It is shown that the interrogative word is deployed in all the languages in our
sample. It is dedicated to the realizations of elemental interrogative mood. The
initial position is almost dedicated to the realizations of elemental interrogative
mood. Fusional languages show a slight tendency (10 among 13) toward position-
ing interrogative words initially; whereas agglutinative languages show a strong
tendency (21 among 25) and isolating languages show a slight tendency (seven
among nine) toward positioning interrogative words non-initially. Besides, the
initial position is also deployed in the realizations of other types of interrogative
mood. For example, in Russian and Finnish, it is also deployed in the realiza-
tions of polar interrogative mood, where the element to which the interrogative
particle is added should be positioned initially. In Finnish, Nama Hottentot, and
Hup, it is also deployed in the realizations of focused/emphatic polar interroga-
tive mood. Another device concerning position is the relative position of an ele-
ment. This device is deployed in eight languages, where it is dedicated to making
systemic contrast between neutral polar interrogative and focused polar inter-
rogative. When the Mood Negotiator (either realized by particles or clitics) is
added to the Predicator, it realizes the neutral polar interrogative, and when the
Mood Negotiator is added to the focused element, it realizes the focused polar
Table 8.2 The grammatical classes in the realizations of interrogative mood system

iw p po: initial st a/i c po: seq ad Intonation
element
Number of 60 40 25 23 14 12 8 4 1 12
languages
Number of 60 70 25 38 31 17 17 4 1 12
realizations
interrogative. In Turkish, there are two subtypes of neutral polar interrogative: one
is realized by positioning the Mood Negotiator immediately before the Predicator
and the other is realized by positioning Mood Negotiator immediately after
the Predicator. The latter subtype is used in the situation where the speaker has
an assumption about the situation s/he is asking about, usually because there are
non-linguistic clues.
Other unproductive classes in the realizations of interrogative mood sys-
tem include the sequence, the adverb, and the intonation. The sequence is used
in English, German, French, and Hup for polar interrogative mood. The adverb is
deployed in Chinese for rhetorical questions. And the intonation is deployed in 12
languages for the realizations of polar interrogative mood.
The productive grammatical classes in the realizations of interrogative mood
system include the particle, the structure/construction, the affix/inflection, and
the clitic. The particle is the most frequently deployed class in the realizations
of interrogative mood system. It is mainly deployed in the realizations of polar
interrogative mood. It is the principal class deployed by isolating and fusional lan-
guages in the realizations of polar interrogative mood. Agglutinative languages
also deploy particles to realize polar interrogative mood, but they do so less fre-
quently. In addition to the realizations of polar interrogative, the particle is also
productively deployed in the realizations of other subtypes of interrogative mood,
such as the dubitative mood, the tagged confirmative mood, the rhetorical ques-
tion, the biased polar interrogative mood, the emotion-involved and the assessed
interrogative mood, the polite interrogative mood, and the emphatic interrogative
mood. Besides, it is deployed by languages of different morphological types. In
the 40 languages where it is deployed, nine are isolating languages, 10 are fusional
languages, 12 are agglutinative languages, and nine are languages whose morpho-
logical types are not identified. It is more frequently deployed in isolating lan-
guages (all the nine isolating languages) and fusional languages (10 among 13)
and less frequently deployed in agglutinative languages (12 among 25). Moreover,
the particle is more productive in isolating and fusional languages than in agglu-
tinative languages. In the nine isolating languages, the particle is deployed in 21
realization statements, and on average, it is deployed in 2.3 realization statements
in each isolating language. The number for fusional languages is 1.7 (10 languages
17 realization statements), and the number for agglutinative language is 1.3 (12
languages 16 realization statements).
The second frequently deployed class in the realizations of interrogative mood
system is the structure/construction. It is mainly deployed in the realizations of
polar interrogative mood (‘A-not-A’), alternative interrogative mood (‘A or B’),
and tagged confirmative and rhetorical question (negative polar questions). It
is deployed in 23 languages, among which seven are isolating languages, three
are fusional languages, nine are agglutinative languages, and four are languages
whose morphological types are not identified. It is more frequently deployed
in isolating languages (seven among nine) than in agglutinative and fusional
languages.
The third and the fourth frequently deployed class are the affix/inflection and
the clitic. They are only deployed in agglutinative languages, where they are
mainly deployed to realize polar and elemental interrogative mood. In some agglu-
tinative languages, the affix/inflection and the clitic are deployed to make systemic
contrast between polar and elemental interrogative mood.
To sum up, the productive classes in the realizations of interrogative mood
system include particles, structures/constructions, affixes/inflections, and clitics.
Isolating and fusional languages mainly deploy particles and structures/construc-
tions in the realizations of interrogative mood system; agglutinative languages
mainly deploy affixes and clitics though they also deploy particles and structures/
constructions.
8.1.3 The Realizations of imperative mood System
Now, we will proceed to survey the realizations of imperative mood system. Table
8.3 sets out the grammatical classes deployed in the realizations of imperative
mood system.
The most frequently deployed class in the realizations of imperative mood sys-
tem unsurprisingly is the affix/inflection. It is deployed in 48 languages and 195
realization statements. Among the 48 languages, 25 are agglutinative languages,
12 are fusional languages, and 11 are languages whose morphological types are
not identified. Therefore, the affix/inflection is deployed in a productive way both
in agglutinative and fusional languages. On average, it is deployed in 4.6 reali-
zation statements (25 languages 116 realization statements) in each agglutinative
language and four realization statements (12 languages 48 realization statements)
in each fusional language.
The second frequently deployed class in the realizations of imperative mood
system is the particle. It is deployed in 19 languages and 39 realization statements.
Among the 19 languages, eight are isolating languages, three are agglutinative lan-
guages, one is a fusional language, and seven are languages whose morphological
types are not identified. Therefore, in the realizations of imperative mood system,
the particle is more frequently deployed in isolating and agglutinative languages
than in fusional languages. In some isolating languages, the particle can realize
Table 8.3 The grammatical classes in the realizations of imperative mood system

Affix Particle st Clitic Sub –Fi –Sub seq Intonation ad
Number 48 19 18 3 17 13 5 1 2 1
of
languages
Number 195 39 21 4 35 13 5 1 2 2
of realiza-
tions
some major types of imperative mood, such as the jussive mood (in Vietnamese
and Hausa), the cohortative mood (in Thai, Korya Chiini, and Saramaccan Creole),
and the hortative mood (in Fongbe). Whereas in other types of languages, the par-
ticle is mainly deployed in the realizations of minor subtypes of imperative mood,
such as the polite imperative mood, the mild and strong imperative mood, the
non-immediate imperative mood, the assessed imperative mood, and the prohibi-
tive mood.
The third frequently deployed class in the realizations of imperative mood
system is the structure/construction. It is deployed in 18 languages (seven agglu-
tinative languages, five fusional languages, two isolating languages, and four
languages whose morphological types are not identified) and 20 realization state-
ments. It is less productive than affixes/inflections and particles. The structure/
construction is mainly deployed in some less grammaticalized types of imperative
mood, such as the prohibitive mood, the optative mood (‘let him do’), the oblative
mood (‘let him do’), and the permissive mood.
The clitic is frequently deployed in agglutinative languages in the realizations
of declarative mood system and interrogative mood system. But is less fre-
quently deployed in the realizations of imperative mood system. It is only deployed
in three agglutinative languages and four realization statements. Similar to the par-
ticle, the clitic is mainly deployed in the realizations of minor subtypes of impera-
tive mood, such as the mild and strong imperative mood.
Another special class deployed in the realizations of imperative mood sys-
tem is the Subject person. As mentioned in last chapter, one natural dimension
for the elaboration of imperative mood is the Subject person. Thus, the Subject
person is deployed frequently in the realizations of imperative mood system to
make systemic contrast among different types of imperative mood. For example,
in Tagalog, the basic verb form is deployed in the realizations of jussive mood,
cohortative mood, optative mood, and oblative mood, and it is the use of different
Subject persons that makes systemic contrast among the four types of imperative
mood.
Other devices are unproductive in the realizations of imperative mood system.
The devices of ‘deleting Finite’ (−Fi) and ‘deleting Subject’ (−Sub) are implicit
devices. They are mainly deployed in isolating languages and some fusional lan-
guages where the imperative mood is not fully grammaticalized. For example,
the jussive and the cohortative mood in French are realized by the second person
and the first person plural present tense verbal conjugations, respectively, plus the
device of ‘deleting Subject’. The sequence is only deployed in German, where the
jussive and the cohortative mood are realized by imperative inflections plus the
sequence of ‘Predicator ^ Subject’. The intonation is deployed in Qiang and Bardi.
In Qiang, the jussive mood is realized by stressed directional prefixes, and in
Bardi, the jussive and the cohortative mood are realized by the second person and
the first person plural future tense, respectively, and they differ from their counter-
parts in declarative clauses in intonation. The adverb is deployed in Teiwa (isolat-
ing language) in the realizations of mild jussive mood and apprehensive mood.
In summary, the productive classes in the realizations of imperative mood sys-

tem include the affix/inflection, the particle, the structure/construction, and the
clitic. Compared with the realizations of declarative mood system and interrog-
ative mood system, the affix/inflection is deployed more frequently and more pro-
ductively in the realizations of imperative mood system, while the particle and the
clitic are deployed less frequently and less productively. Moreover, agglutinative
and fusional languages mainly deploy affixes/inflections productively, whereas
isolating languages mainly deploy non-explicit devices and particles.
8.1.4 The Realizations of Holistic mood System
In the previous sections, we have made a survey of the realizations of declarative

mood system, interrogative mood system, and imperative mood system. It is found
that the productive classes in the realizations of the three mood systems are affixes/
inflections, particles, clitics, and structures/constructions. They are productive in
the sense that they are deployed by different types of languages in a wide vari-
ety of realization statements for different types of mood. Other types of devices
are unproductive, either because they are deployed in a few languages, or because
they are dedicated to the realizations of specific mood options. Moreover, it is
found that in the realizations of declarative mood system, agglutinative languages
tend to deploy affixes and clitics productively; isolating languages tend to deploy
particles productively; fusional languages may take both affixes/inflections and
particles, but neither class is deployed in a productive way. In the realizations of
interrogative mood system, isolating and fusional languages mainly deploy par-
ticles and structures/constructions; agglutinative languages mainly deploy affixes/
inflections and clitics. In the realizations of imperative mood system, agglutina-
tive and fusional languages mainly deploy affixes/inflections; isolating languages
mainly deploy non-explicit devices and particles. Therefore, it can be found
that the realizations of mood systems correlate with the morphological types of
language.
Now, we will see the realizations of the holistic mood system. Table 8.4 offers
the information about the realizations of holistic mood system in different lan-
guages. The numbers in the third column are the numbers of mood options in the
holistic mood system of the language. The numbers in the fourth column are the
numbers of grammatical classes deployed in the realizations of the holistic mood
system of the language. The numbers in other columns are the numbers of reali-
zation statements realized by different grammatical classes. Since we will discuss
the relationship between the realizations of holistic mood system and the morpho-
logical types of language, the information of the languages whose morphological
types are not identified is omitted in the table.
It is shown that languages vary in the number of mood options and in the num-
ber of grammatical classes deployed in the realizations of holistic mood system.
The interrogative word is observed in every language in our sample, and thus, any
Table 8.4 Realizations of holistic mood system

Languages Morphological types Numbers of Numbers of realization
statements involving
Moods Classes a/i c p st ad
Greenlandic Polysynthetic 9 4 8 1 1
Korean Agglutinative 56 2 46
Hidatsa Agglutinative 14 2 15
Tauya Agglutinative 7 2 7
Nyigina Agglutinative 7 4 4 1
Japanese Agglutinative 13 5 5 1 2
Manchu Agglutinative 10 5 5 1 2
Quechua Agglutinative 15 6 10 2 1
Kham Agglutinative 15 6 9 2 2
Qiang Agglutinative 18 6 5 11 1
Mapuche Agglutinative 11 6 6 1
Hup Agglutinative 35 9 15 7 7 2
Nenets Agglutinative 25 7 13 2 3 1
Mongolian Agglutinative 16 5 8 4 1
Ute Agglutinative 10 5 8 1
Kulina Agglutinative 10 5 7 1
Hinuq Agglutinative 15 5 6 4
Turkish Agglutinative 14 7 6 1 3 1
Mian Agglutinative 7 5 4 5 2 1
Telugu Agglutinative 8 6 4 1 1
Cavineña Agglutinative 17 7 4 10 1
Finnish Agglutinative 11 6 3 3
Udmurt Agglutinative 8 6 2 1 2 1
Santali Agglutinative 6 5 2 1
Pipil Agglutinative 6 6 2 1
Armenian Fusional 9 5 7 1
Albanian Fusional 10 5 7 1
Greek Fusional 12 7 6 2 4
Spanish Fusional 11 7 5 1 1
Hindi Fusional 8 6 5 2 3
German Fusional 7 6 5
Latvian Fusional 8 6 4 1 1
French Fusional 8 7 3 2
Russian Fusional 6 6 2 1
Somali Fusional 15 5 2 8 1
Welsh Fusional 6 6 1 3 1
Persian Fusional 7 6 1 2
English Fusional 6 7
Teiwa Isolating 9 8 1 1 2
Chinese Isolating 37 7 4 8 2
(continued)
Languages Morphological types Numbers of Numbers of realization
statements involving
Moods Classes a/i c p st ad
Fongbe Isolating 13 7 8 1
Thai Isolating 14 5 9 2
Vietnamese Isolating 12 5 6 4
Hausa Isolating 8 6 5 1
Chiini Isolating 6 9 2 1
Hmong Isolating 8 5 4
Saramaccan Isolating 6 5 3
Languages of different morpholoigcal types may deploy different grammatical classes in the
realizations of holitic mood system. The number in bold type and with a underline indicates the
grammatical class which a certain langauge deploys frequently.
language will deploy at least two classes in the realizations of holistic mood sys-
tem. Korean, Hidatsa, and Tauya are characterized by the remarkable consistency
in the realizations of holistic mood system. They deploy affixes/inflections consist-
ently in the realizations of different types of mood. For instance, Tauya deploys
the suffix –ʔae for exclamative mood, the suffix –ʔa for declarative (proper) mood,
the suffix –nae/–yae for polar interrogative mood, the suffix –ne/–e for elemental
interrogative mood, the suffix -no/-nu for optative mood, the suffix -e or impera-
tive stem for jussive mood, and the suffix –ʔatene/–ʔatenene for prohibitive mood.
Languages like Korean, Hidatsa, and Tauya which make systemic contrast
among different mood options with one grammatical class consistently are rel-
atively rare. What is more commonly observed is that languages may deploy a
rich repertoire of classes/devices in the realizations of holistic mood system. Two
extreme examples are Hup and Korya Chiini, where nine grammatical classes/
devices are deployed.
Moreover, it is found that languages vary from each other in the major gram-
matical class deployed in the realizations of holistic mood system. The cross-lin-
guistic variation in the realizations of holistic mood system, like the cross-linguistic
variation in the realizations of ‘local’ mood systems, correlates with the morpho-
logical types of language. As Table 8.4 shows, agglutinative languages may deploy
a variety of productive classes in the realizations of holistic mood system, but they
tend to deploy affixes/inflections and clitics (inflectional classes) more frequently
than other classes. In contrast, isolating languages mainly deploy particles, struc-
tures/constructions, and adverbs (non-inflectional classes) in the realizations of
holistic mood system. Fusional languages may deploy both affixes/inflections
(inflectional) and particles (non-inflectional): in the realizations of interrogative
mood system, they bear more similarity with isolating languages in mainly deploy-
ing particles; in the realizations of imperative mood system, they bear more simi-
larity with agglutinative languages in mainly deploying affixes/inflections; in the
realizations of declarative mood system, however, they are different from both
agglutinative and isolating languages because they lack productive classes.
The generalizations made above are more clearly illustrated by Table 8.5.
It shows the number of languages (Ls) and the number of realization statements
(RS) where certain classes are deployed. It also offers the average number of
the realization statements involving certain classes in each language of a certain
type. For example, the affix/inflection is deployed in 25 agglutinative languages
and 203 realization statements, and in each agglutinative language, it is deployed
in 8.3 realization statements on average. It is shown that agglutinative languages
may deploy affixes/inflections, clitics, particles, and structures/constructions in the
realizations of holistic mood system but they deploy affixes and clitics more fre-
quently. Isolating languages mainly deploy particles and structures/constructions.
Fusional languages may deploy both affixes/inflections and particles but both
classes are less productive than their counterparts in agglutinative and fusional
languages.
8.1.5 Intra-Language Consistency in the Realizations

of Mood
Thus far, we have made a cross-linguistic comparison of the realizations of mood.

