In
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingu ...
, a desiderative (
abbreviated
An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
or ) form is one that has the meaning of "wanting to X". Desiderative forms are often verbs, derived from a more basic verb through a process of morphological
derivation. Desiderative mood is a kind of
volitive mood.
Sanskrit
In
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...
, the desiderative is formed through the suffixing of /sa/ and the prefixing of a reduplicative syllable,
consisting of the first consonant of the root (sometimes modified) and a vowel, usually /i/ but /u/ if the root has an /u/ in it. Changes to the root vowel sometimes happen, as well. The acute accent, which indicates high pitch in
Vedic
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
, is usually placed at the first vowel.
For example:
Meadow Mari
In
Meadow Mari, the desiderative mood is marked by the suffix -не ''-ne''.
Positive present
Negative present
Japanese
In
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
, the desiderative takes two main forms: -''tai'' (-たい) and ''-tagaru'' (-たがる). Both forms conjugate for tense and positivity, but in different ways: with the ''-tai'' ending, the verb becomes an ''-i adjective'', or a conjugable adjective, while the ending ''-tagaru'' (-tai + -garu
suffix) creates a godan/yodan verb. Though there are other, compound forms to demonstrate wanting, these two alone are demonstrated because they are inflections of the main verb. These two forms are plain/informal in nature, and can be elevated to the normal-polite and other levels through normal methods.
''-tai'' is an absolute statement of desire, whereas ''-tagaru'' indicates the ''appearance'' of desire. Generally, one does not say things such as 太郎さんが食べたい ''Tarō wants to eat'' because one cannot read Tarō's thoughts; instead, one says 太郎さんが食べたがる ''it appears that Tarō wants to eat.''
Godan Verbs
Ichidan Verbs
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...
likely had a desiderative. In some
daughter language
In historical linguistics, a daughter language, also known as descendant language, is a language descended from another language, its mother language, through a process of genetic descent. If more than one language has developed from the same pr ...
s like
Indo-Iranian,
Balto-Slavic and possibly
Celtic, it acquired the meaning of a
future tense
In grammar, a future tense ( abbreviated ) is a verb form that generally marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future. An example of a future tense form is the French ''aimera'', meanin ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Desiderative Mood
Grammatical moods