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1.4.1.Indicative
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The indicative is the "unmarked" mood in the sense that it refers to the verb forms that are typically used in the formation of declarative clauses and questions. The indicative marks that the clause refers to a state of affairs that is claimed to be actual within the domain of discourse (domain D). When the speaker utters an example such as (160a), he is stating that the proposition stroke (Jan, the cat) is true in domain D. Similarly, by uttering the question in (160b), the speaker expresses his belief that there is an ongoing cat-stroking event, but that he wants to know who the agent of the event is: ?x (x stroke the cat). By uttering the question in (160c), the speaker is soliciting information about the truth of the proposition stroke (Jan, the cat) in domain D.

160
a. Jan aait de kat.
  Jan  strokes  the cat
  'Jan is stroking the cat.'
b. Wie aait de kat?
  who  strokes the cat
  'Who is stroking the cat?'
c. Aait Jan de kat?
  strokes  Jan the cat
  'Is Jan stroking the cat?'

Since indicative forms have already been discussed in Section 1.3, we will not digress on them any further, but immediately commence with a discussion of the more marked moods.

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