The comparison covers both the realizations of specific mood options (in Chaps. 5,
6, and 7) and the realizations of major mood systems and holistic mood system (in
Sects. 8.1.1, 8.1.2, 8.1.3, and 8.1.4). It is found that languages in our sample dis-
play considerable structural variation both in the realizations of mood options and
in the realizations of major mood systems and holistic mood system.
Though languages display cross-linguistic variation in the realizations of mood,
they display intra-language consistency in the realizations of mood (either mood
options or mood systems). That is to say, though they may deploy different gram-
matical classes (lexicogrammatical resources) in the realizations of mood, they
tend to deploy a certain class more frequently and tend to deploy the class con-
sistently in the realizations of different mood options and different mood systems.
Table 8.6 displays some examples of intra-language consistency in the realizations
of mood. It should be noted that if a language displays intra-language consistency
in the realizations of mood, it does not necessarily mean that the language real-
izes each option of its mood system with the same class. Languages vary in the
Table 8.5 Major grammatical classes deployed in the realizations of holistic mood system in
languages of different morphological types
Affixes/inflections Clitics Particles Constructions
Ls RS Aver Ls RS Aver Ls RS Aver Ls RS Aver
Agglutinative 25 203 8.3 12 40 3.3 13 34 2.6 14 21 1.5
Fusional 12 48 4 – – – 10 23 2.3 7 12 1.7
Isolating – – – – – – 9 42 4.6 7 18 2.5
Table 8.6 Intra-language consistency in the realizations of mood

Languages MN: declarative MN: interrogative MN: imperative
Korean a/i 24 a/i 10 a/i 12
Hidatsa a/i 10 a/i 2 a/i 4
Tauya a/i 2 a/i 2 a/i 3
Nenets a/i 2 a/i 1 a/i 10
Hup a/i 9 a/i 1 a/i 5
Hinuq a/i 2 a/i 1 a/i 3
Quechua a/i 3 a/i 3 a/i 4
Greenlandic a/i 1 a/i 4 a/i 4
Maidu a/i 1 a/i 1 a/i 7
Diegueño a/i 1 a/i 1 a/i 2
Mongolian c 1 c 2 c 1
Cavineña c 8 – – c 2
Somali p 4 p 3 p 2
Fongbe p 3 p 3 p 3
Chinese p 1 p 3 p 2
Hmong p 1 p 2 p 1
Thai p 2 p 6 p 3
Vietnamese p 2 p 2 p 2
Saramaccan p 1 p 1 p 1
Dagaare p 3 p 3 p 3
Ọ̀kọ́ p 1 p 4 p 1
degree of consistency. Languages like Korean, Hidatsa, and Tauya display a high
degree of consistency in the sense they realize each option of mood system with
affixes/inflections; other languages display a relatively lower degree of consistency
in the sense they elaborate some mood options by using a certain class consist-
ently. It is shown that languages like Korean, Hidatsa, and Tauya deploy affixes/
inflections consistently and productively in the realizations of mood. Languages
like Mongolian and Cavineña deploy clitics consistently and productively in the
realizations of mood. Languages like Somali, Fongbe, Chinese, and Hmong Njua
deploy particles consistently and productively in the realizations of mood.
The class a language deploys most frequently in the realizations of mood usu-
ally is of central importance among the lexicogrammatical resources at their dis-
posal. In other words, the class may also be deployed in the realizations of other
meanings, not only in the realizations of mood. In Sect. 5.1.3, we have discussed
the intra-language consistency in the realizations of Finite (Finite ‘tense’, Finite
‘aspect’, Finite ‘modality’, and Finite ‘negative’), which refers to the phenomenon
that if a language deploys a certain device in the realization of a certain semantic
domain covered by Finite, it may also deploy the same device in the realizations
of other semantic domains covered by Finite. It is found that in many languages
in our sample the intra-language consistency in the realizations of mood highly

corresponds with the intra-language consistency in the realizations of Finite.
For example, languages like Korean, Hidatsa, and Tauya deploy affixes/inflec-
tions consistently in the realizations of mood and Finite; languages like Cavineña
deploy clitics consistently in the realizations of mood and Finite; languages like
Fongbe deploy particles consistently in the realizations of mood and Finite (see
Table 5.6 in Sect. 5.1.3 for the realizations of Finite of these languages).
The intra-language consistency in the realizations of mood and Finite may be
an explanation for the cross-linguistic variation in the realizations of mood. The
realizations of mood in a language are related to the general features of the lexico-
grammatical system of the language. For example, a language deploys the affix to
realize polar interrogatives rather than the particle very possibly because the affix
is the central element in the lexicogrammatical system of the language and it is
deployed frequently in the realizations of various meanings in the language.
Thus far, we have made cross-linguistic comparisons of the realizations of
mood options and the realizations of mood systems and holistic mood system. It
is found that the cross-linguistic variation in the realizations of mood to a large
extent correlates with the morphological types of language. The same is true with
the realizations of Finite as discussed in Sect. 5.1.3. Table 8.7 illustrates the cor-
relations between the realizations of mood and the morphological types of lan-
guage. It is also a summary of the generalizations we made about the realizations
of mood. It shows both the variation across languages of different morphological
types and the consistency among languages of the same morphological type in the
realizations of mood.
8.2 The Organization of mood System
In Chaps. 5, 6, and 7, we have discussed the mood options of declarative mood

system, interrogative mood system, and imperative mood system. It is found that
languages are at variance with each other in the number of mood options and in
the types of mood grammaticalized. In Sect. 8.3, we will discuss the semantic
dimensions for the elaboration of mood system. Before that, in this section, we
will first look at the ways that mood system is organized. We will see how different
mood options are organized into a holistic mood system in different languages.
The organization of mood system refers to the ways that languages group dif-
ferent mood options together into less delicate mood systems. The organization of
mood system reflects both the semantic relation and the structural relation among
different mood options. Concerning the semantic relation, mood options real-
izing similar meanings usually will be grouped together and those realizing dif-
ferent meanings usually will be differentiated from each other. Among the three
major types of mood, the declarative and the interrogative mood bear similarity
in exchanging information. Therefore, they are frequently grouped together as two
options of the less delicate indicative mood system, which functions to exchange
8.2 The Organization of mood System 233
Table 8.7 Correlations between realizations of mood and morphological types

Types of mood Isolating languages Fusional languages Agglutinative
languages
declarative mood Mainly particle Either particle or affix, Mainly affix and clitic
but unproductive
Declarative (proper) Unmarked; particle Unmarked; particle Unmarked; affix; clitic
Hidatsa subtypes – – Affix
Exclamative Adverb, iw; particle iw + position: initial ad, iw; affix; clitic;
particle
Emotion-involved/ Particle – Clitic; affix
assessed declarative
Evidential – – Affix; clitic; particle
Emphatic/focused Particle – Clitic; suffix; particle
Tenorrelated Particle – Affix
Negative declarative Particle Particle –
interrogative mood Mainly particle and Mainly particle and Mainly affix and
construction construction clitic; also particle and
construction
Interrogative: polar Particle; construction; Particle; sequence; Affix; clitic; particle;
(proper) intonation intonation; construction; intona-
construction; tion; sequence
Interrogative: Strong tendency: Slight tendency: Either merely iw or
elemental merely iw merely iw; also iw + p/ iw + affix/clitic
seq
Slight tendency: Slight tendency: Strong tendency:
non-initially initially non-initially
Confirmative Construction Construction Construction <+ affix/
clitic>
imperative mood Mainly no explicit; Mainly affix/inflection Mainly affix/inflection
particle
Jussive (proper) No explicit; particle Affix/inflection Affix/inflection
Jussive: polite Particle Affix/inflection Affix/inflection
Non-immediate – Affix/inflection Affix/inflection
Jussive: mild/strong Particle; adverb Affix Affix; clitic; particle
Cohortative No explicit; particle Affix/inflection Affix/inflection
Optative – Construction; affix Affix; construction
Hortative Particle Affix/inflection Affix; clitic; particle
Holistic mood system Mainly particle and Mainly affix and parti- Mainly affix and
construction cle; but less productive clitic; also particle and
construction
information. The indicative mood then systemically contrasts with the imperative
mood, which functions to exchange goods-&-services. Concerning the structural
relation, mood options grouped together due to semantic similarities usually also
bear structural similarities. For instance, the options of the imperative mood system
of Persian are similar to each other in displaying in the prefix be- in mood struc-
ture, which is absent from indicative mood structure, as in Fig. 8.1.
In SFL, the semantic relation usually is foregrounded since the systemic the-
ory is a theory concerning meaning. Any system represents an aspect of the mean-
ing potential of the language, rather than a cluster of structural features. If seen
from above—from the meanings realized by mood options, languages bear simi-
larity in making systemic contrast between indicative mood and imperative mood.
However, if seen from below—from mood structure, languages may vary from
each other in whether they display explicit structural features to differentiate the
imperative mood from the indicative mood.
In 43 languages in our sample, the systemic contrast between indicative mood
and imperative mood is not only a semantic one, but also a structural one. That is
to say, the systemic contrast between indicative mood and imperative mood is sup-
ported by explicit structural distinctions. The organization of mood system in these
languages is similar to that of Persian displayed in Fig. 8.1. There are two ways to
differentiate the imperative mood from the indicative mood structurally. One way
is to define what is present in the mood structure of indicative mood while absent
from the mood structure of imperative mood; the other way is to define what is
present in the mood structure of imperative mood while absent from the mood
structure of indicative mood. The two ways are not exclusive to each other. They
can be adopted simultaneously but it is unnecessary to do so. In the case of Persian
illustrated above, this is done by defining what is present in the imperative mood
structure while absent from the indicative mood structure. Languages like Persian
include Korean, Lango, Kham, Russian, Welsh, Hup, etc. But not all languages are
similar to Persian in presenting a specific Mood Negotiator realized by a specific
Fig. 8.1 The mood system of Persian

8.2 The Organization of mood System 235
item in the mood structures of all types of imperative mood. They usually dif-
ferentiate the imperative mood from the indicative mood by deploying a general
structural feature. For example, in Korean, the imperative mood is structurally fea-
tured by presenting the requestive mode, in Lango, the imperative mood is struc-
turally featured by using the subjunctive mode, and in Kham, the imperative mood
is structurally featured by presenting the Mood Negotiator for imperative mood
realized by suffixes. Other languages may distinguish the imperative mood from
the indicative mood by defining what is present in indicative mood structure while
absent from imperative mood structure. In Mapuche, for instance, the indicative
mood, either declarative or interrogative, is realized by the indicative mode suf-
fix -y-, which never occurs in imperative mood structure. In Hausa, the indicative
mood is featured by presenting a person-aspect-complex (PAC) which is a fusion
of functional elements of Subject Indicator and Finite. The PAC is absent from
imperative mood structure. Most languages can distinguish the imperative mood
from the indicative mood by using Finite. In these languages, the Finite (tense
or aspect) is present in indicative mood structure and absent from imperative
mood structure. For example, in Korya Chinni, the indicative mood is with either
the Finite ‘perfective’ or the Finite ‘imperfective’, whereas the imperative mood
lacks the Finite in structure. Languages adopting this method to make distinc-
tion between indicative mood and imperative mood include Turkish, Mongolian,
English, French, Manchu, German, Puyuma, etc.
In contrast to languages where the systemic contrast between indicative mood
and imperative mood is supported by explicit structural features, there are 11 lan-
guages in the sample where the systemic contrast between indicative mood and
imperative mood is not supported by explicit structural features. In these lan-
guages, the contrast between indicative mood and imperative mood is mainly a
semantic one. Languages of this group include Chinese, Hmong Njua, Thai,
Teiwa, Dagaare, Fongbe, Nyigina, Bardi, etc. These languages cannot deploy
Finite to differentiate the imperative mood from the declarative mood. This is
because in some languages the Finite may also be absent from indicative mood
structure and in some languages the Finite (tense and aspect) can also be present
in imperative mood structure. For example, in Fongbe, the Finite ‘tense-aspect-
mode’ is realized by a particle occurring between Subject and Predicator, but it is
possible for an indicative clause to have no explicit Finite; in Dagaare, the aspec-
tual distinction between perfective and imperfective is not only made in indicative
mood but also in imperative mood. Though it is hard to make systemic contrast
between indicative mood and imperative mood from below in these languages, it is
possible to do this from roundabout. For example, as discussed in Sect. 7.1.2, the
indicative mood can intersect with modality system whereas the imperative mood
cannot. In Teiwa, the imperative mood cannot intersect with the realis mode while
the indicative mood can.
In the remaining six languages, namely Greenlandic, Hidatsa, Tauya, Kulina,
Maidu, and Mian, the way that mood system is organized is different from the two
ways of organization discussed above. In these languages, each option of mood
system is realized by one of a set of Mood Negotiators realized by the same
grammatical class. If seen from below, the mood systems of these languages can
be organized in a parallel way, as in Fig. 8.2.
It is also possible to organize the mood systems of these languages in the same
way as that presented in Fig. 8.1 by using some general features. For instance, the
imperative mood can be distinguished from the declarative and the interrogative
mood by the realization statement ‘+ MN: imperative’. But such a doing will fail
to bring out the unique characteristics of the mood structure of these languages.
Thus, the mood systems of these languages are organized in a parallel way.
In addition to the systemic contrast between indicative mood and imperative
mood, languages also vary in the ways that they organize the options of interrog-
ative mood system. In most cases, the options of interrogative mood system are
organized together by their semantic connections and a general structural feature
‒ they all have a Mood Negotiator for interrogative mood (+MN: interrogative).
The structural feature they share is a general one in the sense that they do not
share a specific structural feature and the Mood Negotiators for different options
Fig. 8.2 The mood system of Hidatsa

8.3 Semantic Dimensions for the Elaboration of mood System 237
of interrogative mood system are realized by different grammatical classes. For

example, the polar interrogative in Chinese is realized by the interrogative parti-
cle ma or the interrogative construction ‘A-not-A’, and the elemental interroga-
tive is realized by interrogative words. The two types of interrogative mood are
grouped together because of their semantic connections and the general structural
feature of having Mood Negotiators for interrogative mood, but the two types
of Mood Negotiators bear no similarity either in form or in grammatical class.
In some languages, in contrast, the options of interrogative mood system are
grouped together not only because of their semantic connections, but also because
of a specific sharing structural feature. In Japanese, for instance, the two options
of interrogative mood system, namely the polar and the elemental, are simi-
lar in presenting the interrogative particle ka in mood structure; in Greenlandic,
Korean, Maidu, and Diegueño, the options of interrogative mood system are sim-
ilar in presenting interrogative suffixes; in Qiang, Somali, Ọ̀kọ́, Hinuq, Mian, and
Mongolian, the options of interrogative mood system are similar in presenting
interrogative particles or clitics.
Thus far, we have summarized the major ways for the organization of mood
system. Now, we will proceed to discuss the semantic dimensions along which
languages elaborate their mood systems further in delicacy.
8.3 Semantic Dimensions for the Elaboration of mood

System
In Chaps. 5, 6, and 7, we have discussed the mood options of declarative mood

system, interrogative mood system, and imperative mood system. It is shown
that languages display striking variation in the number of mood options of each
mood system. Languages unsurprisingly also display variation in the number of
mood options of holistic mood system. Figure 8.3 displays the number of mood
options of each language. It is shown that in the holistic mood systems of Korean,
Chinese, Hup, and Nenets, more than 20 mood options are observed, whereas in
the holistic mood systems of Arabic, Santali, English, Welsh, Russian, etc., less
than 10 mood options are observed. The cross-linguistic variation in the number
of mood options primarily is the variation in the number of mood options of more
delicate mood systems. This is because, as is shown in the book and previous SFT
studies on mood (Matthiessen 2004; Teruya 2007), languages bear more similari-
ties in mood systems of low delicacy and display more variation in mood systems
of high delicacy. In other words, mood options of mood systems of low delicacy
are observed in most languages, such as the declarative mood, the polar interroga-
tive mood, the elemental interrogative mood, and the jussive mood, whereas mood
options of mood systems of high delicacy are only observed in some languages,
such as the reportative declarative mood, the biased polar interrogative mood, the
emphatic elemental interrogative mood, and the polite jussive mood. Besides, the
Fig. 8.3 Number of mood options of each language
cross-linguistic variation in the number of mood options also correlates with the
number of semantic dimensions deployed for the elaboration of mood system. This
is because each mood option of a mood system is reached along a semantic dimen-
sion. Generally, the more semantic dimensions are deployed for the elaboration
of mood system, the more delicate the mood system will be and the more mood
options will be observed in the mood system of the language. We will discuss the
semantic dimensions for the elaboration of mood system in detail in this section.
8.3.1 Semantic Dimensions for the Elaboration of Holistic

mood System
The semantic dimensions for the elaboration of mood system can be classified
into two groups: (i) those intersecting with the holistic mood system and (ii) those
intersecting with certain mood systems or mood options. Semantic dimensions of
group (i) include the emotion-involvement system in Chinese and Thai; the assess-
ment system in Vietnamese, Japanese, Dagaare, Fongbe, and Finnish; the polite-
ness system in Japanese and Thai; and the speech level/style system in Korean
and Javanese. In these languages, the relevant semantic dimensions can inter-
sect with any mood system and most mood options in the holistic mood system.
In other words, any mood systems of these languages can be elaborated further
in delicacy along the same semantic dimension. Therefore, more mood options
are observed in these languages. This can explain why there are so many mood
options in the mood systems of Korean and Chinese. We have discussed all these
dimensions in Sect. 5.2, and we will only offer a brief survey of these dimensions
here.
The emotion-involvement system in Chinese and Thai is realized by mood
particles. In both languages, there are a number of mood particles functioning to
convey the speaker’s various kinds of emotions, moods, tones, and attitudes. The
emotion-involvement system intersects with mood system so closely, especially in
the spoken language, that many studies maintain that the mood system of Chinese
is totally realized by mood particles. But this is partially right in that in Chinese
only the mood particles ma (吗) and ba (吧) serve to realize the polar interrogative
mood and the dubitative mood respectively, while other mood particles are option-
ally deployed and mainly function to realize minor subtypes of mood rather than
major types. It is hard to assign a precise meaning to each mood particle in that
the meanings realized by these mood particles are sometimes context-determined.
For example, the mood particle ya (呀) in Chinese, when deployed in declarative
mood, interrogative mood, and imperative mood, can express surprise, impatience,
and urging, respectively. It requires further text-based studies to semantically elab-
orate the emotion-involvement system further. Therefore, the emotion-involvement
systems of the two languages are described in a simplified way to include two
options: either emotion-neutral and emotion-involved. Thus, most mood options of
the two languages are either emotion-neutral or emotion-involved.
The assessment system in Vietnamese, Japanese, Dagaare, and Fongbe is
realized by particles and in Finnish by clitics. The system covers a wide range
of semantic domains. It expresses the speaker’s various kinds of attitudes to or
involvement in the proposition and proposal. The assessment system and the emo-
tion-involvement system are similar in realizations, and some semantic domains
covered by the two systems overlap with each other. The meanings realized by
assessment system are as complicated as those realized by emotion-involve-
ment system, and thus, it is described to include two options merely: either
assessment-neural or assessed. In these languages, the mood options are either
assessment-neutral or assessed. The mood systems of Japanese and Dagaare are
borrowed from the descriptions by Teruya (2007, 2017) and Mwinlaaru (2018)
with some adaptations made, and thus, the assessment system is not included in
the mood systems of the two languages. Therefore, the number of mood options
of the two languages illustrated in Fig. 8.3 should be larger if the assessment
system is included. Due to space limitations, we only offer the meanings real-
ized the assessment system of Dagaare in Table 8.8 based on the descriptions by
Mwinlaaru (2018).
The politeness system in Japanese is realized by verbal inflections and in Thai
by polite particles (see Table 5.8 in Sect. 5.2.7). But in both languages, polite-
ness can also be realized by other lexicogrammatical resources. The two options
of the system are politeness unmarked (informal) and politeness marked (for-
mal). Therefore, most mood options in the two languages are either politeness
Table 8.8 The assessment system of Dagaare (cf. Mwinlaaru 2018)

