Mental Spaces in Grammar: Conditional Constructions

by Barbara Dancygier , Eve Sweetser

• ISBN13: 9780521103244
• ISBN10: 052110324X
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-03-19
• 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

Conditional constructions, mental spaces and semantic compositionality

Prediction, alternativity and epistemic stance

Tense, epistemic distance and embedded spaces

Future and present forms in conditional constructions

Non-alternatives and alternatives: mental spaces in different domains

Then and even if: mental-space deixis and referential uniqueness

Clause order and space building: if, because, unless and except if

Uniqueness and negative stance: only if and if only

Coordinate constructions and conditional meaning

The door-scraper in the Wild Wood: conditional constructions and frame-based space building

References

Indexes

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.