Assumptive mood

The assumptive mood (abbreviated ass)[1] is an epistemic grammatical mood found in some languages, which indicates that the statement is assumed to be true, because it usually is under similar circumstances, although there may not be any specific evidence that it is true in this particular case. An English example (even though assumptive mood is not specially marked in English), would be "That must be my mother. (She always comes at this time.)"[2]

References

  1. ^ Also used for assertive mood and associative case
  2. ^ Loos, Eugene E.; Susan Anderson; Dwight H. Day, Jr.; Paul C. Jordan; J. Douglas Wingate. "What is assumptive mood?". Glossary of linguistic terms. SIL International. http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOflinguisticTerms/WhatIsAssumptiveMood.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-28. 
what is expressed
objectively: Realis
what is expressed
subjectively: Irrealis
what is logical: Alethic
 
what should be: Deontic
promises, threats: Commissive
 
commands, requests,
requirements: Directive
hopes, wishes, fears: Volitive
what would be:
Conditional (Eventive)
 
what may be: Epistemic
inferences, possibilities,
questions, etc.