Realizations Moods Meanings
dɛ decl Definitive, conclusive, to lay a strong epistemic claim to the
proposition
kaka decl Strongly assertive, after affirmative and negative declarative clauses
imp Strong insistence
ka decl Mildly assertive, after affirmative and negative declarative clauses
bɩɩ decl Opinative, to enact the proposition as the speaker’s opinion on an
issue or as his/her personal conviction, after affirmative declarative
clauses
imp Suggestive, used in reaction to a preceding utterance, to signal the
imperative clause as an alternative course of action
wɛ decl Exclamative
imp Exclamative
kɛ, wɛ decl Admonitive
yaa decl, q Emphatic, to signal that the speaker empathizes with the addressee
or is emotionally involved in the proposition in some way
imp Adhortative, to encourage or urge the addressee to perform an
action
mɔ̀ q Counter-expectation
imp Admonitive, to caution or urge the addressee against the event or
action represented by the Predicator or to indicate that the speaker
is indifferent whether the proposal is enforced or not
na imp Exhortative, to strongly encourage or exhort the addressee to bring
about the goal of the proposal
wɛ imp Requestive, to request the addressee to ensure the success of the
proposal
ka imp Mild insistence, imploring
kaka imp Strong insistence, imploring
unmarked or marked. The speech level/style system in Korean and Javanese func-
tions to indicate the social relationship between the speaker and the addressee.
There are six systemic options in the speech level system of Korean, namely
plain, intimate, familiar, blunt, polite, and deferential, and each speech level is
realized by a suffix which simultaneously realizes a mood option (see Table 5.7
in Sect. 5.2.7). Major mood options in Korean, such as the declarative (proper),
the polar interrogative, the elemental interrogative, the jussive, and the cohorta-
tive, can intersect with most of these options in speech level system. Other mood
options can intersect with some of these speech level options. The speech level
system, together with other semantic dimensions, elaborates the mood system of
Korean greatly, and thus, Korean displays the most mood options among all the
languages in our sample. The speech style system in Javanese consists of three
options, viz. ngoko, madya, and krama (low, middle, and high speech style). Each
speech style is realized by a structurally unitary configuration of components from
its own sets. The politeness system and the speech level/style system correlate
with each other closely. They both enact the tenor of the relationship between the
speaker and addressee. The politeness system does so indirectly, and the speech
level/style does so directly. The proper use of speech level/style is also an expres-
sion of politeness. They both are ‘interactant-oriented’ (the term is borrowed from
Mwinlaaru 2018) semantic dimensions.
The semantic dimensions discussed above are not dedicated to these languages.
But in other languages, they are deployed for the elaboration of certain mood
systems or mood options rather than the holistic mood system. For example, the
dimension of emotion-involvement in many languages can intersect with declar-
ative mood, producing mood options like exclamative and admirative; the dimen-
sion of assessment in Mongolian mainly intersects with declarative mood; the
dimension of politeness in many languages can intersect with imperative mood,
producing mood options like polite jussive and polite cohortative; the dimension
of the tenor of the relationship between interactants in Manchu only intersects
with jussive mood.

of declarative mood System
Now, we will look at the semantic dimensions that intersect with certain mood sys-
tems and mood options rather than the holistic mood system. First, we will see
those intersecting with declarative mood system. The declarative mood functions
to give information. Therefore, the semantic dimensions elaborating declarative
mood system all have something to do with the property of information. The first
dimension elaborating the declarative mood is the source of information. Along
this dimension, we can reach various subtypes of evidential declarative mood,
such as the reportative declarative mood, the visual declarative mood, and the
inferential declarative mood. In Sect. 5.2.5, we have classified the subtypes of
evidential declarative mood into three groups: (i) those giving non-firsthand infor-
mation, (ii) those giving firsthand information, and (iii) those giving the informa-
tion derived from the speaker’s personal judgment. The three groups of evidential
declaratives indicate the speaker’s different degrees of involvement in the propo-
sition. The evidential declaratives that give non-firsthand information indicate the
speaker’s low degree of involvement in the proposition. In contrast, the evidential
declaratives that give firsthand information indicate the speaker’s high degree of
involvement in the proposition. The evidential declaratives that give the infor-
mation derived from the speaker’s judgment may indicate the speaker’s medium
degree of involvement.
The semantic dimension of information source is deployed in 11 languages in
our sample for the elaboration of declarative mood. All these languages are agglu-
tinative languages. Moreover, the use of this dimension very possibly is a regional
feature: it is frequently observed in the indigenous languages of America, such as
Hup in Brazil, Kulina in Brazil and Peru, Cavineña in Bolivia, Huallaga Quechua
in Peru, Mapuche in Chile, and Hidatsa in the USA. Other languages include
Qiang in China, Kham in Nepal, and Nenets and Hinuq in Russian. In Hup, Hinuq,
Nenets, and Qiang, the dimension can also intersect with interrogative mood, but
this is less frequently observed.
The second semantic dimension that intersects with declarative mood is
the speaker’s attitude toward the truth value of the proposition. The subtypes of
declarative mood reached along this dimension include the assertive declarative
mood, the emphatic declarative mood, the Hidatsa subtypes of declarative mood,
the modal declarative mood, the suppositive declarative mood, and the negative
declarative mood (contrasting with the affirmative declarative mood). Compared
with the dimension of information source, the dimension of the speaker’s atti-
tude to the truth value of the proposition indicates the speaker’s higher degree of
involvement in the proposition. This is because the evidential declarative mood
principally functions to offer the source of information rather than to show the
speaker’s involvement in the proposition. In contrast, the subtypes of declar-
ative mood reached along the second dimension explicitly show the speaker’s
various degrees of involvement in the proposition. The subtypes of declarative
mood reached along this dimension also vary in the degree of speaker’s involve-
ment. Generally, the declarative (proper), either positive or negative, structurally
and semantically indicates the speaker’s no involvement in the proposition and
a higher degree of explicitly-expressed assertion indicates a higher degree of
involvement. Thus, the assertive declarative in Nama Hottentot and Hmong Njua,
with which the speaker asserts the truth value of the proposition, and the emphatic
declarative in Hup, Cavineña, Mapuche, Maidu, Diegueño, Hinuq, and Qiang,
with which the speaker emphasizes the truth value of the proposition, indicate the
speaker’s higher degree of involvement in the proposition; in contrast, the modal
declarative mood in Hup (whose subtypes are counterfactual, frustrative, cooper-
ative, and epistemic), the modal declarative in Cavineña (seemingly, maybe), and
the suppositive mood in Japanese and Korean indicate the speaker’s lower degree
of involvement in the proposition. The Hidatsa subtypes of declarative mood also
indicate the speaker’s various degrees of involvement, which, ranking from high to
low degree of involvement, are the emphatic, the non-speculative, the past definite,
the declarative/period, and the speculative (see Sect. 5.2.2 for details).
Most of the languages deploying this dimension are still agglutinative lan-
guages. Some languages deploying this dimension also deploy the dimension of
information source to elaborate the declarative mood, such as Hup, Cavineña,
Hidatsa, Mapuche, and Korean. Moreover, the emphatic declarative mood, the
modal declarative mood, and the Hidatsa subtypes of declarative mood, like evi-
dential declaratives, are frequently observed in the indigenous languages in
America.
The third semantic dimension for the elaboration of declarative mood is
concerned with the function of information. Different from the two seman-
tic dimensions discussed above, which highlight the informativeness prop-
erty of information, the dimension of the function of information highlights
the expressiveness property of information, which means what can be done by

means of information. The subtypes of declarative mood reached along this
dimension can roughly be classified into four groups. The first group is termed
‘discourse-marking’ declarative mood (cf. Epps 2008 for the usage of this term).
The subtypes of this group fulfill various discourse functions, such as indicating
focus (the focused declarative), making contrast (the contrastive declarative), and
highlighting topic (the topical declarative). The focused declarative is observed in
Hup, Cavineña, Jamsay, Dagaare, and Saramaccan Creole; other subtypes of dis-
course-marking declarative mood are only observed in Hup and Cavineña. The
second group of declaratives indicates the speaker’s expectedness to the informa-
tion. The information given can be either out of the speaker’s expectation or within
the speaker’s expectation. The subtypes of this group include the determinative in
Fongbe, which offers shared background information, and the mirative in Kham,
Qiang, and Nenets, which presents newly discovered or unexpected informa-
tion. The third group of declaratives functions to convey the speaker’s emotions.
The subtypes of this group include the admirative in Albanian and Fongbe, which
expresses the speaker’s astonishment to the information, the emotion-involved
declarative in Chinese, Thai, and Cavineña, and the exclamative. The fourth
group of declaratives functions to perform some speech acts. The subtypes of this
group include the promissive and the admonitive in Korean, which performs the
speech acts of promising and warning, respectively. The four groups of declara-
tives reached along the semantic dimension of the function of information vary
in the degree of informativeness/expressiveness. Generally, the discourse-mark-
ing declarative and the declaratives that indicate the speaker’s expectedness to
the information are of a higher degree of informativeness and a lower degree of
expressiveness; in contrast, the declaratives that perform certain speech acts and
that convey the speaker’s emotions are of a higher degree of expressiveness and
a lower degree of informativeness.
Thus far, we have discussed the three major semantic dimensions for the elab-
oration of declarative mood system. Figure 8.4 illustrates the three semantic
dimensions. We will term these semantic dimensions as ‘proposition-oriented’
dimensions contrasting with the ‘interactant-oriented’ semantic dimensions men-
tioned earlier (politeness in Japanese and Thai and speech levels/styles in Korean
and Javanese). It should be noted that there are no clear-cut boundaries among
these dimensions. For example, the focused declarative mood also indicates the
speaker’s attitude to the truth value of the proposition; the mirative in Qiang and
Nenets overlaps with the inferential evidential declarative mood; the mirative
mood and the admirative mood convey both the astonishment emotion and the
unexpectedness of the speaker.
It is found that the semantic dimensions for the elaboration of declara-
tive mood system are deployed most frequently in agglutinative languages, then
in isolating languages, and rarely in fusional languages. Among the languages
deploying these dimensions in our sample, only Welsh, Somali, and Albanian are
identified as fusional languages. This generalization is also supported by the aver-
age number of declarative mood options in each type of language. As mentioned
Fig. 8.4 Semantic dimensions for the elaboration of declarative mood system
before, the more semantic dimensions are deployed for the elaboration of mood
system, the more mood options will be produced in the mood system of the lan-
guage. The average numbers of declarative mood options in agglutinative lan-
guages (25 languages, 118 mood options), isolating languages (9 languages, 20
mood options), and fusional languages (13 languages, 23 mood options) are 4.7,
2.2, and 1.8, respectively. Besides, it is found that the dimension of the source of
information (evidential declaratives) and the dimension of the speaker’s attitude to
the truth value of the proposition (the emphatic declarative, the modal declarative
mood, and the Hidatsa subtypes) are frequently deployed in the indigenous lan-
guages of America.
All the subtypes of declarative mood discussed in Sect. 5.2 can be regarded as
the result of elaborations of declarative mood system along these dimensions.
However, two subtypes of declarative mood are not covered by these dimensions.
The first one is the tenor-related declarative mood in Japanese, Thai, Korean,
and Javanese. This is because tenor-related declaratives in the four languages are
reached along interactant-oriented semantic dimensions (politeness in Japanese
and Thai and the tenor of the relationship between the interactants in Korean and
Javanese), while intersections between interactant-oriented semantic dimensions
and indicative mood (either declarative or interrogative) are rarely observed in
other languages, since interactant-oriented semantic dimensions by nature have lit-
tle to do with the property of information. If tenor-related declaratives in the four
languages have to be positioned somewhere in Fig. 8.4, it is proper to add them
to the dimension of the function of information. The second subtype of declara-
tive mood that is not covered by the three dimensions is the assessed declarative
mood. This is because the assessed declarative is not a specific subtype of declar-
ative mood but covers various subtypes which indicate the speaker’s attitude to
and involvement in the proposition. Thus, an assessed declarative clause may fall
into any dimension discussed above. For instance, the enclitic = kin in Finish can
realize the emphatic declarative along the dimension of the speaker’s attitude to
the truth value of the proposition; it can also realize the contrastive declarative and
the mirative/admirative along the dimension of the function of information.
8.3.3 Semantic Dimensions for the Elaboration of

interrogative mood System
Now, we will proceed to see the semantic dimensions for with elaboration of
interrogative mood system. The interrogative mood realizes the speech function
of question. Thus, the dimensions for the elaboration of interrogative mood sys-
tem all have something to do with the property of question. The basic semantic
dimension for the elaboration of interrogative mood is the content questioned.
Along this dimension, the interrogative mood can be classified into the polar
interrogative, the elemental interrogative, and the alternative interrogative mood.
Another dimension is the degree of interrogativity. Along this dimension, we can
reach the confirmative mood. As mentioned in Sect. 6.4, the declarative mood, the
confirmative mood, and the interrogative mood form a mood continuum along the
dimension of the degree of interrogativity. The subtypes of confirmative mood,
such as the rhetorical question, the tagged confirmative, the inserted confirmative,
and the dubitative, also differ from each other in the degree of interrogativity. The
dimension of the content questioned and the dimension of the degree of interroga-
tivity are the basic semantic dimensions for the elaboration of interrogative mood
system. They are deployed in all types of languages. Languages mainly vary in the
elaboration of different types of interrogative mood, such as the polar and the ele-
mental interrogative mood.
The polar interrogative mood is still elaborated along the dimension of the con-
tent questioned and the dimension of the degree of interrogativity. Along the for-
mer dimension, a systemic contrast can be made between the polar interrogative
(proper) which questions the polarity of the whole proposition and the focused
polar interrogative which questions the polarity of a certain part in the proposition.
This elaboration is mainly observed in the agglutinative and fusional languages in
our sample. Along the latter dimension, a systemic contrast can be made between
the neutral polar interrogative and the biased polar interrogative. The biased polar
is of a lower degree of interrogativity since it indicates the speaker’s bias toward
a positive or negative answer. This elaboration is observed in different types of
languages.
In addition, there are another two dimensions for the elaboration of polar inter-
rogative mood. The first one is the interrogative force. Along this dimension, sys-
temic contrasts are made among the neutral polar, the mild polar (in Finnish),
and the emphatic polar (in Hup and Hinuq). The second one is concerned with
the degree of speaker’s expectation for an answer. This dimension correlates with
the dimension of the degree of interrogativity. A higher degree of interrogativity
indicates a higher degree of expectation for an answer. It is also related to the

investment of the speaker to the situation being questioned and the speaker’s
assumption about whether the addressee knows the answer or not. For exam-
ple, the direct interrogative mood in Kham indicates the speaker has some kind
of personal investment in the situation being questioned and has a right to the
information. Thus, the direct interrogative indicates the speaker’s higher degree
of expectation for an answer. In contrast, the indirect interrogative in Kham indi-
cates no speaker’s investment in the situation being questioned and implies little
more than curiosity. Thus, the indirect interrogative indicates the speaker’s lower
degree of expectation for an answer. Another example is the two subtypes of ele-
mental interrogative in Huallaga Quechua. One indicates the speaker presupposes
that the addressee knows the answer to the question being asked and thus indicates
the speaker’s higher degree of expectation for an answer. The other indicates the
speaker does not presuppose that the addressee knows the answer to the question
and thus indicates the speaker’s lower degree of expectation for an answer.
Other types of interrogative are less frequently elaborated than the polar inter-
rogative. The elemental interrogative can be elaborated along the same dimensions
for the elaboration of polar interrogative mood.
The four semantic dimensions mentioned above, namely the content ques-
tioned, the degree of interrogativity, the interrogative force, and the degree of
speaker’s expectation for an answer, cover almost all the types and subtypes of
interrogative mood. The assessed and the emotion-involved interrogative mood
may fall into any dimension or other dimensions. For instance, the emotion-in-
volved interrogatives realized by particles lâ/â in Thai and ya (呀) in Chinese
indicate the speaker is eager to get the answer and thus fall into the dimension of
the degree of speaker’s expectation for an answer; the assessed interrogative real-
ized by the particle chi in Mapuche expresses a self-posed question and thus falls
into the same dimension; the assessed interrogative realized by the particle há in
Vietnamese indicates the speaker’s mild surprise and expectation for a confirma-
tion and thus may fall into the dimension of the degree of interrogativity. Other
semantic dimensions for the elaboration of interrogative mood include informa-
tion source and interactant-oriented dimensions. But they are untypical and rarely
observed.

of imperative mood System
At last, we will look at the semantic dimensions for the elaboration of imperative
mood system. The most fundamental semantic dimension for the elaboration of
imperative mood is the Subject person, which indicates who is the performer of
the action. It is deployed in all the languages in our sample. Along this dimen-
sion, the imperative mood can be classified into the jussive mood (the second
person Subject), the cohortative mood (the first person plural inclusive Subject),
the optative mood (the third person Subject), the oblative mood (the first person
singular Subject), the hortative mood (the first person singular hortative, the first
person plural hortative, the second person hortative, and the third person horta-
tive), and the impersonal imperative mood. Other types of imperative mood also
inherently involve a Subject person. For example, the prohibitive mood, the per-
missive mood, the exigent mood in Kham, and the benefactive mood in Japanese
mainly involve a second person Subject.
In Sect. 7.6.4, we have illustrated the intra-imperative mood continuum along
the dimension of imperativity in Mongolian and other languages. The different
types of imperative mood in Mongolian may be ranked in the following order
according to their degree of imperativity: jussive > cohortative > permissive > opta-
tive > desiderative > dubitative/apprehensive. The intra-imperative mood continuum
in Nenets is like this: jussive ( and prohibitive) > second person hortative > cohor-
tative > first person plural hortative > optative > third person hortative > oblative/first
person singular hortative > desiderative > apprehensive. The intra-imperative mood
continuum indicates the typicality of different types of imperative mood. The type
of imperative mood of a higher degree of imperativity is of a higher degree of typ-
icality. Thus, the jussive mood is the most typical type of imperative mood and the
apprehensive is the least typical type. We suppose that the more typical the type of
imperative mood is, the more likely it will be grammaticalized. Therefore, there
may exist a hierarchy of grammaticalization among the jussive mood, the cohorta-
tive mood, the optative mood, and the oblative mood, as illustrated in Fig. 8.5.
The hierarchy of grammaticalization among the four major types of imper-
ative mood can be interpreted from three perspectives. Firstly, among different
languages, the jussive mood is most likely to be grammaticalized, then the cohor-
tative mood, then the optative mood, and then the oblative mood. This is supported
by the number of languages where they are observed listed in the brackets. If the
hortative mood is included (the first person plural hortative is the counterpart of
the cohortative mood, the third person hortative is the counterpart of the optative
mood, and the first person singular hortative is the counterpart of the oblative
mood), the four types of imperative mood are observed in 60, 49, 32, and 17 lan-
guages, respectively; if the hortative mood is not included, they are observed in 60,
39, 22, and 10 languages, respectively. Secondly, if a language has the less typical
type of imperative mood grammaticalized, it very possibly will have the more typ-
ical type of imperative mood grammaticalized. This is supported by the impera-
tive mood systems of all the languages in our sample except six languages, namely
Japanese, Javanese, Mapuche, Tauya, Santali, and Hinuq. In Japanese, the oblative
Fig. 8.5 The hierarchy of grammaticalization of major types of imperative mood

