THE USE OF SUBJUNCTIVE IN HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS

In my future thesis, I want to discuss about the importance of subjunctive in our

lives, from the earliest times till the 20th- 21st centuries. This kind of topic implies
a lot of hard work, research based on the historical facts and also many interesting
developments that will help you to have a clearer vision about it.

As I said above, the story of subjunctive is complex and wide, but the analytical
thinking will be the successful key to fix all the significant details.

First of all, in my project presentation I take into account the thesis entitled `The
Subjunctive in Present-Day-English` written by Tim Walker. It is a good model not
only for the project, but also for my future thesis, because it supports me to
develop my ideas in a certain and interactive way.

`The two main aims of this thesis are to re-evaluate the growing body of research
relating to the subjunctive in PDE, and to present a new study of the mandative
subjunctive.` ( Tim Walker 2017: 3)

As Tim Walker stated, the role of his thesis is divided into two big parts: the
evolution of subjunctive during the time and the appearance of a new grammar
concept called the mandative subjunctive. These aims are in a strong connection
with the periods of time.

That`s the reason I wanted to analyse the subjunctive in historical linguistics, since
the story of this mood started in the past and it is still present in our daily speech.

The first part is a synchronic study that examines the subjunctive at the beginning
of 1960s, `looking in particular at theoretical and methodological approaches.`
The second part is the opposite of the first one. Here you have a diachronic study
that examines the mandative subjunctive in AmE and BrE, `using freshly derived
data from four data points - 1931, 1961, 1991/2 and 2006. ` It illustrates the
inconsistencies of using it, but last but not least, the transformation process in
various areas.

The use of subjunctive depends on the use of the correct tense, more exactly
present or past form. It is the perfect occasion to express a possibility, a suggestion,
a wish, something imaginary, or the way that you want something to be.

First of all, the uses of the present subjunctive include four main parts: `1)
mandative clauses (2002: 995ff); (2) other types of content clause, licensed by a
small number of items such as `lest`, `if`, `on condition that` and `though` (2002:
1000); (3) exhaustive conditional clauses (2002: 1001); (4) formulaic phrases or
frames (2002: 944).`

Many studies, specified by Tim Walker, have found out that the present
subjunctive has a permanent manifestation in mandative clauses, `content clauses
licensed by a semantically related group of mandative items, which can be verbs,
nouns or adjectives, as in (1) - (3).

1) Elizabeth the First’s parliaments demanded that she abolish tonnage and
poundage.

(2) It is a proposal that justice now be served by means other than those that have
ever preconditioned the search for it, or preconditioned more positive means for
attaining it, in the past.

(3) The bank was becoming ever more insistent that she dispose of most, if not all,
of the high street sites.`
Another relevant aspect of using the present subjunctive leads to BrE and AmE
languages. So, the indicative form and modal verb `should` are familiar to British
people. They replace the present subjunctive by practising these alternatives and
they succeed to do that in a formal manner. But, American people don`t like this
change of structures and they keep their principles till the end. It is not something
unacceptable for them, but neither something pleasant. Nevertheless, the present
subjunctive is commonly used by American population, noticing a revival in their
decision.

There are other types of content clauses that have a low frequency on the scale of
uses and they are subdivided into three categories: adversatives, conditionals and
purposives.

`The adversatives are the clauses governed by `lest` and `for fear (that)`, as in (4)
and (5). Variants within adversative clauses include constructions with should and
indicatives.

(4) I did not sleep much that night, which I spent struggling against the Kaiser,
dodging his submarines and holding him back in the trenches lest he storm Paris.

(5) Indeed, one might be wary of suggesting to a customer that an invoice is

overdue for fear that he commit hari-kari immediately (without paying first).`

As you can notice, `lest` is used in a formal style and it has a big range of using
among American people, not British ones. It is a similar situation , like the one
from mandative clauses.

The second category called conditionals `includes clauses introduced by the

prepositions or prepositional idioms `if`, `in case`, `on condition (that)`, `provided
(that)`, `providing (that)` and `unless`. Note that it also includes concessive clauses
introduced by `though`.

(6) The scene at least is superb, and if it be too cold to go out, one may at least sit
and enjoy it behind the windows.

(7) He now had every incentive to squeeze out the smaller tenants with rent
increases and, in case he be charged for what he had done himself, to spend no
money on improvements.

(8) Legend has it that Zeus granted the boy immortality on condition that he
remain forever slumbering.

(9) Mac Barber of Commerce is asking the House in a privilege resolution to

endorse increased federal support for public education, provided that such funds
be received and expended as state funds.

(10) Having said this, I am still as ever quite prepared to show any curious,
doubting lady (providing she be attractive) that my credentials are in order.

(11) Sections 18 and 21 of the Land Registration Act 1925 provide that a
registered proprietor can exercise all powers of disposition unless there be some
entry on the register to the contrary.

