Subjunctiveoptative

Subjunctiveoptative is a term used in linguistic theory to denote a proposed mood that combines the functions of the subjunctive and the optative. In this account the mood marks both nonasserted or contingent reality and the speaker's wish within a single finite clause. The concept is primarily theoretical and is not widely recognized as a discrete grammatical category across languages; it appears in typological discussions of languages with dense mood systems and in proposals to describe how cross-linguistic mood fusion might operate.

In analysis, a subjunctiveoptative may be described as a fused morpheme that carries dual pragmatic force or as a layered structure in which a subjunctive clause is accompanied by an optative marker. Semantically it encodes nonreal or hypothetical situations that are directed by the speaker's desire for their outcome. It is contrasted with a pure subjunctive, which signals contingency, and with a pure optative, which signals desire without a nonreal condition.

Morphology and syntax: where languages possess explicit mood categories, subjunctiveoptative realizations tend to combine subjunctive endings with optative markers, or to appear as a single form with compatible distribution. In languages lacking a separate optative, the concept is often analyzed as a pragmatic function of the subjunctive or as a periphrastic construction.

Examples: In fictional or experimental grammars, one might gloss a sentence like "If he were to come, may he be blessed" as subjunctiveoptative, illustrating the blend of contingency and wish.

See also subjunctive, optative, mood, irrealis.