mood is grammaticalized but the optative mood is not observed. In the other five
languages, the cohortative mood is not observed but the optative or the oblative
mood is observed. Thirdly, if a language has no dedicated Mood Negotiator for
jussive mood, it possibly will have no dedicated Mood Negotiator for other types
of imperative mood. This is supported by most languages in our sample which
have no dedicated Mood Negotiators for jussive mood. For example, in Nyigina
and Bardi, the jussive mood is realized by the future tense inflection, and the
cohortative and the optative mood in Nyigina and the cohortative in Bardi are
also realized by the future tense inflections; in French, the jussive mood is real-
ized by the second person present tense conjugation and the cohortative mood is
realized by the first person plural present tense conjugation; in Chinese, Hmong
Njua, and Teiwa, there is no explicit Mood Negotiator for jussive mood and there
is no explicit Mood Negotiator for cohortative mood either. Exceptions are three
isolating languages, namely Thai, Koyra Chinni, and Saramaccan Creole, where
there is no explicit Mood Negotiator for jussive mood but a particle is deployed in
cohortative mood.
In addition to the dimension of the Subject person, there are some other seman-
tic dimensions for the elaboration of imperative mood. Most of them are interact-
ant-oriented contrasting with the proposition-oriented semantic dimensions for
the elaboration of indicative mood. That is to say, most of them are concerned
with the tenor of the relationship between the interactants. The first one is the
dimension of politeness. As mentioned before, in Japanese and Thai, this dimen-
sion intersects with the holistic mood system, but this is rarely observed in other
languages. What is more commonly observed is the intersection between polite-
ness and imperative mood. This is because in the context of imperative mood, the
commodity exchanged is goods-&-serves and the exchange of goods-&-serves
requires more physical effort from the addressee. Politeness then is important for
a successful exchange of goods-&-serves. Thus, many languages have the polite
jussive mood. It is observed in 16 languages of different types in different areas.
Among the 16 languages, six are languages in Asia, six in Europe, one in Africa,
and three in America. In Qiang, there are three subtypes of jussive mood which
differ in the degree of politeness. The second semantic dimension is the direc-
tive force, which is indirectly related to the tenor of the relationship between
the interactants. The directive force makes a systemic contrast between mild/
soft jussive and neutral jussive (Finnish, Teiwa, Albanian, Maidu, and Hidatsa),
or between strong/emphatic jussive and neutral jussive (Qiang, Mongolian,
Fongbe, and Diegueño), or among mild/soft, neutral, and strong/emphatic jus-
sive (Nenets, Udmurt, West Greenlandic, and Cavineña). Generally, the mild/
soft jussive is more polite and more acceptable. It is found that the mild/soft jus-
sive and the polite jussive are complementary in distribution: in languages with
the mild/soft jussive mood, the polite jussive mood is not observed, and in lan-
guages with the polite jussive mood, the mild/soft mood is not observed. The
strong/emphatic jussive usually is used between interactants with a equal social
status or with a close social distance, or by speakers with a higher social status to
addressees with a lower social status. The third semantic dimension is the tenor
of the relationship between the interactants. Compared with the dimensions of

politeness and directive force which enact the tenor of the relationship between the
interactants indirectly, the dimension of the tenor of the relationship between the
interactants does so directly. This dimension is deployed typically in Korean (six
speech levels), Javanese (three speech styles), and Manchu (five types of jussive
mood) and less typically in Thai (through politeness system). The fourth semantic
dimension is proposal negotiability system in Chinese. It inflects to what extent
the addressee is able to negotiate with the speaker for accepting the proposal or
not. As mentioned in Sect. 7.1.1, the four options in this system, ranking from
high to low degree of negotiability, are the inserted negotiation, the tagged nego-
tiation, the suggestive, and the negotiation-neutral. Generally, the jussive mood of
a higher degree of negotiability is more polite and is mainly deployed by speak-
ers with a lower social status to addresses with a higher social status or between
interactants with a far social distance. In contrast, the jussive mood of a lower
degree of negotiability is mainly deployed by speakers with a higher social status
to addresses with a lower social status or between interactants with a close social
distance.
The four interactant-oriented semantic dimensions mentioned above, namely
politeness, directive force, the tenor of the relationship between the interactants,
and proposal negotiability, are the basic semantic dimensions for the elabora-
tion of imperative mood. They are deployed more frequently for the elaboration
of jussive mood than the elaboration of other types of imperative mood. The
more typical type of imperative mood is more likely to be elaborated along these
dimensions.
These dimensions, together with the dimension of the Subject person, cover
most of the imperative mood options discussed in Chap. 7. They represent dif-
ferent ways of enacting the tenor of the relationship between the speaker and the
addressee. The dimension of the tenor of the relationship between the interact-
ants (in Korean, Javanese, and Manchu) does so directly and other dimensions
do so indirectly. These interactant-oriented semantic dimensions are deployed in
languages of different types in different areas. But they are foregrounded in the
languages of East Asia and Southeast Asia in our sample. Firstly, the dimension of
the tenor of the relationship between the interactants (speech level/style) is only
observed in the languages of these two areas in our sample. Secondly, the inter-
actant-oriented semantic dimensions that intersect with the holistic mood system
are only observed in the languages of these two areas in our sample. Thirdly, cer-
tain interactant-oriented semantic dimensions are also observed in the languages
of other areas, but they have more realizations in the languages of these two areas.
For example, the polite jussive is observed in many European languages as well,
but it usually has one realization, such as the use of the second person plural
imperative form in French, Greek, and Latvian, or the use of the third person pres-
ent subjunctive mode in Spanish. However, in the languages of these two areas,
the polite jussive mood can have several realizations. For example, the polite jus-
sive mood in Qiang can be realized by three particles which indicate different
degrees of politeness; the hortative mood in Qiang also intersects with politeness;
Table 8.9 Interactant-oriented semantic dimensions in the languages of East Asia and Southeast
Asia
Languages Semantic dimensions Options/realizations Intersecting with
Korean speech level 6 options Holistic mood system
Javanese speech style 3 options Holistic mood system
Manchu speech level 5 options Jussive mood
Japanese politeness 2 options Holistic mood system
Thai politeness/ 19 particles Holistic mood system
emotion-involvement
Qiang politeness 4 particles Imperative mood

Mongolian politeness 2 suffixes Jussive mood
Tagalog politeness 2 particles Jussive mood
Hmong Njua politeness 1 particle Jussive mood
Chinese proposal negotiability 4 options Imperative mood
Vietnamese assessment 7 particles Imperative mood
Teiwa directive force 1 adverb Jussive mood
in Mongolian, the benedictive mood and the prescriptive mood are two types of
polite jussive mood; in Thai, there are 12 dedicated polite particles (see Table 5.8
in Sect. 5.2.7) and seven mood particles which intersect with imperative mood and
function to tune directive force or mark politeness (dûay, nâ/nâa, nɔ̀y, sí/sì/sii/sîi,
thə̀/hə̀, and thii). Table 8.9 illustrates the interactant-oriented semantic dimensions
deployed in the languages of East Asia and Southeast Asia in our sample.
In addition to the five basic interactant-oriented semantic dimensions men-
tioned above, the elaboration of imperative mood system also involves other
semantic dimensions. For instance, along the dimension of the time for the action
to be formed, a systemic contrast is made between immediate and non-immedi-
ate imperative mood (mainly jussive mood also cohortative mood). The habitual
jussive in Tagalog and the jussive moods for the action to be carried out in the
presence/absence of the speaker in Maidu are also reached along this dimension.
Along the dimension of the realizability of the action, we can reach the peripheral
optative mood (wishes, blessings), the desiderative mood (if only it were so that),
and the apprehensive mood (if only it were not so/if only it would not be that).
8.3.5 Context-Semantics-Lexicogrammar
Thus far, we have discussed the semantic dimensions for the elaboration of mood
system. It is found that languages display both similarities and differences in the
semantic dimensions for elaboration of mood system. Concerning the similarities,
all the languages in our sample organize their mood systems based on the com-
modity exchanged (either information or goods-&-services) and the speech roles
involved (either giving or demanding) in exchanges. Languages mainly deploy
proposition-oriented semantic dimensions for the elaboration of indicative mood

and interactant-oriented semantic dimensions for the elaboration of imperative
mood. Besides, some fundamental semantic dimensions are universally deployed
in the languages in our sample, such as the content questioned and the degree of
interrogativity for the elaboration of interrogative mood system and the Subject
person for the elaboration of imperative mood system. Concerning the differences,
a few languages deploy semantic dimensions that intersect with the holistic mood
system while most languages deploy semantic dimensions that intersect with cer-
tain mood systems or mood options. Besides, except the fundamental semantic
dimensions mentioned above, the use of other semantic dimensions is of consider-
able variation. Table 8.10 is a summary of the semantic dimensions for the elabo-
ration of mood system.
The cross-linguistic variation in the use of semantic dimensions for the elabo-
ration of mood system accounts for the cross-linguistic variation in the delicacy of
mood system and in the number of mood options. It is found that the cross-linguis-
tic variation in the use of semantic dimensions for the elaboration of mood system
possibly has to do with two factors. The first one is the socio-cultural context of
the language. In Sect. 3.2, we illustrated the semiotic dimension of stratification in
SFL, along which language in context is organized into different strata according
to the degree of symbolic abstraction (semantics-lexicogrammar-phonology-pho-
netics) and language is theorized, described, and analyzed in context. Therefore,
the variation languages display in the semantic dimensions for the elaboration
of mood system (the stratum of semantics) can be interpreted by reference to the
stratum of context, since, as Matthiessen (2004: 656) reports, context is the most
inclusive domain for semantics along the dimension of stratification.
Our previous survey shows proposition-oriented semantic dimensions are fre-
quently deployed in the indigenous languages of America, such as Hup, Cavineña,
Kulina, and Hidatsa for the elaboration of declarative mood system. For instance,
both Hup and Cavineña elaborate the declarative mood further in delicacy
along three semantic dimensions, namely the source of information (the eviden-
tial declarative), the speaker’s attitude to the truth value of the proposition (the
emphatic declarative and the modal declarative), and the function of information
(the focused declarative, the contrastive declarative, etc.). Therefore, the declara-
tive mood systems of these two languages are well elaborated. Besides, Hidatsa is
the only language in our sample that has no neutral declarative mood: each declar-
ative clause in Hidatsa indicates the speaker’s attitude to the truth value of the
proposition. Hidatsa also elaborates the declarative mood along the dimension of
information source. The well-elaborated declarative mood systems of these lan-
guages may indicate that information is of crucial importance in the communities
of these languages. Possibly because of the importance of information, the speak-
ers assert it, emphasize it, offer the source of it, focus on a certain part of it, and
adjust the modal value of it. Why information is of crucial importance in the com-
munities of these languages? It can be accounted for by reference to the socio-cul-
tural context of these languages, as displayed in Table 8.11. It is shown that the
population of the speakers of these languages is small. Their speakers mainly live
Table 8.10 Semantic dimensions for the elaboration of mood system
252
mood Semantic dimensions Languages Morpho. types

Declarative mood Proposition- The speaker’s atti- Assertive Hmong/Nama 1 isolating/1?
oriented semantic tude to the truth Emphatic 5 in America/Qiang/Hinuq 5 agglutinative/2?
dimensions value of the 3 in America 3 agglutinative
Hidatsa subtypes
proposition
Modal
Suppositive Japanese/Korean 2 agglutinative
Negative 3 in Africa/Welsh 2 fusional/1 iso./1?
The source of Firsthand 6 in America/ 11 agglutinative
information Personal judgment Nenets/Hinuq/
Non-firsthand Qiang/Kham/Korean
The function of Discourse-marking 3 in America/2 in Africa 2 agg./1 iso./2?
8
information Expectedness Kham/Qiang/Nenets/Fongbe 3 agg./1 iso

Emotion Exclamative 16 languages All three types
Emo.-involved Chinese/Thai 2 isolating
Admirative Albanian/Fongbe 1 fusional/1
isolating
Speech act Korean 1 agglutinative
Interrogative Proposition- The content Polar-ele.-alter. All languages All three types
mood oriented semantic questioned Focused 13 languages 8 agg./3 fu./2?
dimensions Rhetorical question 6 languages All three types
The degree of
interrogativity Tagged confirmative 18 languages All three types
Inserted confirmative Chinese 1 isolating
Dubitative Chinese/Fongbe 2 isolating
Biased polar 7 languages 2 agg./2 fu./3?
Interrogative force Finish/Hup/Hinuq 3 agglutinative
The degree of expectation for an answer Kham/Huallaga Quechua 2 agglutinative
A Systemic Functional Typology of mood System
(continued)
8.3
mood Semantic dimensions Languages Morpho. types

Imperative mood Interactant- The Subject person All languages All three types
oriented semantic Politeness 7 in Asia/6 in Europe/ All three types
dimensions 2 in America/1 in Africa
Directive force Mild/soft 1 Asia/3 Europe/4 America All three types
Strong/emphatic 2 in Asia/2 in Europe/ Mainly
1 in Africa/3 in America agglutinative
The tenor of the relationship between the interactants Korean/Javanese/Manchu 2 agglutinative/1?
Proposal negotiability Chinese 1 isolating
The time for the action to be formed 3 Asian/2 Europe/3 America 4 agg./2 fu./2?
The realizability of the action 4 America/2 Asia/1 Europe 5 agg./1 iso./1?
Holistic mood speech level/style system Korean/Javanese 1agglutinative/1?
system politeness system Japanese/Thai 1agglutintive/1 iso
emotion-involvement system Chinese/Thai 2 isolating
assessment system Vietnamese/Japanese/Finnish 2 isolating/2
Dagaare/Fongbe agglutinative/1?
Semantic Dimensions for the Elaboration of mood System
253
in isolated small villages in jungles in South America or on reservations in North

America and the population of each village is small. Some speakers of Hup live a
nomadic lifestyle. Under such circumstances, the exchange of accurate informa-
tion is of criminal significance for various aspects of their life, such as to maintain
interpersonal relationship, to avoid natural disasters (flood and drought) and ani-
mal attacks collectively, and to hunt, fish, and gather for sustenance collectively.
Different from the indigenous languages of America which foreground prop-
osition-oriented semantic dimensions, the languages of East Asia and Southeast
Asia in our sample, as discussed before, foreground interactant-oriented seman-
tic dimensions, such as the speech level/style system in Korean, Javanese, and
Manchu, the politeness system in Japanese and Thai, and the proposal negotia-
bility system in Chinese (see the summary in Table 8.9). Again, we will focus on
some facets of the socio-cultural context of Korean, Javanese, Japanese, and Thai
to explain why these languages foreground interactant-oriented semantic dimen-
sions so much when elaborating their mood systems.
The semantic dimension of the tenor of the relationship between the inter-
actants (speech level system) in Korean which intersects with the holistic mood
system very possibly is a linguistic reflection of the relationship among fam-
ily members in family life in Korea. According to Clark (2000), since the offi-
cial adoption of neo-Confucianism as the state philosophy at the beginning of
the Choson period, around A.D.1400, fathers and grandfathers have been the
main authority in Korean families, where husbands are responsible for wives and
fathers are responsible for children. Children, in return, are supposed to practice
filial piety. Filial piety is grounded on the fact that people are eternally indebted
to the parents who give them life, nourish them, protect and provide for them
in childhood, and show them how to become good human beings. Clark (2000)
maintains filial piety is the model for almost all social relationships in Korea. This
may explain why the speech level system in Korean intersects with the holistic
mood system so closely that ‘sentences can hardly be uttered without the speaker’s
approximate knowledge of his social relationship with his addressee and referent
in terms of age category (adult, adolescent, or child), social status, kinship, in- or
out-groupness, and/or the speech act situation’ (Sohn 1999: 16).
The semantic dimension of the tenor of the relationship between the interact-
ants (speech style system) in Javanese possibly is a linguistic reflection of the
hierarchical social structure of Java. According to Cai (1997), the Javanese soci-
ety is stratified into two strata: the piyayi and the wong cilik. The piyayi stratum
includes the royal court, the aristocracy, state functionaries, intellectuals, etc. The
wong cilik stratum includes peasants, craftsmen, businessmen, and other workers.
Robson (1992) reports Javanese show great respect to the royal court, to someone
of aristocratic birth, to a personal of spiritual authority, such as a teacher, to those
who occupy clerical positions, and to someone who possesses the authority of
age. This respect is expressed in one’s whole bearing to the respected person. The
speech style system in Javanese, thus, is one important lexicogrammatical device
to show this respect.
Table 8.11 Some facets of the socio-cultural context of Hup, Cavineña, Kulina, and Hidatsa
Languages Speakers Dwelling environment Life style
Hup 1500 Live scattered along small Hunting, gathering
streams in heavily forested
region; semi-nomadic forest
dwellers
Cavineña 1200 Next to rivers, small streams, Hunting, fishing, fruit collection,
and lakes; upland terrain; thick slash-and-burn cultivation
jungle
Kulina 5500 Village along rivers in indige- Slash-and-burn agriculture,
nous territories; population less hunting, fishing
than 100 for each village
Hidatsa 2500 Semi-sedentary horticulturists Agriculture, hunting
The interactant-oriented semantic dimension deployed in Japanese and Thai

is politeness. In both languages, the politeness system intersects with the holis-
tic mood system. This is also related to the socio-cultural context of the two lan-
guages. According to Clarke (2009), Japanese is an honorific language and the
honorific system basically works at two levels: one is politeness, which is directed
toward the addressee; the other is respect, which is shown to the subject (subject
honorifics) or direct or indirect object (object honorifics) of the verb. This possibly
is because Japan has a long history of social hierarchy. Moreover, politeness is a
univeral social norm in Japan. Sachiko (1982) summarizes the basic social rules
of politeness in Japanese society, which include to be polite to a person of a higher
social position, to be polite to a person with power, to be polite to an older per-
son, and to be polite in a formal setting. This is also true in Thailand, where to be
polite to others and to show respect to others, especially elders, is the basic com-
municative principle adhered to by the whole society. This explains why there are
so many polite particles in Thai which intersect with different mood options.
In addition to the factor of socio-cultural context discussed above, the
cross-linguistic variation in the semantic dimensions for the elaboration of mood
system is also related to the lexicogrammatical resources at their disposal. To
be more precise, the socio-cultural context of a language forms the background
against which one can explain why the language foregrounds certain semantic
dimensions instead of others when elaborating its mood system; while the lex-
icogrammatical resources of the language may help to explain how the elabo-
ration will be realized and to what extent the language can grammaticalize the
elaboration.
The elaboration of mood system has little to do with the number of classes
deployed, but has to do with the number of realization statements containing pro-
ductive classes. For example, English deploys seven classes for the elaboration
(realization) of mood system, namely the zero form, the initial position, inter-
rogative words, sequence, the Subject person (let’s), deleting Finite, and deleting
Subject. However, all these classes are unproductive and each of them is almost
dedicated to a specific mood option. Thus, English lacks productive devices for the
elaboration of mood system. In contrast, Korean only deploys two classes, namely
suffixes and interrogative words, and the suffix in Korean is highly productive.
This productive class enables Korean to elaborate its mood system along several
semantic dimensions.
The conclusion we reached above is also supported by statistics. We calculated
the correlation coefficient between the number of mood options and the number of
classes (the data are partially displayed in Table 8.4 in Sect. 8.1.4) and the corre-
lation coefficient between the number of mood options and the number of realiza-
tions statements. The result is presented in Table 8.12. It is shown that the number
of mood options has little to do with the number of classes, while there is a high
degree of positive correlation between the number of mood options and the num-
ber of realization statements.
In Sect. 8.1, we discussed the realizations of mood system in languages of dif-
ferent morphological types. It is found that agglutinative languages mainly deploy
affixes/inflections and clitics productively in the realizations of mood system,
but they also deploy particles and structures/constructions; isolating languages
mainly deploy particles and structures/constructions productively; fusional lan-
guages mainly deploy affixes/inflections (mainly for imperative mood) and par-
ticles (mainly for interrogative mood), but both classes are less productive than
their counterparts in agglutinative and isolating languages (see Table 8.5 in
Sect. 8.1.4). In other words, the elaboration of mood system in fusional languages
might be restricted by the lexicogrammatical resources at their disposal. This may
explain, from the aspect of lexicogrammar, why agglutinative languages have the
most elaborate declarative mood systems while fusional languages have the least
elaborate declarative mood systems (as mentioned earlier, the average numbers
of declarative mood options in agglutinative languages and fusional languages
are 4.7 and 1.8, respectively). Agglutinative languages elaborate the declarative
mood along different semantic dimensions and therefore have the most elaborate
declarative mood systems, on the one hand because they are supposed to realize
these interpersonal meanings in the socio-cultural context where they are used and
on the other hand because they have a number of productive lexicogrammatical
devices at their disposal, such as affixes, clitics, and particles, which enable them
to do so. In contrast, the fusional languages in the sample have the least elabo-
rate declarative mood systems partially because they are only supposed to realize
the basic speech functions through mood in the socio-cultural context where they
are used (but not necessarily so), and partially because they lack productive lexi-
cogrammatical devices to elaborate their mood systems further in delicacy. Taking
English as an example, it lacks productive devices like affixes/inflections and
clitics compared with agglutinative languages and many other fusional languages,
neither does it have productive particles compared with isolating languages. Thus,
many mood options grammaticalized in the mood systems of other languages are
not grammaticalized in the English mood system.
Though some languages like English may lack productive lexicogrammatical
devices to elaborate mood system further in delicacy, this does not mean the mean-
ings realized by delicate mood options in other languages are missing in these
8.4 The Multilingual mood System 257
languages. They just express these meanings through other lexicogrammatical