(12) Mr Dodds says he is quite sorry, and even shook him by the hand when he
said goodbye, which is going a bit far to my way of thinking, though he be a fine
upstanding young fellow.`

In conditionals the role of subjunctive is lower than in adversative clauses and it

also belongs to formal style.
The last group is defined by purposives and `it includes clauses governed by `so
(that)`, as in (13), and `in order (that)`, as in (14).

(13) Extraordinary precautions were taken so that no stranger be allowed in the

city and no citizen within the enclosure surrounding the scaffold.

(14) But during this period, in order that the school’s reputation remain intact, he
should be taken on in some capacity and paid a salary, that of a youth employment
officer’s assistant, for example. `

Huddleston & Pullum take the view that clauses containing subjunctives or should
are both uncommon after so (that) and in order (that), more often featuring
indicatives or modals such as may/might and can/could (2002: 1000–1001).`

An exhaustive conditional construction like this,`… she turned just as Muriel

rushed off, not daring to be seen, not knowing how to hide the look - whatever it
be - now haunting her own stricken face` uses an interrogative clause to express a
set of conditions that exhaustively cover the possibilities. It is used because the
interrogative expresses a question whose answers define an exhaustive set of
conditions.

The story of subjunctive is full of surprises, that`s why I ask you, what do you
know about formulaic subjunctives? With the help of recent reference grammars,
Tim Walker listed some examples of them: `Come what may, God save the Queen,
So be it, Suffice it to say, Be that as it may, Heaven forbid . . ., Far be it from me ..,
Long live . . ., Bless you (Quirk et al. 1972: 76–77, 412);
Be it noted, So help me God, God/the Lord/Heaven bless you/forbid/help us, The
Devil take you (Quirk etal. 1985: 157–158, 839); God help you (Huddleston &
Pullum 2002: 944).`

The subject occupies different positions in these clauses. It can stay at the
beginning of the sentence, at the end of it or after the verb `to be`. It has various
places in phrases and that means a higher grade of flexibility.

Nowadays, the past subjunctive is commonly used by most people. When we think
about this, we have only one contradiction in usage. The verb `to be` to the Past
Tense Simple ( `I was`) versus the past subjunctive (`I were`).

`This contrast appears in four types of environments: (1) in remote conditionals, as

in (23) and (24); (2) in complements to wish, as in (25); (3) after would
rather/sooner/as soon, as in (26)-(28); (4) after it BE (about/high) time, as in (29).
(23) I’d still consider a dog in my life if it weren’t for pooper-scoopers and
shedding.

(24) Suppose he were to marry only to be faced with mutton broth?

(25) I wish I weren’t leaving you here on your own, my dear.

(26) If you feel you’re in danger, remember that BR would rather your train were
delayed than that you became the victim of a crime.

(27) The thing is he’s so bourgeois he’d expect me to marry him because I was the
mother of his child. So I’d almost sooner it were a married man, just to keep it
clean.

(28) Since he has paid fair prices so far, and the Light expects to be nationalized
sooner or later, the Light would just as soon it were sooner than later.
(29) It is high time something were done.`

The perspective grammar chooses `were` instead of `was`, proclaiming the

correctness of this word in several sentences. It is not obligatory to use all the time
the verb`were`, but in clauses like `wish`, it is mandatory to write it.

`The literature relating to the English subjunctive is rich in terms such as ‘present
subjunctive’, ‘past subjunctive’, ‘were subjunctive’, ‘irrealis were’, ‘modal
preterite’, ‘modal past’, ‘non-inflected subjunctive’, ‘modally marked form’,
‘subjunctive construction’, ‘subjunctive clause’, ‘subjunctive form’, ‘optative’,
‘hortative’ and many others, particularly in older studies.`

Present subjunctive is composed of verbs of suggestion or advice: ask, demand,

insist, prefer, advise, propose, recommend, request, suggest, urge. After these
verbs, it follows the clause `-that` and at the third person singular we don`t have `-
s`. The verb remains in the infinitive form. Another obvious identifier is the
distinctive form of the verb `be`. This kind of form is available in all pronouns,
plural or singular. It doesn`t matter the subject, because all grammars accept the
structure `iBe` as one of the identifiers of a subjunctive clause. According to the
Sequence of Tenses, when you have the matrix verb in the present or past, the verb
in a subordinate clause keeps only the present form.

The final identifier of present subjunctive shows the negation `-not`, without using
the auxiliary `- do` or `- does`. Noticing all these four criterias, we can firmly
affirm that subjunctive and indicative are two big and different moods.

