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 'worl ...
.
Realisation in speech
Volitive moods are a category of
grammatical moods
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used for signaling modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying (for example, a statement of ...
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 mo ...
,
desiderative
In linguistics, a desiderative (abbreviated or ) form is one that has the meaning of "wanting to X". Desiderative forms are often verbs, derived from a more basic verb through a process of morphological derivation. Desiderative mood is a kind of ...
and
imprecative moods.
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 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 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)
In linguistics, volition is a concept that distinguishes whether the subject, or agent of a particular sentence intended an action or not. Simply, it is the intentional or unintentional nature of an action.Tournadre, Nicolas. The Rhetorical Use ...
References
Grammatical moods
Linguistic modality
Semantics
Formal semantics (natural language)
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