On Conditionals

On Conditionals provides the first major cross-disciplinary account of conditional (if-then) constructions.

Elizabeth Closs Traugott (Author), Alice Ter Meulen (Author), Judy Snitzer Reilly (Author), Charles A. Ferguson (Author)

9780521113274, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 18 June 2009

400 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.59 kg

On Conditionals provides the first major cross-disciplinary account of conditional (if-then) constructions. Conditional sentences directly reflect the language user's ability to reason about alternatives, uncertainties, and unrealised contingencies. An understanding of the conceptual and behavioural organisation involved in the construction and interpretation of these kinds of sentences therefore provides fundamental insights into the inferential strategies and the cognitive and linguistic processes of human beings. The present volume brings together studies from several perspectives - philosophical, linguistic and psychological - and aims to emphasise the intrinsic connections between the issues to be addressed and to point to new directions for interdisciplinary work.

Part I. General Studies: 1. Overview Charles A. Gerguson, Judy Snitzer Reilly, Alice ter Meulen and Elizabeth Closs Traugott
2. Conditionals and conditional information John Barwise
3. Conditions and mental models P. N. Johnson-Laird
4. Conditionals: a typology Bernard Comrie
Part II. Particular Studies: 5. On the interpretation of 'donkey'-sentences Tanya Reinhart
6. Generic information, conditional contexts and constraints Alice ter Meulen
7. Data semantics and the pragmatics of indicative conditionals Frank Verltman
8. Remarks on the semantics and pragmatics of conditionals Ernest W. Adams
9. The use of conditionals in inducements and deterrents Samuel Fillenbaum
10. Conditionals and speech acts Johan van der Auwera
11. Constraints on the form and meaning of the protasis John Haiman
12. Conditionals, concessive conditionals and concessives: areas of contrast, overlap and neutralization Ekkehard König
13. The realis-irrealis continuum in the classical Greek conditional Joseph H. Greenberg
14. The historical development of SI-clauses in Romance Martin B. Harris
15. First steps in acquiring conditionals Melissa Bowerman
16. The acquisition of temporals and conditionals Judy Snitzer Reilly
17. Conditionals are discourse-bound Noriko Akatsuka
18. Conditionals in discourse: a text-based study from English Cecilia E. Ford and Sandra A. Thomspon
Indices.

Subject Areas: Linguistics [CF]