La selección de modo en las subordinadas sustantivas en el marco histórico y actual

The present study examines the syntactic evolution of mood selection in subordinate noun clauses governed by factive verbs of emotion (e.g. alegrarse ́to be glad ́, ser lástima ́to be sorry, ́ ser seguro ́to be sure, ́ ser bueno ́to be good, ́ esperar ́to hope, ́ etc.) on the basis of the data available in the diachronic and synchronic corpora prepared by Davies, El Corpus del Español. Our intent is to chronicle modal alternations —the indicative vs. the subjunctive — as a function of both grammatical and discursive factors, which exhibit a progressive grammaticalization of the subjunctive in this type of construction. The data show a preference for the indicative after these predicates during the medieval period and much of the classic period, too, but an increasingly predominant use of the subjunctive as the modern norm with these nominal clauses.