Modality and Mood in Standard Average European

Abstract

The chapter discusses the research on the features of the mood and modality systems of European languages that stand a chance of being due to some measure of the areal convergence captured with the term “Standard Average European.” These features are: (i) the compositional nature of the prohibitive, (ii) the number of non-indicative non-imperative moods, (iii) the relation between canonical and non-canonical imperatives, (iv) the use of word order for the interrogative, the (v) multifunctionality, (vi) verbiness, and (vii) grammaticalization of modal markers. While all of these characterize European languages, only features (i), (v), (vi), and (vii) are potential Standard Average European features.