This paper explores the Spanish clause from the viewpoint of its contribution to the speakers' interactive needs. Within the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics, this exploration is undertaken in relation to speech functions and those resources dynamically deployed in verbal exchanges. Discourse-semantic principles underpinning the 'standard' description of English mood and Caffarel's (1995, 2006) pioneering account of French are thus first reviewed. In light of resources found in Spanish, a two-layer analysis is proposed, with the Negotiator as the interpersonal nub of the clause, which minimally includes a Predicator realised by a finite verbal group.
Spanish MOOD; interpersonal metafunction; speech functions; arguability, discourse semantics