Debunking myths from a cognitive perspective

Abstract Subordinate clauses to emotive predicates are usually regarded as one of the most challenging contexts in the study of mood. Recently, within the framework of cognitive linguistics, it has been shown that the use of the subjunctive in the complements of volitive, causative, and wish predicates results from adopting the antagonist’s viewpoint within a force dynamics pattern. This paper demonstrates the suitability of this same model to account for (1) subjunctive use in subordinate clauses to emotive predicates, as constructions also associated with force dynamics patterns, and (2) the systematicity of certain phenomena of double choice and polysemy exhibited by some related predicates. Additionally, this paper suggests the model’s capacity to incorporate sociolinguistic and stylistic mood variation.