A guide to subjunctive and modals in Spanish: questions and analyses

Abstract

The goal of this article is to provide an overview of the range of phenomena that in Spanish are related to modal interpretations, with particular attention to the distribution and analysis of subjunctive. The main questions that are discussed in this article are (a) whether subjunctive can be characterised uniformly; (b) what the proper placement of subjunctive is in the functional structure of the clause, and how subjunctive interacts with modals that are placed in different areas; (c) what kind of analysis is necessary to account in an appropriate way for the different aspects of the grammar of subjunctive.

Keywords

• subjunctive
• mood
• indicative
• modal auxiliaries
• obviation effects
• neg-raising