On the other hand, `past subjunctive`, `were subjunctive`, `modal preterite`, `modal
past` or `hypothetical past` are terms used to describe actions in the past.
A strong identifier of past subjunctive is the verb `were`, making it distinct from
the past tense of be in the first and third person singular. The second conditional,
the expressions `wish` and `it is time` demand the past - tense form of the verb and
this thing can be considered a similarity between past subjunctive and past tense.

In his thesis, Tim Walker talks about finiteness of verbs. They are classified into
two categories: finite and nonfinite. The basic difference between the two
categories in English is that finite verbs can function on their own as the core of an
independent sentence, whereas non-finite verbs cannot. Rather, non-finite verbs
must ordinarily combine with a modal, an auxiliary verb or the infinitival particle
`to`.

Firstly, finite verb forms are marked inflection and indicate person, number and
tense. A finite verb can be the single main verb in a sentence. For example, the
finite forms of the verb `watch` are: (present tense in all persons except the third
person singular: I watch TV in the evening.); watches (present tense in the third
person singular : Mary watches TV every day) and watched (past tense: Two days
ago, I watched TV.)

Non-finite verbs forms do no indicate person, number or tense. The non-finite

forms of the verb `watch` are: watch (infinitive: I want to watch TV.; I cannot
watch TV with you.; I did not watch movies today.; Luckily, he had to watch
cartoons. ; Do you really watch TV?); watching (gerund: I love watching TV
series.; Anna suggested watching TV. ; Watching TV would have been really
interesting.); watched (past participle: Carol has watched this movie five times.;
By the time you came home, the others had watched movies.; I wish I had watched
TV.); watching (present participle: I am watching TV tonight.)
Secondly, the author Tim Walker succeeds to show us that subjunctives clauses are
`peripherally finite`. Here, we can notice an impressive comparison between finite
clauses and subjunctive.

`Finite clauses can ‘license an independent predication, have tense contrast, there
is person concord and number concord between the subject of a clause and the
finite verb phrase. They contain a verb form which may be either an operator or a
simple present or past form. Where no auxiliary verb is present do-support is used
in forming (for example) negative and interrogative constructions.

Finite clauses have an obligatory subject, in the nominative case where

appropriate. They make use of particular subordinators, typically `that` (or, less
commonly, if, lest, unless and wheter).`

Instead, the subjunctive has its own features: `it mostly cannot license an
independent predication, but formulaic subjunctives are an exception. There are no
present or past subjunctive verb forms for most verbs. The verb be (which
Huddleston & Pullum 2002 call irrealis were) is an exception.` The subjunctive
does not have agreement, doesn`t take do-support when negated, instead the verb is
preceded by not; it has also an obligatory subject, mainly in the nominative case
and it makes use of the same particular subordinators as finite clauses.

In conclusion, finite clauses and subjunctive clauses can alternate after appropriate
‘triggers’, e.g. verbs such as demand, insist, require, adjectives such as desirable,
imperative, etc.

Another significant chapter from his thesis is the difference between mood versus
modality. In English, there are three types of moods: indicative, subjunctive and
imperative.The modaliy can be dynamic, deontic and epistemic.
A relevant explication appears in the description of the following modal verbs,
`should` or `ought to`. We find out that the modal verb `should` is used to give
advice ( It is raining. You should take an umbrella.) or opinion (It is late. You
should go to bed.). It is also used in structures that start with `I think/ I do not
think/ Do you think? …..`(I think you should work harder. ; Don`t you think they
should stay at home?; I don`t think we should go to that restaurant. Their food
tastes horrible.). The same situation is in the case of using the modal verb `ought
to`. It also expresses an advice / a suggestion / a recommendation ( You ought to
eat more vegetables.; You ought to do your homework.; Everybody ought to go to
church.). I consider that only one small difference in meaning stays between these
two modal verbs and this is the style of expressing the ideas.

In English, there are two styles: formal or informal. I think that `should` is better
used in informal style, by people who have strong relationships, who are friends or
part of a family and `ought to` is better used in formal style, by people who try
every single day to be very polite with the others or by well-known persons, who
have a high position in society and you have to be very attentive when you address,
suggest or ask them something.

Nevertheless, sentences involving `should` and its near-synonym `ought to` can
have epistemic as well as deontic interpretations. Deontic has to do with duty or
obligation ( You should go there.) and epistemic has to do with acquiring
knowledge ( You should know the exam`s content.)

In this discussion about modal verbs, Tim Walker introduces `shall` as a modal
verb used to indicate future action. It is most commonly used in sentences with `I`
or `we` and is often found in suggestions, such as `Shall we go?`.

`Shall` is also frequently used in promises or voluntary actions.

Shall I help you? - suggestion

I shall never forget where I came from. - promise

I shall take care of everything for you. - volunteering

In formal English, the use of `shall` to describe future events often expressed
inevitability or predestination.

I am afraid Mr.Smith shall become our new director. - inevitability

He shall become our next king. – predestination