observatieve

Observatieve, or observative mood, is a linguistic category used to mark that the information in a clause stems from direct observation by the speaker or a witness. It is discussed within evidentiality, the study of how languages encode the source of information, but the observative mood specifically emphasizes perceptual evidence and firsthand witnessing rather than inference, hearsay, or report.

In languages that have an observatieve, the morphosyntactic realization can take various forms. It may be a dedicated verb form, a suffix, a clitic, or a periphrastic construction. The exact marker and its placement on the verb, tense, or aspect system differ across languages. The observative marker often interacts with tense and aspect and may be restricted to particular discourse contexts, such as direct narration or vivid description of an event.

Semantically, the observatieve signals that the speaker witnessed or perceived the event with their senses. It conveys perceptual source without necessarily commenting on the truth value of the proposition; rather, it clarifies how the information was obtained. The mood can co-occur with other mood, aspect, or evidential markers, and its use may affect the narrative stance of the clause.

Relation to other categories varies by language. Observative mood is related to evidential and perceptual marking, but in some descriptions it is treated as a distinct mood; in others, it overlaps with perceptual evidentials or narrative devices. Its cross-linguistic distribution is limited, and the exact inventory and status of observatieve markers are described differently in individual grammars.