declaratives

Declaratives, in linguistics, are statements that convey information or propositions. They are the most common type of sentence in ordinary discourse and are typically contrasted with interrogatives (questions) and imperatives (commands). In many languages, declarative clauses follow a basic word order such as subject–verb–object, but orders vary; some languages use topic–comment structures or subject–verb agreement patterns that differ from English. The surface intonation of declaratives often falls, signaling assertion, though prosody can vary by language and discourse context. Declaratives encode factual content, beliefs, or hypotheses and may carry nuances such as evidentiality or focus.

In programming and computer science, declaratives are a family of programming paradigms in which programs specify what result is desired rather than how to compute it. This contrasts with imperative languages that require explicit sequences of steps and mutable state. Declarative languages include functional languages (for example, Haskell), logic programming (for example, Prolog), and domain‑specific languages (for example SQL for queries). In declarative styles, composition, constraints, and rules determine outcomes, enabling potential optimization, parallel evaluation, and simpler reasoning about code. Drawbacks can include less direct control over performance and sometimes steeper learning curves.

The term also appears in data representation and software configuration, where declarative specifications describe the desired state or structure of a system without prescribing the procedural steps to achieve it. Examples include configuration management templates, infrastructure‑as‑code tools, and markup or templating languages that describe content or layout rather than its generation.