devices. Taking Pitjantjatjara as an example, it enables its speakers to adjust the
directive force by using various tone contours. Rose (2004) reports the tone 5 is
for neutral imperative mood, the tone 1 or the tone 3 for mild imperative mood,
the tone 1 + for strong imperative mood, the tone 5 + for insistent imperative mood,
and the tone 2 for request. As regards English, though it has a less elaborate mood
system, it can express the relevant meanings by means of other devices. Table
8.13 is a summary of English equivalent expressions for some mood options.
The table illustrates the complementation of lexicogrammatical resources among
different languages: languages vary in the lexicogrammatical resources at their
disposal, but they are all evolved systems for making meaning and for fulfilling
various functions in the socio-cultural context where they are used.
8.4 The Multilingual mood System
Up to now, we have made a comprehensive cross-linguistic comparison of mood

system. The comparison covers both the paradigmatic axis and the syntagmatic
axis. Concerning the paradigmatic axis, we focus on the similarities and differ-
ences languages display in terms of mood options, the organization of mood sys-
tem, and the semantic dimensions for the elaboration of mood system. Regarding
the syntagmatic axis, we concentrate on the similarities and differences languages
display in the realizations of major functional elements in mood structure, the real-
izations of each mood option, and the realizations of mood system. In this section,
we will describe the multilingual mood system based on the main findings of the
book.
The multilingual mood system is a multilingual system network. Bateman,
Matthiessen and Zeng (1999) specify two goals of such networks: one is ‘integra-
tion of the different languages so that commonality is separated from particularity’
and the other is ‘integrity of each language so that it can be used separately’. That
is to say, a multilingual system network aims at presenting both the similarities
and differences that languages display in terms of a lexicogrammatical system.
The principal goal of the book is to explore the similarities and differences lan-
guages show in terms of mood system and mood structure by means of cross-lin-
guistic comparison. Therefore, the multilingual mood system is a good way to
summarize the main findings of the book.
Besides, the multilingual mood system can also function as a useful guidance
for describing the mood systems of other languages. It illustrates possible semantic
Table 8.12 The correlation coefficient between the number of mood options (NM) and the num-
ber of classes (NC)/the number of realization statements (NR)
NM NC NM NR
NM 1 NM 1
NC 0.000612 1 NR 0.927788 1
dimensions for the elaboration of mood system, possible mood options, and possi-
ble realizations of each mood option. By reference to the multilingual mood sys-
tem, grammarians can check whether in the language under description certain
mood options are grammaticalized, what devices are deployed in the realizations
of certain mood options, and whether certain semantic dimensions are deployed
for systemic elaboration.
Due to space limitations, the multilingual mood system is presented in four
parts. The first part shown in Fig. 8.6 presents the overall organization of multilin-
gual mood system and the semantic dimensions intersecting with the holistic mood
system. The second part shown in Fig. 8.7 displays the multilingual declarative
mood system. The third part shown in Fig. 8.8 illustrates the multilingual inter-
rogative mood system. The fourth part shown in Fig. 8.9 presents the multilingual
imperative mood system. In each part, the semantic dimensions for the elabora-
tion of mood system are presented in boxes. Mood options (entry conditions) are
presented in bold type, and realization statements are presented in regular type.
Besides, because of space limitations, we cannot present each language’s realiza-
tion statements for certain mood options. Thus, we have to sacrifice the ‘integrity
of each language’. For each mood option, we provide the number of languages
where it is observed and the number of languages where certain grammatical class
Table 8.13 English equivalent expressions for some mood options

Realizations of mood options Equivalent expressions in English
Evidential declarative Affix, clitic, particle Adjunct Allegedly, evidently,
supposedly
Verbal clause They say…, it is said…
Mental clause I hear…
Assertive declarative Particle Adjunct Obviously, doubtless,
indubitably
Emphatic declarative Clitic, particle, affix Adjunct Really, definitely, do,
did
Focused declarative Clitic, particle Analytical It is…that
Stress HE went there
Admirative Inflection, particle Adjunct Surprisingly,
unexpectedly
Emotion-involved Particle Intonation I know! (with a tone of
angry)
Biased polar Clitic, particle Intonation You are a Chinese?
Focused polar Clitic, particle Analytical Is it…that
Emphatic interrogative Clitic, particle Adjunct Really, on earth
Polite jussive Affix/inflection, Polite lexical items Please
particle Grammatical metaphor Would you…, can
you…
Soft/mild jussive Clitic, particle, affix Adjunct Just, a little
Strong/emphatic Clitic, particle, affix Do Do open the door!
jussive
Fig. 8.6 The multilingual mood system: Part i
is deployed for its realization. Taking the polar (proper) interrogative mood as an
example, it is observed in 57 languages in our sample. Among the 57 languages,
28 languages deploy particles, 11 languages deploy affixes, seven languages
deploy structures/constructions, six languages deploy clitics, and 12 languages
deploy intonation.
8.5 Chapter Summary
In this chapter, we made a cross-linguistic comparison of the realizations of mood

system. It is found that the realizations of mood system correlate with the mor-
phological types of language. Concerning the realizations of declarative mood
system, agglutinative languages mainly deploy affixes/inflections and clitics pro-
ductively; isolating languages tend to deploy particles principally; fusional lan-
guages may deploy both affixes/inflections and particles, but neither class is
productive. Regarding the realizations of interrogative mood system, isolat-
ing and fusional languages mainly deploy particles and structures/constructions;
agglutinative mainly deploy affixes/inflections and clitics; agglutinative languages
Fig. 8.7 The multilingual mood system: Part ii
also deploy particles and structures/constructions, but they do so less frequently

than isolating and fusional languages. Regarding the realizations of imperative
mood system, agglutinative and fusional languages mainly deploy affixes/inflec-
tions while isolating languages mainly deploy non-explicit devices and particles.
With regard to the realizations of holistic mood system, agglutinative languages
can deploy affixes/inflections, clitics, particles, and structures/constructions pro-
ductively, but they deploy affixes/inflections and clitics more frequently; isolating
languages mainly deploy particles and structures/constructions; fusional languages
Fig. 8.8 The multilingual mood system: Part iii
may deploy both affixes/inflections and particles but both classes are less produc-
tive than their counterparts in agglutinative and fusional languages. Moreover, it
is found that languages display intra-language consistency in the realizations of
mood (either mood options or mood systems): they tend to deploy a certain class
more frequently and tend to deploy the class consistently in the realizations of
different mood options and different mood systems. The intra-language consist-
ency in the realizations of mood correlates with the intra-language consistency in
the realizations of Finite and they both correlate with the morphological types of
language.
We also made cross-linguistic comparisons of the organization of mood sys-
tem and the semantic dimensions for the elaboration of mood system. It is found
that there are three basic ways to organize mood system. The first way groups the
declarative mood and the interrogative mood together into the less delicate indic-
ative mood and the indicative mood then contrasts with the imperative mood both
semantically and structurally. The second way also groups the declarative mood
and the interrogative mood together into the less delicate indicative mood, but
the systemic contrast between indicative mood and imperative mood is mainly
a semantic one and less explicitly a structural one. The third way organizes all
mood options in a parallel way, and it is mainly deployed in a few agglutinative
languages.
Concerning the semantic dimensions for the elaboration of mood system, it
is found that a few languages in our sample deploy semantic dimensions which
intersect with the holistic mood system, such as the speech level/style system in
Korean and Javanese, the politeness system in Japanese and Thai, the emotion-in-
volvement system in Chinese and Thai, and the assessment system in Vietnamese,
Fig. 8.9 The multilingual mood system: Part iv
Japanese, Dagaare, Fongbe, and Finnish. In contrast, most languages deploy

semantic dimensions which intersect with certain mood systems or mood options.
Languages bear similarity in deploying proposition-oriented semantic dimensions
for the elaboration of declarative mood system and interrogative mood system
and interactant-oriented semantic dimensions for the elaboration of imperative
References 263
mood system, but languages vary in the specific semantic dimensions deployed.
As for the elaboration of declarative mood system, the commonly deployed
semantic dimensions include the source of information, the speaker’s attitude to
the truth value of the proposition, and the function of information. These seman-
tic dimensions are deployed most frequently in agglutinative languages and then
in isolating languages and rarely in fusional languages. The indigenous languages
of America in our sample foreground the dimension of information source and
the dimension of the speaker’s attitude to the truth value of the proposition when
elaborating their declarative mood systems. Concerning the elaboration of inter-
rogative mood system, the commonly deployed semantic dimensions include the
content questioned (polar-elemental-alternative; focused polar), the degree of
interrogativity (confirmative interrogative; biased polar), the interrogative force
(emphatic and mild interrogative), and the speaker’s expectation for an answer.
Regarding the elaboration of imperative mood system, the semantic dimension
deployed universally is the Subject person. It is found that there exists a hierar-
chy of grammaticalization among the four major types of imperative mood: the
jussive mood is the most likely to be grammaticalized among different languages,
then the cohortative mood, then the optative mood, and then the oblative mood.
Other important semantic dimensions for the elaboration of imperative mood sys-
tem include politeness, the directive force, the tenor of the relationship between
the interactants, proposal negotiability, and the time for the action to be performed.
It is found the languages of East Asia and Southeast Asia in our sample foreground
interactant-oriented semantic dimensions when elaborating their mood systems.
Languages vary in the semantic dimensions deployed for the elaboration of
mood system, and this accounts for why languages vary in the number of mood
options. It is found the cross-linguistic variation in the semantic dimensions for
the elaboration of mood system on the one hand has something to do with the
socio-cultural context of the language and on the other hand is restrained by the
productive lexicogrammatical devices at their disposal.
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Robson S (1992) Javanese grammar for studens. Monash University, Melbourne

Sachiko IDE (1982) Japanese sociolinguistic politeness and women’s language. Lingua
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Chapter 9
Conclusion
9.1 Main Findings
The book is a systemic functional typology of mood system. We adopt the multidi-
mensional theoretical framework of systemic functional linguistics (stratification,
metafunction, axis, and rank) and the research method of cross-linguistic compar-
ison of linguistic typology to investigate the similarities and differences languages
display in mood structure and mood system. Concerning the mood structure, we
focus on the realizations of major functional elements in mood structure (the
Subject, the Predicator, and the Finite), the realizations of mood options, and the
realizations of mood system. Concerning the mood system, we concentrate on the
subtypes of major mood types (mood options of mood system), the organization
of mood system, and the semantic dimensions for the elaboration of mood system.
The main findings are as follows.

in Mood Structure
Similarities and Differences in the Realizations of Functional Elements in

Mood Structure
Languages bear similarity in presenting the functional elements of Subject,
Predicator, and Finite in mood structure and in realizing Subject with nominal
groups and Predicator and Finite with verbal groups, but they vary in many aspects.
Regarding the Subject, languages vary in the ellipsis of Subject. It is found
that most of the languages in our sample (45/53), when the Subject is recoverable
from the context of situation or co-text or indicated by verbal inflections, allow the
266 9 Conclusion
ellipsis of Subject, and a few languages (8/53) generally do not allow the ellipsis
of Subject. The variation languages display in the ellipsis of Subject very possibly
is related to the status of Subject in the realizations of mood—the Subject play-
ing some roles in the realizations of mood or in the realizations of other meanings
usually cannot be omitted. Besides, languages vary in the realizations of personal
Subject. The personal Subject can be realized by independent personal pronouns,
clitic pronouns, and affix pronouns in different languages.
Regarding the Predicator, many languages (around one third in our sample)
have equative clauses where there is no Predicator in the mood structure, and some
languages can realize Predicator with adjectives.
Regarding the Finite, languages vary in two aspects. One is the meanings
realized by Finite. Languages in our sample can be roughly classified into three
groups along this dimension: (i) those whose Finite mainly realizes the meaning
of tense; (ii) those whose Finite mainly realizes the meaning of aspect; and (iii)
those whose Finite equally realizes the meanings of tense and aspect. It is found
that there is a negative correlation between the number of tense and the number of
aspect in a language. Besides, the Finite can also realize the meanings of modal-
ity and negation. In some languages, the Finite can also realize the meaning of
mode. The other aspect in which languages vary is the realizations of Finite. For
the realizations of Finite ‘tense’, about two thirds of the languages in our sample
(32/48) mainly deploy affixes/inflections, about one fifth of the languages (10/48)
deploy both affixes and auxiliaries, and a few languages (6/48) mainly deploy aux-
iliaries and particles. For the realizations of Finite ‘aspect’, around half of the lan-
guages in our sample (27/58) mainly deploy affixes/inflections, around one third
of the languages in our sample (20/58) deploy both affixes/inflections and other
grammatical classes, such as clitics, particles, reduplications, adverbs and verbs,
and other languages (11/58) mainly deploy non-inflectional classes. For the real-
izations of Finite ‘modality’, the most commonly deployed class is the auxiliary.
Other classes include affixes, verbal modes, clitics, and particles. For the real-
izations of Finite ‘negative’, the commonly deployed classes include (i) affixes,
(ii) particles, clitics, and adverbs, and (iii) auxiliaries and verbs. Besides, around
two thirds of the languages in our sample have different realizations for the Finite
‘negative’ in indicative clauses and the Finite ‘negative’ in imperative clauses. It
is found that though languages display variation in the realizations of Finite, they
show intra-language consistency in the realizations of different kinds of Finite. It
is also found that the realizations of Finite correlate closely with the morphologi-
cal types of language: agglutinative languages (including polysynthetic languages)
in our sample mainly deploy inflectional classes, isolating languages mainly
deploy non-inflectional classes, and fusional languages may deploy both inflec-
tional and non-inflectional classes.
9.1 Main Findings 267
Similarities and Differences in the Realizations of Mood Options and mood

System
Languages show more differences than similarities in the realizations of mood
options and mood system. It is found that the realizations of mood options and
mood system also correlate with the morphological types of language.
Concerning the realizations of declarative mood system, agglutinative languages
in our sample mainly deploy affixes and clitics in a productive way; isolating lan-
guages mainly deploy particles; fusional languages may deploy both particles and
affixes but neither class is productive. As to the realizations of declarative (proper)
mood, most languages display no Mood Negotiator in the mood structure, but some
agglutinative languages realize the declarative (proper) mood with affixes and clitics,
and some fusional and isolating languages realize it with particles. As for the realiza-
tions of exclamative mood, languages are similar to each other in deploying interrog-
ative words and adverbs of degree; while some agglutinative languages also deploy
affixes, clitics, and particles, some isolating languages also deploy particles and many
fusional languages position interrogative words initially. Evidential declaratives are
only observed in agglutinative languages in our sample, where they are commonly
realized by affixes and clitics. Emotion-involved declaratives, assessed declaratives,
emphatic declaratives, and focused declaratives are mainly observed in agglutinative
and isolating languages. In agglutinative languages, they are mainly realized by clitics,
affixes, and particles, and in isolating languages, they are mainly realized by particles.
Regarding the realizations of interrogative mood system, agglutinative lan-
guages in our sample mainly deploy affixes and clitics, but they also deploy par-
ticles and structures/constructions; isolating and fusional languages mainly deploy
particles and structures/constructions. As to the realizations of polar interrogative
mood, agglutinative languages mainly deploy affixes and clitics, but they also
deploy particles, structures/constructions, intonations, and sequence; isolating and
fusional languages mainly deploy particles, structures/constructions, and intona-
tions, and a few fusional languages also deploy sequence. As to the realizations
of elemental interrogative mood, languages bear resemblance in deploying inter-
rogative words. While isolating languages in our sample show a strong tendency
to merely deploy interrogative words; fusional languages show a slight tendency
to do so, and a few fusional languages also deploy other classes, such as parti-
cles and sequence; agglutinative languages may either merely deploy interrogative
words or meanwhile deploy another class, such as affixes and clitics. Moreover,
it is found that isolating languages show a slight tendency to place interrogative
words non-initially; fusional languages show a slight tendency to place them ini-
tially; agglutinative languages show a strong tendency to place them non-initially.
Confirmative mood is commonly realized by structures/constructions.
Concerning the realizations of imperative mood system, agglutinative and
fusional languages are similar in mainly deploying affixes/inflections. In contrast,
isolating languages usually have no explicit Mood Negotiators or mainly deploy
particles. The generalization applies to the realizations of most mood options
in imperative mood system, such as the jussive (proper) mood, the polite jussive
mood, the cohortative mood, and the hortative mood.
268 9 Conclusion
Regarding the realizations of holistic mood system, agglutinative languages

mainly deploy affixes and clitics, but they also deploy particles and structures/
constructions; isolating languages mainly deploy particles and structures/con-
structions; fusional languages mainly deploy affixes and particles, but both classes
are less productive than those deployed in agglutinative and isolating languages.
Moreover, it is found that many languages in our sample display intra-language
consistency in the realizations of mood: languages tend to deploy a certain gram-
matical class consistently in the realizations of mood. This intra-language consist-
ency correlates with the intra-language consistency in the realizations of Finite.
They both are related to the morphological types of language.
9.1.2 Cross-Linguistic Similarities and Differences in mood

