Valorile modale ale conjunctivului
The subjunctive mood. Modal values

Summary/Abstract: The Modal Values of the Conjunctive deals with the semantic contribution of this mood in indicating different types of modalities. The main characteristics of its modal behaviour allowed us to make a first distinction between the syntactic structures in which the conjunctive is a subordinate element and the syntactic structures in which it is an independent or even a regent element, that is the main clauses in which the conjunctive is the only marker of modality. We noticed that in the first category of structures, the conjunctive has a reduced contribution in expressing modal values, while in the second category, it functions as a major provider of modal sense. The numerous modal meanings of the conjunctive (possibility, impossibility, necessity, lack of necessity, probability, certainty, uncertainty, exclusion, obligation, lack of obligation, permission, interdiction, recommendation, convenience, imminence, desire, volition, positive or negative modal consideration etc.) were further included in five types of modalities: the modalities of existence, the modalities of knowledge, the modalities of deontology, the axiological modalities and the modalities of desire. We illustrated each modal value with a corpus of present day Romanian, taken from literary works. In each case the conjunctive occurred as a modus or as a modus adjunct, defining its modal status, being associated or even synonymous to modal auxiliaries, modal verbs, adverbial modifiers and to other predicative moods. The minute description of the semantic and syntactic behavior of these forms of conjunctive carrying clear modal information demonstrates that this mood has developed beyond its traditional definition, becoming more than a mere substitute of infinitive or an indicator of syntactic subordination in Romanian. Thus, we claim that these modal values require more attention, since they can become criteria for delimitating at least two types of conjunctive: conjunctive1, with vague modal relevance, always occurring as a subordinate element in the syntactic structures, and conjunctive2, with strong modal relevance, occurring in main clauses.

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