subjunctivemultiperson

Subjunctivemultiperson is a term used in typological linguistics to describe a pattern in which the subjunctive mood shows little or no person-specific morphology, and the same subjunctive form is used across multiple persons. In such systems, person information is often supplied by independent elements such as pronouns, clitics, or syntactic position rather than by the verb ending itself. The label is not universally standardized and is typically employed descriptively to identify languages or varieties with unusually simplified or shared subjunctive paradigms.

Two main manifestations are described in the literature. In the first, there is a fully unified subjunctive form that does not distinguish person on the verb, with person distinctions recovered from an external element like a separate pronoun or a subordinate-clause clitic. In the second, a single subjunctive ending covers several persons, while other persons retain distinct endings, creating partial unification. Some descriptions also consider diachronic pathways in which previously person-marked subjunctive endings erode over time, leading toward a multiperson pattern.

Subjunctivemultiperson is rare and its status as a discrete typological category is debated. Critics point to data quality, functional analyses, and alternative accounts such as agreement in related constructions or the influence of auxiliary verbs. When invoked, it highlights the interaction between mood and person indexing in grammars that favor morphological economy or cross-linguistic variation in subordinate clauses.

See also: subjunctive mood, mood systems, person marking, morphosyntax, clitics.