What is speculative mood?

Definition
	Speculative mood is an epistemic mood that signals that the speaker judges from certain facts that the proposition expressed by his or her utterance is possibly true.

Example (English)
	There are two routes; he may have taken the high road.

Source
	Palmer 1986 59–60

Concept module: speculative mood
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): S
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