Prohibitive Mood
Definition:
Prohibitive mood is a directive mood that signals a prohibition. It is distinguished by
- the use of a negated imperative sentence that employs a negative marker distinct from that used in declarative sentences, or
- a verb form different from that of the imperative.
Examples:
(Greenlandic Eskimo)
Here is an example of prohibitive mood, which is signaled by the negative infinitive:
una attornagu
this disturb_NEGATIVE_INFINITIVE_3SINGULAR
‘Do not disturb this.’
Source:
This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library. Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003.