Emotive predicates and the subjunctive: a flexible mood OT account based on (non)veridicality

Abstract

We address flexible embedded mood patterns, i.e. cases where (a) the same type of verb selects indicative  in one language but prefers subjunctive in another, or (b) both moods may be allowed in a single language. We focus on emotive predicates as an illustration  of our approach. Emotive predicates allow subjunctive and indicative  (with preference for the former) in Italian. Such flexible  patterns have not been discussed much in the literature because they are problematic for existing theories which predict the facts of one language but not the other. We propose that the correct account of embedded mood choice is sensitive to both what the embedding predicate asserts and what it presupposes. We argue that mood morphemes have definedness conditions that make them sensitive to aspects of the (non)veridicality  of the embedding predicate, and implement an optimality theoretic account that captures opposing tendencies in Greek and Italian.