The subjunctive, a marker of 'subordinance'? A comparison between German and Spanish

Abstract

ABSTRACT. By comparing Spanish and German, it can be shown that the subjunctive in Spanish (as well as in German) has only a very general grammatical meaning. This meaning can be called 'procedural,' and is defined as 'subordinance' (= syntactic and semantic subordination under the main predicate or another explicit or implicit contextual element) or 'contextual alternative.' In both languages the subjunctive/Konjunktiv is used in noun, adjective and adverb, as well as (pseudo)independent, clauses. This article compares only noun clauses. The focus is on the present subjunctive/Konjunktiv I. It is used in German in direct noun clauses and clauses that are introduced by the conjunction dass ('that'). In direct noun clauses, the Konjunktiv I is mandatory in distinguishing direct and reported (indirect) speech. In clauses introduced by dass, the element 'reported speech' is signaled by the conjunction and followed by the typical word order with the finite verb at the end of the sentence. Therefore, especially in spoken German, there is a strong tendency to use the indicative in this case. Another use of the Konjunktiv I in German is after wishes. In direct noun clauses, the use of the Konjunktiv I is rare and also signals indirect speech. The Konjunktiv I is often replaced by the Konjunktiv II (past subjunctive), but especially with dass-clauses and the indicative.Keywords. Mood, Subjunctive, Konjunktiv, Subordination, Contextual alternative, Spanish, German RESUMEN. Mediante una comparación con el alemán, vamos a mostrar que el subjuntivo en español (tal como en alemán) tiene solo un significado gramatical muy general, que se ha calificado de 'procedural', y que vamos a definir como 'subordinancia' (subordinación sintáctica y semántica bajo el predicado principal u otro elemento contextual explícito o implícito) o 'alternativa contextual'. En ambas lenguas, el subjuntivo/Konjunktiv se puede usar en cláusulas nominales, adjetivales, adverbiales, tal como en cláusulas (pseudo)independientes. En este artículo solo se compara el uso en cláusulas nominales. Además se centra en el Konjunktiv I, que en alemán se puede usar en cláusulas nominales directas y cláusulas introducidas por la conjunción dass ('que'). En cláusulas nominales directas, el Konjunktiv I es obligatorio para distinguir el habla directa de la indirecta. En cláusulas introducidas por dass, el elemento 'habla indirecta' es señalado por la conjunción y el orden de palabras típico con el verbo conjugado al final de la oración. Por eso, particularmente en alemán hablado, hay una tendencia muy I would like to thank the editor and reviewers of Borealis for their extensive comments on the first draft of this article that were very useful in the preparation of the final manuscript. I also would like to thank Ruth Tauber for checking the English part of this article. I am responsible for any remaining errors or omissions.

L2 Spanish morphosyntactic development through collaborative writing: An analysis of mood production, text length and syntactic complexity

“…For example, Sessarego (2016) argues in favor of the implementation of a discourse-pragmatic approach that would allow learners to comprehend the subjunctive's communicative value moving away from an itemized approach in which subjunctive is presented, and mechanically practiced in stand-alone sentences. Busch (2009Busch ( , 2014Busch ( , 2017 emphasized the importance of a systematic description of subjunctive use considering also the value of [+alternative]. In this way, events are discussed in spite of weather they happened or not, but rather as possible alternatives in their realization and the indicative/subjunctive contrast, he maintains, could be presented as the non-existence of an alternative in the speakers' mind versus the existence of an alternative in the speakers' mind.…”