System
Similarities and Differences in the Organization of mood System

Languages bear similarity in grouping mood options that realize similar meanings
together. Thus, most languages group the declarative mood and the interrogative
mood together into the less delicate indicative mood and then make a systemic con-
trast between the indicative mood and the imperative mood. In most agglutinative
and fusional languages, the systemic contrast between indicative mood and imper-
ative mood is not only a semantic one but also explicitly a structural one while
in many isolating languages, the systemic contrast between indicative mood and
imperative mood is principally a semantic one and less explicitly a structural one.
Besides, a few agglutinative languages organize mood options in a parallel way.
Similarities and Differences in Mood Options and Semantic Dimensions for

the Elaboration of mood System
Languages display more similarities in mood system than in mood structure, and
they display more similarities in systems of a lower degree of delicacy than in
systems of a higher degree of delicacy. Mood options of systems of low degree
of delicacy are commonly observed in most languages in our sample, such as the
declarative (proper) mood (59), the polar (proper) interrogative mood (57), the
elemental interrogative mood (60), and the jussive mood (60). In contrast, mood
options of systems of high degree of delicacy are less commonly observed in lan-
guages, such as the evidential declarative, the emphatic declarative, the negative
declarative, the mirative, the biased polar interrogative, the focused polar inter-
rogative, the polite jussive, and the strong jussive. Thus, the variation among lan-
guages in the number of mood options is primarily the variation in the number of
mood options of more delicate systems.
The variation among languages in the number of mood options is related to
the number of semantic dimensions deployed for the elaboration of mood sys-
tem. Generally, the more semantic dimensions are deployed, the more delicate the
9.1 Main Findings 269
mood system will be, and the more mood options will be observed in the mood
system. Semantic dimensions for the elaboration of mood system can be classified
into two groups: (i) those intersecting with the holistic mood system and (ii) those
intersecting with certain mood systems and mood options. The semantic dimen-
sions of group (i) include the speech level/style system in Korean and Javanese,
the politeness system in Japanese and Thai, the emotion-involvement system in
Chinese and Thai, and the assessment system in Vietnamese, Japanese, Dagaare,
Fongbe, and Finnish. The semantic dimensions of group (ii) include the proposi-
tion-oriented semantic dimensions for the elaboration of declarative mood system
and interrogative mood system and the interactant-oriented semantic dimensions
for the elaboration of imperative mood system.
There are three proposition-oriented semantic dimensions for the elaboration
of declarative mood system. The first one is the source of information. Mood
options reached along this dimension include various types of evidential declar-
atives. The dimension is only deployed in agglutinative languages in our sample.
The second one is the speaker’s attitude to the truth value of the proposition. Mood
options reached along this dimensions include the assertive mood, the emphatic
declarative mood, the Hidatsa subtypes of declarative mood, the modal declarative
mood, the suppositive mood, and the negative declarative mood. The third one is
the function of information. Mood options reached along this dimension include
the discourse-marking declarative mood (the focused declarative, the contrastive
declarative, the topical declarative, etc.), declaratives indicating the speaker’s
expectedness to the information (the determinative and the mirative), declaratives
expressing the speaker’s emotions (the admirative, the emotion-involved declara-
tive, and the exclamative), and declaratives performing speech acts (the promissive
and the admonitive).
There are four principal proposition-oriented semantic dimensions for the elab-
oration of interrogative mood system. The first one is the content questioned. It is
universally deployed in all the languages in our sample. Mood options reached along
this dimension include the polar (proper) interrogative, the focused polar interrog-
ative, the elemental interrogative, and the alternative interrogative. The second one
is the degree of interrogativity. Mood options reached along this dimension include
the confirmative mood (the rhetorical question, the tagged confirmative, the inserted
confirmative, and the dubitative) and the biased polar interrogative. The third one
is the interrogative force. Mood options reached along this dimension include the
emphatic and the mild polar interrogative. The fourth one is the degree of speaker’s
expectation for an answer (the direct and the indirect interrogative mood in Kham).
There are six interactant-oriented semantic dimensions for the elaboration of
imperative mood system. The most commonly deployed one is the Subject per-
son. The dimension is deployed in all the languages in our sample. Mood options
reached along this dimension include the jussive mood, the cohortative mood, the
optative mood, the oblative mood, the hortative mood, and the impersonal imper-
ative mood. Besides, it is found that there exists a hierarchy of grammaticaliza-
tion among the jussive, the cohortative, the optative, and the oblative mood: the
jussive mood is the most likely to be grammaticalized among languages, then
270 9 Conclusion
the cohortative mood, then the optative mood, and then the oblative mood. The
second one is the politeness. Mood options reached along this dimension include
the polite jussive and the polite cohortative mood. The third one is the directive
force. Mood options reached along this dimension include the mild/soft and the
emphatic/strong jussive mood. The fourth one is the tenor of the relationship
between the interactants. Mood options reached along this dimension include
the subtypes of jussive mood in Manchu, Korean, and Javanese. The fifth one is
the proposal negotiability. Mood options reached along this dimension include
the inserted negotiation, the tagged negotiation, the suggestive, and the negotia-
tion-neutral imperative in Chinese. The sixth one is the time for the action to be
performed. Mood options reached along this dimension include the immediate,
the non-immediate, and the habitual jussive mood. Other options of imperative
mood include the prohibitive mood, the permissive mood, the exigent mood, the
benefactive mood, the desiderative mood, and the apprehensive mood.
Besides, it is found that the variational use of semantic dimensions in dif-
ferent languages on the one hand is related to the social-cultural context of lan-
guages and on the other hand is related to the lexicogrammatical resources at their
disposal.
9.2 Contributions
Firstly, the book contributes to a more comprehensive knowledge of the grammat-

ical category of mood. The previous typological studies on mood usually focus
on the description and comparison of local structural features of an isolated mood
type, whereas the systemic aspect of mood and the minor types of mood have
received little attention. Similarly, the previous SFT studies on mood have also
paid little attention to minor types of mood. Besides, both approaches of studies
on mood have not attached enough importance to the issue of language sampling,
and therefore, little attention has been paid to typological generalizations and
explanations. The book, in contrast, adopts a holistic and systemic approach to the
typology of mood. Due attention has been paid to both the structural aspect and
the systemic aspect of mood, to both the major types and the minor types of mood,
to both descriptions and comparisons, and to both typological generalizations and
explanations. Therefore, the book, to a large extent, complements the previous
studies on mood and contributes to a more comprehensive knowledge of the gram-
matical category of mood.
Secondly, the book makes some improvements to the description of mood sys-
tem and may promote further development of SFL theory. Relatively, the book
is the first large-scale investigation guided by SFL theory into the mood system
of a wide range of languages in the world. It proves that SFL is a general and
appliable linguistic theory for the description, comparison, and typology of all
human languages. It proves that SFL represents a holistic approach to language
which enables more typological generalizations to be made and more reasonable
9.2 Contributions 271
explanations to be advanced. It also proves that a wide application of SFL the-

ory to descriptions of different languages in the world will provide powerful impe-
tus for the sustainable development of SFL theory. For example, our descriptions
of the mood systems of 60 languages show that the commodities exchanged by
mood system are not only restrained to information and goods-&-serves but also
include some other types, such as the source of the information, the speaker’s atti-
tude to the truth value of the proposition, the speaker’s emotions, and the tenor
of the relationship between the interactants. Similarly, the speech roles involved
in mood system are not only giving and demanding. Sometimes, the speech role
may be something between giving and demanding, such as the one involved in
the confirmative mood, or something both giving and demanding, such as the one
involved in the cohortative mood. Moreover, we have also made some improve-
ments with regard to the systemic theory. For example, we add semantic dimen-
sions for systemic elaborations to the multilingual mood system and some new
realization operators to the realization statements of mood system, such as deletion
(−F), rejection (*F), and classification (Fːc). We also assign more meanings to the
functional element of Finite, which enables us to describe the mood structure of all
the languages in our sample and to reveal that languages vary in the major domain
of meaning realized by Finite, and there exits intra-language consistency in the
realizations of Finite. The book may promote more SFL-theory-guided descrip-
tions, comparisons and typologies of languages around the world, which will pro-
vide powerful impetus for the sustainable development of SFL theory.
Thirdly, the book takes a systemic and holistic approach to typological stud-
ies, which is complementary to the structural and local approach. It is proved
that the systemic and holistic approach is helpful to provide new parameters for
language classification, to make typological generalizations, and to propose rea-
sonable explanations. Therefore, this approach can be borrowed in future typolog-
ical studies. Moreover, the book provides a workable solution to a methodological
problem which has been considered a hindrance to SFT studies. SFT attaches
importance to both the language theory and language descriptions. Language
descriptions are supposed to be guided by SFL theory so as to be presented in
multidimensional way, to be system-and-function-oriented and text-based, to be
able to display the full meaning potential of a language, and to be comprehen-
sive and reliable enough for typological generalizations. However, there is no
doubt that such descriptions will take several years. Therefore, it is difficult for
SFT studies to operate with a sample that is representative enough since ‘the lan-
guages that have been described to date in systemic functional terms do obviously
not in any way represent a typological sample of the languages around the world’
(Teruya et al. 2007). The solution provided by the book to this problem is that we
can first include some languages that have received SFL descriptions in the sam-
ple. As for the languages that have not received such descriptions, we can draw on
one or more reference grammars of these languages and only describe the system
under study along the global and local semiotic dimensions of SFL. It is proved
that this method is workable and can achieve a good balance between the compre-
hensiveness of descriptions and the representativeness of the sample.
272 9 Conclusion
Fourthly, the book offers a multilingual mood system, which can find its prac-
tical applications in (foreign) language teaching and learning activities and in
descriptions of the mood systems of certain languages. mood system is the core
componet in (foreign) language teaching and learning, and it is usually the part
where language learners easily make mistakes due to the cross-linguistic vari-
ation in mood structure. The multilingual mood system presents all the possible
realizations of a specific mood. For example, five lexicogrammatical devices
are illustrated in the realizations of polar interrogative, namely particles, affixes,
structures/constructions, clitics, and intonations. This general knowledge may
facilitate the learning of the polar interrogative of a specific language. Besides,
mood system is an indispensable part in language descriptions. The multilin-
gual mood system illustrates the possible semantic dimensions for the elabora-
tion of mood system, the possible mood options, and the possible realizations for
each mood option. By reference to the multilingual mood system, grammarians
can check whether, in the language under description, certain mood options are
grammaticalized, what devices are deployed in the realizations of certain mood
options, and whether certain semantic dimensions are deployed for systemic
elaboration.
9.3 Limitations and Further Directions
9.3.1 Limitations
The book is a systemic functional typology of mood system based on a sample of

60 languages. The sample consists of languages of various areas, language fami-
lies, and types so as to be representative enough in terms of geographical, genetic,
and typological distribution. Each language in the sample is described within the
framework of SFL to make sure the descriptions are system-and-function-oriented.
The descriptions cover not only the mood system and mood structure of the lan-
guage, but also the geographical, genetic, and typological information, and other
grammatical aspects of the language, such as personal pronouns, personal clitics/
suffixes, interrogative pronouns, case markings, the TAM and negation of the verb,
clitics, and particles. Based on such descriptions, we have made cross-linguistic
comparisons of mood system and mood structure so as to reveal the similarities
and differences languages display in the two aspects. We have also made some
typological generalizations and proposed some explanations for the differences
languages display. The research objectives set in the book have been achieved.
However, a number of potential limitations need to be considered.
First, though we tried to make the sample representative enough and its size
is much bigger than that in previous SFT studies on mood, it is still small in size
compared with that in some typological studies and it cannot represent all human
languages. Besides, due to the accessibility of data, languages in Europe are
9.3 Limitations and Further Directions 273
over-represented while languages in Africa, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and America

are relatively not well-represented. The sample covers languages from 29 language
families but they only account for one fifth of the language families in the world.
Among the languages families covered, the Indo-European family is over-repre-
sented, while some families are not well-represented, such as Austronesian, Niger-
Congo, and language families in Trans-New Guinea area and America. Therefore,
if the sample size is bigger and more representative, there may be more findings
and more generalizations.
Second, except the nine languages in the sample which have received SFL-
theory-guided and text-based descriptions, the descriptions of the other 51
languages are mainly based on reference grammars. The descriptions are sys-
tem-and-function-oriented, but they are not text-based in a real sense, though
most reference grammars we draw on are text-based. The comprehensiveness of
our descriptions to a large extent rests on the comprehensiveness of the reference
grammars we refer to. If the reference grammar of a language is organized con-
cisely, then the description of the mood system of the language may not display
the full meaning potential of the language. Therefore, the mood systems of some
languages in our sample might be simplified ones.
Third, many typological generalizations in the book are made by relating the
structural features of mood options to the morphological types of language. For
example, we find polysynthetic and agglutinative languages tend to deploy inflec-
tional classes in the realizations of Finite; isolating languages tend to deploy
non-inflectional classes; fusional languages may deploy both inflectional and
non-inflectional classes. It might be possible to make more generalizations if we
relate the structual features of mood to other typological features of language,
such as basic word order and case marking. Besides, since most reference gram-
mars do not present the information about the social-cultural context of the lan-
guage under description, some findings of the book are not well explained. For
example, why is the polar (proper) interrogative mood not observed in some
languages? Why is the declarative (proper) mood absent from Hidatsa? Why is
sequence mainly deployed in Germanic languages as the realization of polar inter-
rogative mood?
9.3.2 Further Directions
In the book, we have offered descriptions of the mood systems of 60 languages

within the framework of SFL theory. Most of the languages in the sample are
described for the first time in systemic functional terms. It is proved that SFL
is a general and appliable linguistic theory which can be applied to descriptive,
comparative, and typological studies of all human languages. Based on the sys-
tem-and-function-oriented descriptions, we take a systemic and holistic approach
to the typology of mood and make cross-linguistic comparisons of mood system
274 9 Conclusion
and mood structure. It is proved that this approach is complementary to the struc-
tural and local approach adopted in typological studies. We propose that future
studies can be undertaken in the following areas.
First, future studies on the current topic based on a larger and more representa-
tive sample are recommended. Such studies on the one hand can assess the validity
of some conclusions drawn in the book and on the other hand can further deepen
our understanding about the cross-linguistic similarities and differences in mood
structure and mood system. Besides, more typological generalizations can be
made, and more explanations can be proposed based on a larger and more repre-
sentative sample. The mood systems of the 60 languages provided in the book can
be drawn on in future studies. Besides, languages of the areas and families that are
not well-represented in the book should be covered in the sample of future studies.
And if it is possible, more text-based descriptions should be provided in future
studies.
Second, more SFL-theory-guided language descriptions are recommended. At
the beginning of this century, Caffarel et al. (2004) noticed that the lack of satis-
factory descriptions was a problem for typological studies, and the lack of com-
prehensive, functional, text-based descriptions was a greater one. The problem
that researchers faced at that time still persits nowadays. Due to the lack of com-
prehensive, system-and-function oriented, and text-based descriptions, some SFT
studies on the one hand have to use a small language sample which is far from
being representative, and on the other hand have to resort to the findings of typo-
logical studies or non-SFL-theory-guided descriptions. The survey of studies in
systemic functional language description and typology made by Mwinlaaru and
Xuan (2016) reveals that ‘systemic functional theory has, since its very beginning,
been deployed in describing different languages’. Therefore, SFL is applicable to
language descriptions. An increasing number of such descriptions can display the
full meaning potential of more languages. Furthermore, it can spur more SFT stud-
ies on various topics and provide powerful impetus for the sustainable develop-
ment of SFL. What should be noted is that though such descriptions are supposed
to be guided by SFL theory, they should bring out the special features of each lan-
guage under description. Moreover, such descriptions should not only cover the
core lexicogrammatical systems at clause rank, such as mood system and tran-
sitivity system, but also extend to other lexicogrammatical systems at group and
word ranks, such as personal pronoun system, tense system, aspect system, and
case system, so that the descriptions can be drawn on by both SFT studies and
Third, SFT studies on other topics can be carried out, such as the SFT of tran-
sitivity system, the SFT of verbal, existential and relational clauses, the SFT of
modality system, the SFT of personal pronoun system, the SFT of number sys-
tem, the SFT of tense system, and the SFT of nominal groups, verbal groups, and
propositional/postpositional phrases. As is shown in the book, such studies can
help deeply broaden our understanding of the topic under discussion. They can
also facilitate the sustainable development of SFL.
References 275
References
Caffarel A, Martin JR, Matthiessen CMIM (2004) Introduction: systemic functional typology. In:
John Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp 1–76
Appendix
The mood System of Each Language
Albanian
The mood system of Albanian, based on Newmark et al. (1982)
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer 277
Functional Linguistics Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8821-9
278 Appendix: The mood System of Each Language
1. Though the admirative and the subjunctive mode are expressed analytically,
we still consider that they are realized by verbal inflections rather than by
construtions in class.
2. The optative mood in Albanian realized by the optative mode expresses hopes
and wishes, which is the peripheral meaning of this term in the book. The core
meaning of this term is realized by the third person hortative.
Arabic (Standard)
The mood system of Arabic (Standard), based on Aoun et al. (2010) and Ryding (2005)
1. The term ‘imperative’ is used in Ryding (2005) and Aoun et al. (2010). The
jussive is realized by the imperative mode. According to Ryding (2005), the
jussive occurs in second person for the most part, although occasionally it has
the first person plural Subject (cohortative in our term) and the third person
Subject (optative in our term).
2. The term ‘negative imperative’ is used in Aoun et al. (2010). The Predicator in
prohibitives inflects for person, gender, and number.
Appendix: The mood System of Each Language 279
Armenian (Eastern)
The mood system of Armenian (Eastern), based on Dum-Tragut (2009)
1. The term ‘analytic imperative’ is used in Dum-Tragut (2009).

Bardi
The mood system of Bardi, based on Bowern (2012)
1. There is no neutral polar interrogative in the true sense of the term in Bardi.
Bowern (2012) points out that the frequently used way of questioning infor-
mation is to make a statement that the listener will confirm or contradict as
needed. The biased polar indicates the speaker’s bias to a positive answer.
2. The jussive and the cohortative in Bardi are realized by the second person and
the first person plural future tense, respectively. However, they differ from
their counterparts in declarative clauses in intonations.
3. The free absolutive personal pronouns in Bardi are divided into the minimal
and the augmented forms. The minimal forms are used to refer to a single per-
son and the augmented forms mean to add one or more additional references
to the minimal forms.
Cavineña
The mood system of Cavineña, based on Guillaume (2008)

1. The modal, the emotion-involved, the evidential, and the discourse-marking

declarative are not totally exclusive to each other. Some of them are simulta-
neous systems.
2. According to Guillaume (2008), one striking feature of interrogative clauses in
Cavineña is that they do not appear to have any specific interrogative intonation
or any obligatory marking that would distinguish these clauses from declaratives.
Chinese
The mood system of Chinese

Dagaare
The mood system of Dagaare, adapted from Mwinlaaru (2018)
1. The term ‘non-affirmative’ is used in Mwinlaaru (2018).

