Mood and modality

Definition


Mood is one of a set of distinctive forms that are used to signal modality.


Modality is a facet of illocutionary force, signaled by grammatical devices (that is, moods), that expresses


* the illocutionary point or general intent of a speaker, or
* a speaker’s degree of commitment to the expressed proposition's believability, obligatoriness, desirability, or reality.

Discussion


The term mood is used by some authors in the same sense modality is.


Others distinguish the two, as we do here, by using mood to refer to the contrastive grammatical expressions of different modalities and reserving modality to refer to the meanings so expressed.


If, in addition, modality is used to refer to meanings expressed by lexical means as well as grammatical, it is effectively a synonym of illocutionary force.
Example (English)


Here are some examples of mood and modality; items that signal certain modalities:


* Verbal inflections
* Auxiliary verbs

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Definition


Illocutionary force is the combination of the


* illocutionary point of an utterance, and
*

particular presuppositions and attitudes that must accompany that point, including the
o strength of the illocutionary point
o preparatory conditions
o propositional content conditions
o mode of achievement
o sincerity conditions, and
o strength of sincerity conditions.

Examples (English)


Illocutionary force distinguishes the following types of acts:


* Asserting
* Promising
* Excommunicating
* Exclaiming in pain
* Inquiring
* Ordering

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Definition


An illocutionary point is the basic purpose of a speaker in making an utterance.


It is a component of illocutionary force.
Discussion


According to certain analyses, there are five kinds of illocutionary points:


* To assert something
* To commit to doing something
* To attempt to get someone to do something
* To bring about a state of affairs by the utterance
* To express an attitude or emotion


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