A typology of the Arabic system of mood

Abstract

This article is about the interpersonal side of the clause in Arabic. It more specifically studies all the different speech functions inherent in the exchange of meanings: offer, command (viz. proposals), statement, and question (viz. propositions). The main question that this article seeks to answer is how Arabic realizes these different speech functions through variations in mood choices. The purpose of the article is to fill a gap in the literature. In fact, there have not been many major attempts to describe the Arabic system of mood in the reference grammars of Arabic. Although this article defines the delimitation of the system of mood in Arabic from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics, it also draws from the work of earlier Arab grammarians which has been either ignored or misinterpreted for centuries. For the purpose of this study, dialogic texts from various sources have been analysed including scenes from movies, plays, novels, and The Noble Quran. The findings show that the system of mood in Arabic is different from its English counterpart and from that of other languages.