Mandative subjunctives in present-day British English

‘Mandative subjunctives’ are verbal forms found in constructions such as ‘The law requires that a vote be held’. They are usually associated with legal or institutional contexts and have often been considered ‘archaic’ (Fowler, 1926, p.574, cited in Waller, 2017, p.64). Unlike previous research, this thesis takes an integrated approach to the study of these forms, combining syntax-semantics, history and indexicality to capture the multiple factors behind their social meanings. My research questions are: 1) What are the syntactic and semantic properties of mandative subjunctives, and what model best captures them? 2) How and why has the use of the subjunctive changed over time? 3) How is the subjunctive used in contemporary British English? What are the social meanings associated with it? The data is drawn from two corpora of British English (i.e., the Spoken BNC2014 and the BE06), fifteen interviews with language practitioners and three British style guides. With regard to the syntax-semantics of these constructions, I put forward a comprehensive account based on a modal semantics framework (Gueron, 2008). My historical and ideological analysis, inspired by a ‘Critical Interpretive Synthesis’ approach (Dixon-Woods et al., 2006), sheds light on the long-standing association between the subjunctive mood and the prestige sociolect of the political elite. This is reflected in my analysis of interviews and style guides, which highlights a continuing link with class privilege. Finally, with regard to the functions of mandative subjunctives in present-day British English, my discourse analysis shows their ability to convey specific meanings depending on the context and genre in which they are used. While, at their core, they evoke authority and power, their indexical properties can be exploited in numerous and creative ways both in writing and in speech, across different levels of formality. This is significant because it demonstrates how a linguistic form typically considered ‘archaic’ can acquire new social meanings and thus remain relevant. Overall, my thesis shows that combining syntactic, historical and sociolinguistic analyses is key to advancing our understanding of linguistic features.