What is hypothetical mood?

Definition
	Hypothetical mood is an epistemic mood that signals that the speaker evaluates a proposition as counterfactual, but otherwise possible.

Example (Lakhota)

The word tkha signals hypothetical mood, as in the following construction (diacritical markings are not reproduced here):

lehayela ma -t?a tkha

now lps-die HYPOTHETICAL

‘I could have/ almost died.’

Source:

Generic
	Hypothetical mood is a kind of
	What is judgment modality?

Concept module: hypothetical mood
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): H
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