The role of the subjunctive in the factivity-assertiveness alternation in German and Polish

Abstract

This article contributes to the discussion on the factivity-non-factivity alternation by providing evidence from German and Polish. Previous literature discusses various types of such an alternation by focusing on lexically factive verbs that can receive both a factive and a non-factive assertive(-like) interpretation depending on the type of the complement clause. In German and Polish, lexically factive verbs have a factive meaning if combined with an indicative clause, and that they have a non-factive reading if combined with a subjunctive clause. We show that such an alternation also occurs with some verbs of communication, which proves the general character of the alternation heuristics and the productivity in the language systems.