2. The term ‘non-prohibitive’ is used in Mwinlaaru (2018).
3. The term ‘negotiated’ is used in Mwinlaaru (2018) for the focus-neutral and
‘non-negotiated’ for the focused.
4. The boundary between the biased polar and the tagged confirmative in Dagaare
is vague.
Diegueño
The mood system of Diegueño, based on Langdon (1966)
English
The mood system of English, adapted from Halliday and Matthiessen (2004, 2014)
1. The term ‘affirmative’ is used in Halliday and Matthiessen (2004, 2014). In

the book, the term ‘affirmative’ is used for other meanings.
2. Matthiessen and Halliday (2009) add the mood tag system after the entry con-
dition of declarative and imperative: either declarative or imperative can be
either tagged or untagged. The tagged declarative is termed ‘tagged confirma-
tive’, and the tagged imperative is termed ‘tagged negotiation’ in the book.
3. This is a tentative description to regard the tagged confirmative as the result of
the conjunction of declarative and polar.
Finnish
The mood system of Finnish, based on Karlsson (1999)

Fongbe
The mood system of Fongbe, based on Lefebvre and Brousseau (2002)
1. The term ‘negative’, contrasting with ‘affirmative’, refers to a mood option

instead of a polarity option.
2. According to Lefebvre and Brousseau (2002), ní is a subjunctive marker.
3. The emphatic 1 entails the presupposition that the speaker and the hearer dis-
agree with each other. In contrast, the emphatic 2 entails the presupposition
that the speaker and the hearer agree on the content of the proposal.
French
The mood system of French, adapted from Caffarel (2004, 2006)
1. The suffixes -ons, -iez, and -Ø are not specific imperative mood markers, nor
do they refer to specific suffixes, but stand for the present tense verbal con-
jugations for the first person plural, the second person plural, and the second
person singular, respectively.
German
The mood system of German, adapted from Steiner and Teich (2004) with reference to Buck
(1999)
1. The term ‘speaker-exclusive’ is used in Steiner and Teich (2004).

2. The term ‘speaker-inclusive’ is used in Steiner and Teich (2004).
3. According to Steiner and Teich (2004), the cohortative involves a further
systemic contrast between commanding (‘we do’) and proposing (‘let’s
do’). The former is realized by the indicative verbal mode with the Subject
wir (‘we’) inserted either before it (Sub^Pr) or after it (Pr^Sub); the latter is
realized by the lassen (‘let, allow’) structure. This description might be prob-
lematic. In German, the verbal conjugations for first person plural (present)
indicative mode, (present) subjunctive mode, and imperative mode are same
in form. This might be the reason why there exist three views on the realiza-
tions of this mood: (i) wir ^ Pr:present indicative or Pr:present indicative ^ wir
(Steiner and Teich 2004), (ii) Pr: present subjunctive ^ wir (Buck 1999) and
(iii) Pr:imperative ^ wir. We tend to take the third view.
4. The past participle form of the verb is used to express peremptory commands.
5. According to Steiner and Teich (2004), the tagged declarative, the tagged
interrogative, and the tagged imperative are entry conditions of more systemic
options. These options are typical of the spoken language and different tags
express different degrees of formality.
Greek
The mood system of Greek, based on Holton et al. (2012, 2016)
1. According to Holton et al. (2012), a wish in Greek can be expressed by the

subjunctive mode or periphrastically with the subjunctive introduce by the
particle μακάρι or the particle που. An unfulfilled wish can be realized by the
subjunctive marker ας combined with the imperfective past. These two usages
might be regarded as the realizations of desiderative mood.
2. The ‘jussive’ can be softened by the particle για ‘just’. It can become milder
and more polite by using παρακαλώ ‘please’.
3. The third person hortative realized by the third person subjunctive mode can
express indifference (‘let him do, I do not care’). See the ‘optative’ in Hinuq.
Hausa
The mood system of Hausa, based on Jaggar (2001)
1. According to Jaggar (2001), Hausa verbs do not inflect for tense, aspect, and
modality (TAM), neither for person and number. Instead, these grammatical
meanings are represented by a pre-verbal inflectional sequence, which he
termed as person-aspect complex (PAC). It is composed of two parts: a sub-
ject agreement pronoun and a TAM marker. We take PAC as a particle.
2. See the hortative in Mian and Lango.
3. The term ‘imperative’ is used in Jaggar (2001). The jussive mood in Hausa
can be realized by two lexicogrammatical ways: one is by a verb itself with-
out the PAC; the other way is by the PAC which indicates the second per-
son subjunctive mode. The two forms do not show clear semantic-pragmatic
differences.
Hidatsa
The mood system of Hidatsa, based on Matthews (1965) and Boyle (2007)
1. The terms for the six subtypes of declarative mood in Hidatsa are borrowed
from Boyle (2007). The usages of these terms are dedicated to Hidatsa. There
is no declarative (proper) in its true sense in Hidatsa. Each subtype of declar-
ative in Hidatsa is obligatorily marked by one of the clause-final illocutionary
markers that indicate the speaker’s various kinds of attitudes to the truth value
of the information.
2. The term ‘period’ is used in Matthews (1965). The declarative/period is the
most common mood and only in this sense, not semantically, it is the declar-
ative (proper). The declarative/period indicates the speaker believes the infor-
mation given to be true.
3. The term appears in both Matthews (1965) and Boyle (2007). It indicates the
speaker knows the information given to be true. It also serves as statement of
emphatic force.
4. The non-speculative expresses an emphatic statement of fact. Compared with
the declarative/period, it indicates the speaker’s higher degree of certainty
about the truth value of the information.
5. The past definite indicates the speaker is certain that a definite event has
occurred. The plural form indicates the event happened more than one time in
the past.
6. The term ‘indefinite’ is used in Matthews (1965). The speculative, according
to Boyle (2007), expresses an internal question addressed to the speaker him-
self/herself. Matthews (1965) reports it indicates the speaker does not know
the truth value of the information.
7. The term ‘quotative’ is used in Matthews (1965). The narrative indicates
knowledge handed down from the elders and assumed to be true. Matthews
(1965) reports the quotative expresses general knowledge. According to Boyle
(2007), the four reportative stems (EvM) take the declarative final markers -c
in the vast majority of examples, but it is possible to have other final illocu-
tionary markers.
8. The opinion indicates that the speaker is stating an opinion.
9. Boyle (2007) uses the term ‘permission’.
Hindi
The mood system of Hindi, based on Kachru (2006)

1. The suffix -o is the marker of second person plural optative mode in Hindi. It
realizes a commond addressed to a second person plural Subject or to a sec-
ond person singular familiar Subject. The suffix -nA is the second person plu-
ral infinitive marker, and it is used to express a familiar jussive to indicate a
polite suggestion or request or a non-immediate jussive.
2. The suffix-iyega is the future form of -iye and indicates a non-immediate jussive.
Hinuq
The mood system of Hinuq, based on Forker (2013)

1. According to Forker (2013), evidentiality in Hinuq is expressed by inflec-

tional suffixes on the verb and two enclitics. Besides, verbal evidentiality
fuses with tense system.
2. Forker (2013) reports that neutral past forms, i.e., simple past, compound
past, resultative past, pluperfect past, habitual past, etc., conventionally
indicate that the speaker is an eye-witness of the situation. They convey the
information belonging to the personal knowledge sphere of the speaker. In
contrast, unwitnessed past forms, i.e., simple unwitnessed past, compound
unwitenessed past, resultative unwitnessed past, etc., imply that the situation
or event is not witnessed by the speaker.
3. According to Forker (2013), the optative in Hinuq expresses hopes and
wishes. Besides, it is also used in exhortations to actions by third person
agents or to express permission (permissive) or indifference.
Hmong Njua
The mood system of Hmong Njua, based on Kunyot (1984)
1. These clause-final particles are termed as affirmative particles by Kunyot (1984).

2. The only example of cohortative recorded by Kunyot (1984) exhibits the
clause-final particle aŏ. It remains unclear whether this particle is obligatory
to realize this mood.
3. There is another clause-final particle shé, which realizes an unpolite jussive
clause.
Huallaga Quechua
The mood system of Huallaga Quechua, based on Weber (1989)
1. The direct evidential indicates that the speaker is convinced about what he is
saying. It indicates the information is learned by direct experience. The indi-
rect evidential indicates the information is learned by indirect experience
(hearsay). The conjecture indicates that the speaker’s statement is a conjec-
ture. The speaker indicates that it is not the sort of information for which any-
one should be held responsible.
2. The elemental 1 indicates the speaker presupposes that the addressee knows
the answer to the question being asked; the elemental 2 indicates the speaker
does not presuppose that the addressee knows the answer to the question.
Hup
The mood system of Hup, based on Epps (2008)

1. The term ‘discourse marking’ is from Epps (2008). The meaning covered
under this term generally is concerned with emphasis, focus, topicality, etc. It
is mainly realized in nominal elements at the word rank. The classes realizing
this meaning can be suffixes, enclitics, and particles.
2. Epps (2008) uses the term ‘sentence-level affect’, which includes the semantic
domains of affect, intensification, emphasis, focus, and other related meanings
realized at the clause rank. We use the term ‘assessed’ to maintain consist-
ency in terminology. The assessed declarative in other languages is realized
by particles and clitics. Hup, however, has a much richer repertoire of devices
to realize this meaning, including inner suffixes, boundary suffixes, enclitics,
and particles. The subtypes of assessed mood presented here do not represent
the complete picture.
3. The Sub-Pr type declarative represents the basic order of declarative mood.
The Predicator in this mood obligatorily takes a boundary suffix. Usually,
it is the declarative suffix (neutral aspect) -Vh or the dynamic aspect suffix
-Vy. It can also be other boundary suffixes, such as the future suffix and the
inchoative aspect suffix, but it can never be the interrogative suffix -Vʔ or the
imperative suffix -kæ̆m, which are dedicated to the interrogative and the jus-
sive mood, respectively.
4. Epps (2008) reports that the Pr-Sub type declarative differs from the Sub-Pr
type in the context they can appear. The Sub-Pr type is standard in past-tense
narratives, descriptives, and other time-neutral discourse. It is also commonly
used in clauses with future tense or past tense reference generally. The Pr-Sub
type declarative, in contrast, is more frequently used when the clause encodes
an ongoing or currently relevant event and thus is particularly common in
everyday conversation. The Subject in the Pr-Sub type declarative must take
the declarative suffix -Vh.
5. The modal meaning here is in broad sense, not in narrow sense. The reason to
regard the modal declarative as a subtype of declarative is that it is grammati-
calized in Hup, realized by various suffixes.
6. The interrogative system presented here is a simplified one. The evidential-
ity system can also intersect with interrogative system. Some options of dis-
course-marking and assessed are also available to interrogative mood.
Jamsay
The mood system of Jamsay, based on Heath (2008)
1. If the Subject is focalized, there will be no subject pronominal suffix on the

Predicator and the Subject can occur either with the focus clitic or not. If it is
other elements that are focalized, they require the focus clitic and the perfec-
tive Predicator will be in unsuffixed perfective form.
Japanese
The mood system of Japanese, adapted from Teruya (2007, 2017)
1. It remains unclear whether or not the suppositive reported by Teruya (2007,

2017) can be regarded a grammaticalized mood type, because daroo, accord-
ing to Iwasaki (2013: 297) and other reference grammars of Japanese, is an
auxiliary that expresses epistemic modality.
2. Teruya (2007, 2017) uses the term ‘suggestive’, which is used for other mean-
ing in the book (see Chinese).
3. Teruya (2007, 2017) uses the term ‘requestive’.
4. The auxiliary kure is the imperative form of kureru ‘give’. The auxiliary kur-
eru is the second type of Japanese auxiliaries, which is grammaticalized from
the verb kureru and therefore conjugates. It follows -te form of verbs and indi-
cates benefactive (see Iwasaki 2013: 65).
Javanese
The mood system of Javanese, based on Errington (1988) and Robson (1992)
1. The suffixes that realize the jussive are selected according to the voice (active
or passive) of the Predicator. According to Errington (1988), in all speech
styles, speakers use various devices, i.e., invitational or optative particles,
hedges, question markers, and impersonal passive constructions, to soften and
dissemble the directive force of jussive.
Kham
The mood system of Kham, based on Watters (2004)

1. The affix ma- can only have a negative interpretation in indirect interroga-
tives, while in direct interrogatives, it can have either a negative or an inter-
rogative interpretation depending on the tense/aspect markers co-occurring
with it. See Watters (2004: 96, 100).
2. The terms ‘immediate imperative’ and ‘non-immediate imperative’ are used in
Watters (2004).
3. Tense/aspect markers in declarative mood are replaced by -ke or -yo in direct
imperative.
4. The use of the term here is different from that used in other languages. The
speaker uses the hortative to urge the addressee to ‘go ahead and do X’ with
the intention to remove what she/he perceives as a restraint on the part of the
addressee.
5. It is termed ‘first person hortative’ in Watters (2004), where it is regarded an
‘entirely different kind of hortative in that its subject morphemes are identical
to the subject morphemes in ‘declarative’.
6. The nominalizing suffix -o/-wo in declarative is replaced by the imperative
suffix -kə.
7. The term ‘jussive’ is used in Watters (2004). The permissive in Kham is
directed to a third person Subject. It urges the hearer to be involved indi-
rectly in bringing about the speaker’s desire for the other party. It expresses
the meaning ‘let them go ahead and do it’ or ‘let them go ahead and continue
doing it’. It implies either the meaning ‘who cares’ or the meaning ‘don’t hin-
der them’.
8. The optative here is the use of the peripheral meaning of the term of ‘opta-
tive’. It expresses wishes and blessings and intersects with all the three
persons.
Korean
The mood system of Korean, based on Lee (1989), Chang (1996), Sohn (1999), and Shin (2018)
1. The term is from Sohn (1999); the term ‘promissory’ is used in Chang (1996).
2. The term is from Sohn (1999); the term ‘suspective’ is used in Chang (1996).
3. The term ‘imperative’ is used in Lee (1989), Chang (1996), and Sohn (1999).
4. This term is from Shin (2018); the term ‘propositive’ is used in Lee (1989),
Chang (1996), and Sohn (1999).
Koyra Chiini
The mood system of Koyra Chiini, based on Heath (1999)
1. The Predicator in indicative clauses is either in perfective aspect (unmarked)

or imperfective aspect (marked by o ~ go). In contrast, the Predicator in imper-
ative clauses indicates no aspectual meaning (o ~ go is not allowed).
2. The tagged confirmative in Koyra Chiini can be realized by n̮ bey ‘did you
know’, but it is not very common.
3. The polar in Koyra Chiini is realized by a rising intonation. Heath (1999)
reports some younger speakers use clause-initial particle ɛskə (French est-ce
que). Another clause-initial particle kona is also used, which is a dialectal bor-
rowing from Fulfulde, but it is very rare in the data. The particle wala ‘or’ is
mainly used to realize alternative clauses, but also functions as a polar inter-
rogative marker.
4. The particle ma is the subjunctive mode marker.
Kulina
The mood system of Kulina, based on Dienst (2014)
1. Dienst (2014) reports that the declarative suffix -i/-ni (for masculine and fem-
inine, respectively) is the default form of predicates in declarative clauses
though not every predicate in declarative clauses takes it. Its main function is
to state a fact and indicates non-future tense. It never occurs in interrogative
or imperative clauses and almost never occurs in narratives except in direct
speech.
2. According to Dienst (2014), imperative suffixes can also apply to a first per-
son Subject. It remains unclear whether the first person singular and the first
person non-singular imperative can be recognized as oblative and cohortative,
respectively.
Lango
The mood system of Lango, based on Noonan (1992)
1. According to Noonan (1992), Lango morphologically contrasts indicative

mode and subjunctive mode. The former is inflected for aspect and person and
the latter only for person. The jussive, which has distinct forms only for in the
second person, informally can be treated as an independent mode but is prob-
ably best considered a sort of prefixless subjunctive mode.
2. The term is borrowed from Fedden’s (2011) description of Mian language,
and they are used similarly in the two languages.
Latvian
The mood system of Latvian, based on Nau (1998) and Prauliņš (2012)
1. According to Nau (1998), the particle lai is mostly used with a third person
Subject in declarative clauses to express imperative and permissive. Prauliņš
(2012) reports that the structure is the equivalence of ‘let him/her/them’ in
English.
2. The cohortative in Latvian, like the optative/hortative, is not so highly gram-
maticalized as in some other languages.
Maidu
The mood system of Maidu, based on Shipley (1964)

1. The morpheme {’æ} is the indicative mode marker.

2. The neutral tense polar, which is realized by the interrogative mode marker
{k'ade}, is used to ask general questions without implication of time. When
the question indicates a past tense, the morpheme {syʔýj} is used.
3. Shipley (1964) uses the term ‘monitive optative’, which is available to all
persons.
4. Shipley (1964) uses the term ‘intentive optative’, which is restrained in occur-
rence to the first person Subject, especially to the first person singular Subject.
5. Shipley (1964) uses the term ‘hortatory optative’.
6. The jussive 1 indicates that the action is supposed to be carried out in the
presence of the speaker. The jussive 2, in contrast, is used when the action is
to be carried out in the absence or the speaker. The difference between the two
options is similar to that between immediate and non-immediate jussive.
Manchu
The mood system of Manchu, based on Gorelova (2002)
1. Gorelova (2002) uses the term ‘imperative’.

2. In Manchu, the five jussive forms are closely related to the expression of
honorific meanings. This is similar to the six speech levels in Korean and the
three speech styles in Javanese. The jussive 1 is used to the addressee occupy-
ing a lower or similar position in respect to the speaker. The jussive 2 is used
to the addressee with an equal position. It is with a softer directive force com-
pared with jussive 1. The jussive 3 is used to the addressee with a lower social
position. It denotes an order to perform an action immediately. The jussive
4 is used to the addressee with a lower social position. It expresses a polite
request. The jussive 5 is used to the addressee who is older or with a higher
social position.
Mapuche
The mood system of Mapuche, based on Smeets (2008)

1. The indicative mode suffix -y- sometimes fuses with certain subject markers.
2. Different from the languages where mood particles intersect with the declara-
tive or the imperative more often, Mapuche abounds with mood particles that
intersect with the interrogative mood more frequently. Some of these parti-
cles, such as am, may, and kam, can also intersect with the declarative or the
jussive mood.
Mian
The mood system of Mian, based on Fedden (2011)
1. The enclitic = e which is used in content interrogatives is rarely used in polar

interrogatives.
2. The interrogative enclitic = mō is commonly used independently at the initial
of polar interrogatives realized by bleka.
3. The hortative can be perfective and imperfective in aspect.
4. The term ‘imperative’ is used in Fedden (2011).
Mongolian
The mood system of Mongolian, based on Janhunen (2012)
1. The Finite in Mongolian can be realized both by tense-aspect suffixes and by

participle markers, in that the latter, in addition to their nominalization func-
tion, display temple-aspectual distinctions as well.
2. UU refers to high rounded vowels. See Janhunen (2012: 80).

