What is deductive mood?

Definition
	Deductive mood is an epistemic mood that signals that the speaker judges from other facts that the proposition expressed by his utterance is probably true.

Example (English)
	There’s no answer; he must already have left.

Source
	Palmer 1986 59–60

Concept module: deductive mood
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): D
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004