Mental Spaces in Grammar: Conditional Constructions

by Barbara Dancygier , Eve Sweetser

• ISBN13: 9780521844680
• ISBN10: 0521844681
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-08-08
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Conditional constructions have long fascinated linguists, grammarians and philosophers. In this pioneering new study, Barbara Dancygier and Eve Sweetser offer a new descriptive framework for the study of conditionality, broadening the range of richly described conditional constructions. They explore theoretical issues such as the mental-space-building processes underlying conditional thinking and the form-meaning relationship involved in expressing conditionality. Using a broad range of attested English conditional constructions, the book examines inter-constructional relationships. Within the framework of Mental Spaces Theory, shared parameters of meaning are shown to be relevant to conditional constructions generally, as well as related temporal and causal constructions. This significant contribution to the field will be welcomed by a wide range of researchers in theoretical and cognitive linguistics.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xii
Preface	xv
Note on abbreviated citations	xvii
The door-scraper in the Wild Wood: an informal lesson in frame metonymy	1	(268)
1 Conditional constructions, mental spaces, and semantic compositionality	4	(24)
1.1 Conditionals and conditional reasoning	4	(5)
1.2 Constructional meaning and compositionality	9	(7)
1.3 Mental spaces and constructions	16	(5)
1.4 A word about our data and methods	21	(3)
1.5 The grammatical "door-scraper": compositionality and frames	24	(3)
1.6 Where we're headed	27	(1)
2 Prediction, alternativity, and epistemic stance	28	(28)
2.1 Conditionals and mental-space set-ups	28	(3)
2.2 Prediction and reasoning	31	(4)
2.3 Alternativity and "biconditional" interpretation	35	(8)
2.4 Prediction and epistemic stance: background and backshifting	43	(2)
2.5 Epistemic stance and mental-space set-ups	45	(9)
2.6 Conclusions	54	(2)
3 Tense, epistemic distance, and embedded spaces	56	(24)
3.1 The polysemy of past-tense forms	56	(1)
3.2 Epistemic distance	57	(4)
3.3 Degrees of distancing	61	(4)
3.4 Perspective and mental-space embeddings	65	(6)
3.5 Counterfactuality: distance and mental-space embeddings	71	(7)
3.6 Conclusions	78	(2)
4 Future and present forms in conditional constructions	80	(30)
4.1 Verb forms and constructional meaning	80	(1)
4.2 Will futures and gonna futures	81	(2)
4.3 Positive-interest will	83	(4)
4.4 Future will in protases of non-predictive conditionals	87	(2)
4.5 Present forms with future meaning	89	(6)
4.6 Generic meanings	95	(7)
4.7 Definitions and tautologies	102	(3)
4.8 Specialized constructions with was to /were to, if not for, and should	105	(3)
4.9 Conclusions	108	(2)
5 Non-alternatives and alternatives: mental spaces in different domains	110	(32)
5.1 Non-prediction and non-alternativity	110	(3)
5.2 Speech-act conditionals	113	(4)
5.3 Epistemic conditionals, inference, and causality	117	(4)
5.4 Non-predictiveness and verb forms	121	(3)
5.5 Predictive epistemic conditionals	124	(2)
5.6 Metalinguistic conditionals: predictive and non-predictive uses	126	(6)
5.7 A note on meta-metaphorical conditionals	132	(4)
5.8 Metaspatial conditionals	136	(1)
5.9 A note on frequency	137	(2)
5.10 Evidence from German parallels	139	(1)
5.11 Conclusions	140	(2)
6 Then and even if mental-space deixis and referential uniqueness	142	(30)
6.1 Then and biconditionality: what is the link?	142	(2)
6.2 Deictic semantics and mental-space reference	144	(2)
6.3 Then in non-predictives	146	(5)
6.4 Then and generic conditionals	151	(4)
6.5 Concessive conditionals: prediction without specific alternatives	155	(6)
6.6 Even if and then: the exceptions that prove the rule	161	(7)
6.7 A final note on even then	168	(2)
6.8 Conclusions	170	(2)
7 Clause order and space building: if, because, unless, and except if	172	(32)
7.1 Introduction	172	(1)
7.2 If-constructions: variation in intonation and order of clauses	173	(7)
7.3 Because and since: causal explanation and information structure in space building	180	(3)
7.4 Unless: exceptive space building	183	(4)
7.5 Embedded constructions with unless	187	(15)
7.6 Conclusions	202	(2)
8 Uniqueness and negative stance: only if and if only	204	(33)
8.1 Only if space uniqueness and negative meaning	204	(7)
8.2 If only: wishes, pragmatic scales, and minimal differences	211	(6)
8.3 Monoclausal if-only wishes	217	(3)
8.4 Tense and epistemic stance in embedded wish- and if-only clauses	220	(2)
8.5 Then in if-only conditionals	222	(1)
8.6 Scopal relations, polysemy, and compositionality	223	(4)
8.7 Negative epistemic stance and space-builders	227	(3)
8.8 The if that NEG construction	230	(3)
8.9 Positive-stance if-only?	233	(3)
8.10 Conclusions	236	(1)
9 Coordinate constructions and conditional meaning	237	(32)
9.1 And-conjuncts as predictive conditionals	237	(5)
9.2 Imperative and-conditionals	242	(4)
9.3 Distancing, non-predictives, and other extensions of and-conditionals	246	(2)
9.4 Conditional or	248	(5)
9.5 Non-clausal P constituents in coordinate conditionals	253	(2)
9.6 Paired constituents with no conjunction	255	(4)
9.7 Non-clausal coordinate conditionals without conjunctions	259	(4)
9.8 "Freestanding" parts of conditionals	263	(3)
9.9 Conclusions: constructions and compositionality	266	(3)
10 The door-scraper in the Wild Wood: conditional constructions and frame-based space building	269	(9)
10.1 Form-function parameters of conditionality	269	(3)
10.2 Constructional compositionality and frame-based space building	272	(6)
References	278	(11)
Author index	289	(2)
Subject index	291