3. Janhunen (2012) uses the term ‘voluntative’. The voluntative intersects with
the first person plural inclusive Subject (cohortative) or the first person plural
exclusive Subject (permissive) or the first person singular Subject (permissive/
oblative).
4. AA refers to non-high long vowels rather than a specific enclitic here. See
Janhunen (2012: 79).
5. Janhunen (2012) uses the term ‘permissive’, which is associated with the third
person Subject and refers both to the meaning ‘let him/her/it/ them’ (‘permis-
sive’) and to the meaning ‘may him/her/ it them’ (‘optative’).
Nama Hottentot
The mood system of Nama Hottentot, based on Hagman (1973)
1. There is a syntactic phenomenon termed ‘permutation’ in Nama Hottentot,

which influences the presence or absence of some functional elements in
mood structure. One form of permutations is initialization, i.e., to initialize
an element so as to emphasize it. In declarative clauses, if one element other
than the Subject is initialized, then the Subject will be deposed by adding the
subordinate suffix -à to it. If it is in normal order (no other element is initial-
ized), then the subordinate suffix is not needed. In contrast, in interrogative
and imperative clauses, the subordinate suffix -à is always obligatory, no mat-
ter the clause is in normal order or in permutation forms. Another feature that
differs the interrogative and the imperative from the declarative is the absence
of declarative markers. When in normal order, the Subject of jussive clauses

is optional, while that of cohortative clauses cannot be deleted. In permuta-
tion forms, however, the Subject of cohortative can also be deleted. One real-
ization of the cohortative is by the presence of the hortative conjunction ʔa,
which obligatorily causes Subject deposition.
2. The term ‘hortative’ is used in Hagman (1973). It is reported that the Subject
of hortative can be both in first person and in third person. However, such
examples are not available.
Nenets
The mood system of Nenets, based on Nikolaeva (2014)

1. According to Nikolaeva (2014), the verbs in the two disjunctive-negative

structures can also be in conditional forms, in which case the question con-
veys more uncertainty and doubt.
2. The oblative in Nenets is realized by the first person present subjunctive
mode. It expresses a promise or agreement to perform the action.
3. The term ‘jussive’ is used in Nikolaeva (2014).
4. The term ‘hortative’ is used in Nikolaeva (2014). According to Nikolaeva
(2014), the hortative only exists in first person (singular, dual, and plural). It
remains unclear what meaning the first person singular hortative expresses
due to the limited data. Thus, we only identify the first person dual/plural hor-
tative in this system, which is the cohortative in our term.
5. The term ‘imperative’ is used in Nikolaeva (2014). The ‘jussive (proper)’ in Nenets
is realized by merely employing subjective agreement suffixes (removing TAM
suffixes). The second person singular subjective agreement suffixes for jussives
(proper) are different from those for indicatives. The second person dual and plural
subjective agreement suffixes are identical to their counterparts in indicatives.
6. The clitic = (ŋo)w°/ey° is the focus clitic, which can be applied to both declaratives
and interrogatives for various meanings; = ma is the assertive clitic, which can com-
bine with declaratives only; = m°h is the dubitative clitic available to both declara-
tives and interrogatives; = tʹiq is the emphatic clitic used only in interrogative.
Nyigina
The mood system of Nyigina, based on Stokes (1982)

Ọ̀kọ́
The mood system of Ọ̀kọ́, adapted from Akerejola (2005)
1. The term ‘suggestive’ is used in Akerejola (2005).

2. The oblative mood recognized by Akerejola (2005) in Ọ̀kọ́ is open to doubt in
two aspects. Grammatically, since Akerejola (2005) reports that the oblative is
realized by verbal group complexes rather than by morphological or syntac-
tic means, it remains unclear whether the oblative is highly grammaticalized.
Semantically, it expresses the meaning ‘let me’ or ‘allow me’, which, accord-
ing to Halliday and Matthiessen (2004), is ambiguous in meaning: it can be
either an offer (oblative) or a command (jussive/permissive).
3. It is reported that there are optative clauses in Ọ̀kọ́. However, the very limited
data brings difficulties to the description of its realization.
Persian
The mood system of Persian
Pipil
The mood system of Pipil, based on Campbell (1985)

Pitjantjatjara
The mood system of Pitjantjatjara, adapted from Rose (2004)

1. The main tone contours are: tone 1, mid-fall; tone 1 + , high to low fall; tone
1-, high to mid-fall; tone 2, rising; tone 3, level (slight rise); tone 3 + , level
high pitch; tone 4, fall then rise; tone 5, mid-rise then high fall; tone 5 + , rise-
fall then slight rise.
2. According to Rose (2004), the options direct and oblique reflect the different
orientations of the obligation. It can be deduced from the examples offered by
Rose (2004) that the meaning of oblique is similar to that of hortative.
3. The term ‘suggestive’ is used in Rose (2004).
Puyuma
The mood system of Puyuma, based on Teng (2007)
1. The Predicator in indicative mood is either in realis mode or irrealis mode.

2. The term ‘imperative’ is used in Teng (2007). According to Teng (2007), the
jussive form is usually used when the speaker is in a higher social position
than the addressee. When addressing a person of a higher social rank, the
speaker often uses a declarative clause with the second person Subject overtly
expressed.
3. The form of the jussive mood depends on the voice of the Predicator. If the
Predicator is an intransitive verb, the jussive mood will be realized by a bare
stem; if the Predicator is a transitive verb, the jussive form for the patient
voice, the locative voice, and the conveyance voice will be marked by suffixes
-n, -i, and -an, respectively.
4. The affix Ca- represents Ca- reduplication.
Qiang
The mood system of Qiang, based on Randy and Huang (2003)

1. According to Randy and Huang (2003: 173), the directional prefix is used in
declarative clauses as well, and thus, it is only the intonation and the context
that separate the imperative from the declarative. In imperative clauses, the
directional prefix is stressed.
2. Randy and Huang (2003) uses the term ‘hortative’ to cover these types of
mood here. Besides, the line between the permissive (‘let me/us/him/her/them
do’) and the oblative (‘let me do’)/optative (‘let him do’) is not very clear.
3. The three polite forms of jussive differ from each other in the degree of polite-
ness. It is hard to find suitable terms for them, and thus, numbers are used
here. Among the three polite forms, the polite 3 is the politest one and then
the polite 2 and then the polite 1.
Russian
The mood system of Russian, based on Bailyn (2012)
Santali
The mood system of Santali, based on Ghosh (2008)

1. According to Ghosh (2008), the polar interrogative in Santali can be realized

by a marked intonation pattern. No examples of this mood are available. In
some Munda languages, the polar interrogative is realized by particles. WALS
online reports that polar interrogatives in Santali are realized by interrogative
verb morphology.
Saramaccan Creole
The mood system of Saramaccan Creole, based on McWhorter and Good (2012)
Somali
The mood system of Somali, based on Saeed (1999)
1. The term ‘imperative’ is used in Saeed (1999).

Spanish
The mood system of Spanish, adapted from Lavid et al. (2010)
1. The term ‘affirmative’ is used in Lavid et al. (2010).

2. The term ‘unbiased’ is used in Lavid et al. (2010).
3. The term ‘suggestive’ is used in Lavid et al. (2010).
Tagalog
The mood system of Tagalog, based on Martin (2004), Martin and Cruz (2018), Schachter and
Otanes (1972), and Schachter and Reid (2009)
1. The term ‘informative’ is used in Martin (2004) and Martin and Cruz (2018).
2. Martin (2004) and Martin and Cruz (2018) use the term ‘declarative’.
3. In Martin (2004), Martin and Cruz (2018), and many SFL descriptive profiles
of mood, the tagged confirmative is regarded a subtype of declarative, which is
termed ‘declarative: tagged’.
4. Martin (2004) and Martin and Cruz (2018) use the term ‘hortative’.
5. It is what Schachter and Otanes (1972) call ‘abbreviated imperative’.
6. It is what Schachter and Otanes (1972) call ‘basic imperative’.
Tauya
The mood system of Tauya, based on MacDonald (1990)
1. According to MacDonald (1990), the exclamative suffix seems to consist of

the indicative suffix -ʔa and the exclamative suffix -e.
2. The term ‘subjunctive’ is used in MacDonald (1990), which is restricted to the
third person Subject.
3. The term ‘imperative’ is used in MacDonald (1990). One way to realize the
jussive is to add the imperative suffix -e after the second person future des-
inences (suffix). Another way is to use the imperative stem followed by the
second person aorist desinences. However, there is only a very small class of
imperative stems in Tauya.
4. The former is for the second person singular Subject and the latter for the sec-
ond person plural Subject.
Teiwa
The mood system of Teiwa, based on Klamer (2010)
1. The polar clause may have final rising pitch but often there is no rising
intonation.
2. The jussive and the cohortative may be indicated by the deictic verb ma
‘come’ or the complex conjunction qau ba ‘good sequential marker’.
Telugu
The mood system of Telugu, based on Krishnamurti and Gwynn (1985) and Prakasam (2004)
1. The transcriptions in Krishnamurti and Gwynn (1985) and Prakasam (2004)

show some differences (L = ļ, aa = ā), which are not unified in our description.
Thai
The mood system of Thai1, based on Smyth (2002)

1. The mood system of Thai presented here is a simplified one due to the very
limited data we can get access to. Three points should be noted. First, the sys-
temic contrast between the indicative and the imperative in Thai is clear in
meaning but quite subtle in structure. Here, we adopt the perspective ‘from
roundabout’ to make the systemic contrast clear: the systemic options in
modality are available for indicatives but not for imperatives. Second, there
are many clause-final particles in Thai. Smyth (2002) divides them into three
groups: question particles, polite particles, and mood particles. In our termi-
nology, question particles in Thai can be termed Mood Negotiators, polite
particles can be termed Tenor Markers, and mood particles can be termed
Emotion Markers. Some mood particles in Thai also play the role of polite
particles. Third, the mood type system and the politeness system are simul-
taneous and the same is true for the relation between the mood type system
and the emotion-involvement system. However, it remains unclear whether
the politeness system and the emotion-involvement system are simultane-
ous. Besides, the choice of the lexical items listed in the realization statement
of politeness and emotion-involvement is partially limited by the choice of
mood types on the one hand and partially by the gender and the status of the
speaker on the other hand. That is to say, some items are only available for the
declarative mood and some only for the imperative mood; some are only used
by males and some only by females.
2. The confirmative 1 functions to invite agreement with the preceding statement
rather than to confirm the validity of the statement. It is similar to the rhetoric
question in meaning. The confirmative 2 is to make an assumption and seek
confirmation of that assumption. It is similar to the tagged confirmative or the
dubitative in meaning.
Turkish
The mood system of Turkish, based on Göksel and Kerslake (2005) and Underhill (1976)
1. The tagged confirmative 1 is used when the speaker seeks corroboration of

a statement that s/he believes to be true. In contrast, the tagged confirmative
2 follows a much more tentative assertion, embodying information newly
acquired by the speaker, or information that contradicts the speaker’s previous
assumption.
2. It is reported by Göksel and Kerslake (2005) that the focus-neutral polar 1 is the
typical polar that questions the polarity of the whole proposition. The focus-neu-
tral polar 2 questions the whole proposition as well. However, it is used in the
situation where the speaker has an assumption about the situation s/he is asking
about, usually because there are non-linguistic clues. The difference here is sim-
ilar to that between the dubitative and the polar interrogative in Chinese.
3. The capital letter indicates that the sound is alterable according to its phono-
logical environment.
4. The suffix -sIn(lAr) is the third person imperative form.

5. According to Underhill (1976), the second person of the conditional followed
by a suffix -E can also realize the jussive mood, which is very common in the
spoken language but rare in the written language.
6. According to Underhill (1976), there are two more polite ways of express-
ing requests: one is with the interrogative of the present tense and the other is
with the verb rica etmek ‘request’.
7. The suffix -(y)AlIm is the first person plural optative form. It is described as
-(y)ElIm in Underhill (1976).
8. The suffix -(y)AyIm is the first person singular optative form. It is described as
-(y)ElIm in Underhill (1976).
Udmurt
The mood system of Udmurt, based on Winkler (2001)
1. Winkler (2001) reports that Udmurt has the evidential mode, which is
expressed by one morphological and two lexical means. However, the cate-
gory of ‘evidential’ is usually regarded a category of tense. It is not related to
giving information source. Thus, we will not take the evidential as a subtype
of declarative here.
2. Winkler (2001) recognizes several groups of particles based on their mean-

ings, viz. degree particles, modal particles, and epistemic/attitudinal particles.
It remains unclear whether these meanings are grammaticalized or expressed
lexically, and therefore, we will not consider them the assessed declarative
mood.
Ute
The mood system of Ute, based on Givón (2011)
1. The polar interrogative mood in Ute is seldom neutral.

Vietnamese
The mood system of Vietnamese, based on Nguyễn (1997), Minh (2004), and Phan (2010)
Welsh
The mood system of Welsh, based on Borsley et al. (2007)

West Greenlandic
The mood system of West Greenlandic, based on Sadock (2003)
The mood system of West Greenlandic, based on Fortescue (1984)
1. The term ‘imperative’ is used in Fortescue (1984) and Sadock (2003). They
report that the imperative only has the second person and the first person plu-
ral (inclusive) Subjects. The first person plural (inclusive) imperative very
possibly is the cohortative mood in our term.
2. Affixes -gi- and -na function to put off the time of desired compliance to a
less immediate future; -niar- adds the meaning of promoting or urging; -laar-
and -tsiar- serve to soften the directive force.
3. According to Fortescue (1984) and Sadock (2003), the optative has the third
person, the first person singular and the first person plural (exclusive) Subject.
The first person optative possibly is the permissive or the oblative in our term.
4. Fortescue (1984) uses the term ‘contemporative’ while Sadock (2003) uses the
term ‘conjunctive’.
References

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A Systemic Functional Typology of MOOD - Li (2023)

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The M.A.K.

Halliday Library Functional Linguistics Series

ISSN 2198-9869 ISSN 2198-9877 (electronic)

2.3.2 Features and Problems of SFL/SFT Studies on Mood . . . . 47

6 A Systemic Functional Typology of Interrogative Mood. . . . . . . . . . . 151

8.3.2Semantic Dimensions for the Elaboration

Appendix: The mood System of Each Language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Abbreviations of Grammatical Categories

imp Imperative clause marker, imperative mode

pfv Perfective aspect

vis Visual marker (Hup, Qiang)

Abbreviations of Interpersonal Functional Elements

Basic Interpersonal Functional Elements

Expanded Interpersonal Functional Elements

CI Complement Indicator The functional element that indicates certain properties

MN Mood Negotiator The interpersonal functional element that marks the

Abbreviations of Grammatical Classes

Operators in Realization Statements

Operator Meaning of operator Example

Operator Meaning of operator Example

Graphic Conventions in System Networks

a x Disjunction in entry condition:

a x Conjunction in entry condition:

Capitalization Labels Used in Systems and Realization

Capitalization Convention Example

Initial capitals Name of structural function Mood, Subject, Finite, Predi-

Fig. 1.1 The mood system of English. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Fig. 8.5 The hierarchy of grammaticalization of major types

Table 1.1 Etymology of ‘mood’ and ‘mode’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Table 7.3 Some options in the imperative mood system of Nenets

1.1 Mood as a Grammatical Category

Mood has long been an essential grammatical category in linguistic description

1.1.1 The Etymology of ‘Mood’

According to The New Oxford Dictionary of English (NODE, Pearsall 1998)

Table 1.1 Etymology of ‘mood’ and ‘mode’

Latin: modus ‘measure, manner’ moode ‘manner, form of verb’ mode

“a category of verb use, typically expressing fact (indicative mood), command

1.1.2 Studies on Mood in Western Linguistics: From

Gray (1939: 166) maintains that “conventional grammatical terminology was

four terms approximately correspond to optative, indicative (question and answer),

1.1.3 Studies on Mood in Modern Western Linguistics

‘non-assertions’, ‘main clauses’ versus ‘subordinate clauses. Moreover, he believes

1.1.4 Studies on Mood in Modern Chinese Linguistics

include those denoted by terms like ‘affirmative’, ‘negative’, ‘realis’, ‘irrealis’,

Up to now, we have made a comprehensive survey of uses of the term ‘mood’ in

describing or analyzing a specific language. This is because, on the one hand, it is

1.2 A Working Definition of Mood

Table 1.2 Comparison of terminology in SFL and other traditions

strands of meaning: it is the realization of a message (textual meaning), a move

Table 1.3 Different types of clauses recognized in SFL

1.3 Mood as a Grammatical System

Language is a system of signs. It is a system for making meanings. Any gram-

Fig. 1.1 The mood system of English

1.4 Mood, Mode, and Modality

The term ‘modality’ will be used to refer to semantic domains of possibility,

1.5 Systemic Functional Typology

1.5.1 SFT in Relation to SFL and Linguistic Typology

It aims to “identify universals and to establish the potential rang of variation”

1.5.2 Some Features of SFT

1.5.3 The Research Method and Research Procedures

The basic research method of SFT is description-based cross-linguistic compar-

1.6 Objectives and Research Questions

The book is a systemic functional typology of mood based on a sample of 60 lan-

1.1 Mood as a Grammatical Category

1.1.1 The Etymology of ‘Mood’

1.1.2 Studies on Mood in Western Linguistics: From

1.1.3 Studies on Mood in Modern Western Linguistics

1.1.4 Studies on Mood in Modern Chinese Linguistics

1.2 A Working Definition of Mood

1.3 Mood as a Grammatical System

1.4 Mood, Mode, and Modality

1.5 Systemic Functional Typology

1.5.1 SFT in Relation to SFL and Linguistic Typology

1.5.2 Some Features of SFT

1.5.3 The Research Method and Research Procedures

1.6 Objectives and Research Questions

1.7 Organization of the Book

2.1 Typological Studies on Mood

2.1.1 Typological Studies on Declarative Mood

2.1.2 Typological Studies on Interrogative Mood

2.1.3 Typological Studies on Imperative Mood

2.1.4 Typological Studies on Exclamative Mood

2.2 Systemic Functional Studies on Mood

2.2.1 Theoretical Issues About Mood in SFL

2.2.2 Descriptions of Mood of Particular Languages

2.2.3 Cross-Linguistic Comparisons and SFT of mood

2.3.1 Features and Problems of Typological Studies

2.3.2 Features and Problems of SFL/SFT Studies on Mood

2.3.3 Rationale for the Book

3.1 Contextualizing Mood in SFL

3.2 Stratification: mood and speech function

3.2.1 Stratification: From Context to Language

3.3 Interpersonal Metafunction: mood and Other

3.5 Axis: mood System and Mood Structure

3.5.1 Paradigmatic: mood System

3.5.2 Syntagmatic: Mood Structure