Modally conditioned mood-switch: The Case of ADVISE-Predicates in Greek

Abstract

This paper discusses a case of mood-switch with predicates expressing advice, exhortation, request (hence, ADVISE-Ps). While all studies categorize these predicates as combining with subjunctive, I show that they can combine with indicative if they embed a prioritizing modal operator. This type of switch provides further evidence for the mood-as-modal approach, under which indicative expresses simple necessity whereas subjunctive encodes human necessity as recently argued by Portner & Rubinstein (2020). Building on a meaningful approach to mood, I argue that this special type of modally conditioned mood-switch is associated with the bieventive character of ADVISE-Ps, which can be decomposed into a cause speech event and a prioritizing (PRT-)state (Martin & Schäfer 2013; Grano 2018). In this way, they can combine either with subjunctive licensed by the embedding PRT-state or with indicative and a prioritizing modal operator licensed by the communication cause event and the PRT-state accordingly.