Volitive modality (
abbreviated
An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
) is a
linguistic modality
In linguistics and philosophy, modality refers to the ways language can express various relationships to reality or truth. For instance, a modal expression may convey that something is likely, desirable, or permissible. Quintessential modal ex ...
that indicates the desires, wishes or fears of the speaker. It is classified as a subcategory of
deontic modality Deontic modality ( abbreviated ) is a linguistic modality that indicates how the world ought to be according to certain norms, expectations, speaker desires, etc. In other words, a deontic expression indicates that the state of the world (where 'wor ...
.
Realisation in speech
Volitive moods are a category of
grammatical moods that are used to express volitive modality. Examples are the
optative
The optative mood ( or ; abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood that indicates a wish or hope regarding a given action. It is a superset of the cohortative mood and is closely related to the subjunctive mood but is distinct from the desiderative mood ...
,
desiderative and
imprecative mood
Some languages distinguish between the optative mood and an imprecative mood (abbreviated ). In these languages, the imprecative mood is used to wish misfortune upon others, whereas the optative mood is used for wishes in general. In such a languag ...
s.
However, many languages (like English) have other ways to express volitive modality, for example
modal verb
A modal verb is a type of verb that contextually indicates a modality such as a ''likelihood'', ''ability'', ''permission'', ''request'', ''capacity'', ''suggestion'', ''order'', ''obligation'', or ''advice''. Modal verbs generally accompany the b ...
s ("''Wish'' that you were here!", "''May'' he live forever!").
Esperanto
Esperanto
Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communic ...
has a volitive verb form that is formed by adding a to the verb stem and used to indicate that an action or state is desired, requested, ordered, or aimed for.
The verb form is formally called volitive,
but in practice, it can be seen as a broader
deontic
In moral philosophy, deontological ethics or deontology (from Greek: + ) is the normative ethical theory that the morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules and principles, ...
form, rather than a pure volitive form, since it is also used to express orders and commands besides wishes and desires.
Examples:
* ― "Come." (a request or command)
* ― "Give it to me." (a request or command)
* ― "Let's do that." (a desire or aim)
* ― "I ought to go to sleep." (expresses the desirability of the action)
* ― "May your child be successful in life." (a wish or desire)
* ― "I want you to help me." (a desire)
* ― "She asks that I be silent." (a request)
See also
*
Volition (linguistics)
References
Grammatical moods
Linguistic modality
Semantics
Formal semantics (natural language)
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