Mood in Persian based on the Theory of Mental Spaces

This article investigates mood in Persian Language. In the traditional grammar sources, moods are divided into several different groups, and verbs are known to have at least three and at most six moods. Many sources name indicative, subjunctive, and imperative moods, and some others also mention infinitive, conditional, participial and optative moods. However, neither of them says on which basis the classification has been made and what criteria denote the existence of mood in sentences. This article is an attempt to offer a new classification of moods in Persian, based on the concept of modality. The essence of such classification is the central meaning of “probability of occurrence” on the basis of which, the different usages of mood is justified in simple and compound sentences. The theoretical basis adopted is “Mental Spaces” that shows the regularities of moods in their various usages.