The Subjunctive Mood In Kikisi, Kindendeule and Chingoni1

Abstract

In the Bantu languages of Kikisi, Kindendeule and Chingoni, the subjunctiveis a grammatical category that stands in contrast with the indicative mood.Morphologically, the subjunctive is characterized by the verbal suffix -e (orsome other variants), absence of tense marking and the obligatory presence ofthe subject and/or object marker. Two types of subjunctive are illustrated(Quer, 2005; Stowell, 1993): (i) Intentional subjunctives that are triggered bymatrix predicates and (ii) polarity subjunctives that are licensed by someoperator. The subjunctive is associated with irrealis-inducing environmentssuch as irrealis-inducing adverbs and complements of manipulative verbs(Givón, 1994). This paper argues that the subjunctive ambiguously exhibitsInflection or Tense features as well as COMP features. With respect toInflection features, the subjunctive is in complementary distribution withtense marking. However, it displays COMP features in its selectional relationswith the superordinate volitional and directive predicates. This ambiguity isaccounted for if we adopt Rizzi ' s (1997) proposal of an articulated CP. TheInflection features are FinP features and the COMP features ForceP features,which are all on the left periphery.