Subjunctive Mood in the Altai Language

Abstract

Semantics of subjunctive mood are expressed in most Turkic languages, however, subjunctive mood itself is not always included in the system of grammatical mood forms in descriptive grammars of specific languages. Analytical forms consisting of future tense participles of the main verbs and past tense forms of the auxiliary verbs serve as subjunctive mood markers in Turkic languages (excluding Khakas). In the following article, we analyze the structure, semantics, and functioning of the Altai subjunctive mood. The following analytical forms serve as subjunctive mood markers: -ar/-bas edi и -ɣaj/-baɣaj edi. The first form consists of the future-present tense participial form with -ar/-bas and the auxiliary verb e- ‘to be, to become’ in the past tense form with -di; the second one consists of the desiderative form -ɣaj and the same auxiliary verb e- ‘to be, to become’ in the past tense form with -di. The form -ar/-bas edi is the base form actively functioning as expression of subjunctive mood. In the Altai language, subjunctive mood functions actively in conditional and, less commonly, in conditional-concessive constructions. Subjunctive mood marks the main parts of these constructions and predicates in simple sentences. Subjunctive mood denotes contrafactive situations in the past, and hypothetical situations in the future. Contrafactive situations are not real. They never happened in the past, do not exist in the present, and will not take place in the future. The subjunctive form -ar/-bas edi as a finite predicate in simple sentences also expresses the meaning of non- categoricalness, which is used in dialogues in order to soften the speaker\s declaration of intent or to make a statement less categorical.