16 - Mood and modality

Summary

Tariana distinguishes interrogative and imperative moods. Interrogative mood is marked through a separate set of evidentials fused with tense (see §14.2). Imperatives are discussed in §16.1. Modalities include: frustrative (§16.2), intentional (§16.3), apprehensive (§16.4), uncertainty (§16.5), conditional (§16.6), purposive (§16.7) and counter-expectation (§16.8). Declarative-assertive – which can combine with most modalities – is discussed in §16.9. Modalities expressed with complex predicates are the admirative and the epistemic construction – see §19.6 and §19.1.

Imperatives

Tariana has the following distinctions in the positive imperative:

1. • simple (unmarked) – §16.1.1;

2. • proximate (‘do here’) – §16.1.2;

3. • distal (‘do there’)- §16.1.2;

4. • postponed (‘do some time later’) – § 16.1.2;

5. • detrimental (‘do to your own detriment’) – § 16.1.3;

6. • by proxy (order on someone else's behalf) – § 16.1.4;

7. • conative precative (‘please try and do’) – §16.1.5;

8. • cohortative (‘let's do’) – §16.1.6;

9. • polite suggestion (‘please do’) – § 16.1.7.

There are two more imperatives, possibly, borrowed from Tucano – see §16.1.8. The negative imperative is discussed in §17.3. It has just three distinctions: a general prohibitive marked with mhãida, a reported form marked with -pida, and polite suggestion -nha. Two imperative markers are also used in interrogative clauses – the polite suggestion -nha (§16.1.7) and the postponed imperative -wa (§16.1.2).