Affiliation:
1. University of Connecticut , Storrs , CT , USA
Abstract
Abstract
Conditional antecedents often contain elements that require the truth of the antecedent proposition to be open. One such element is Japanese moshi, which can occur in conditional antecedents and topics. I argue that in both constructions, moshi requires the context to be “iffy”, in that the antecedent proposition or the set of individuals picked out by the topic must not be settled by the context. I build on Ebert, Christian, Cornelia Ebert & Stefan Hinterwimmer (2014. A unified analysis of conditionals as topics. Linguistics and Philosophy 37(5). 353–408) and analyze moshi as an element that imposes a variation requirement on the speech act performed by conditional antecedents and topics.
Funder
National Science Foundation
Subject
Linguistics and Language,Language and Linguistics
Reference37 articles.
1. Akatsuka, Noriko. 1985. Conditionals and the epistemic scale. Language 61(3). 625–639. https://doi.org/10.2307/414388.
2. Alfonso, Anthony. 1974. Japanese language patterns: A structural approach. Tokyo: Sophia University L.L. Center of Applied Linguistics.
3. Arita, Setsuko. 1992. Nihongo-no zyôken to syudai-no yûwa-ni tsuite – danwa-ni okeru setting kinô (Setting in discourse by conditionals and topics in Japanese). In Proceedings of Kansai Linguistic Society 12, 110–119. Kansai Linguistic Society.
4. Arita, Setsuko. 2007. Nihongo Zyôkenbun to Zisêsetusê [Japanese conditionals and tensedness]. Tokyo: Kurosio.
5. Bhatt, Rajesh & Roumyana Pancheva. 2006. Conditionals. In Martin Everaert & Henk van Riemsdijk (eds.), The Blackwell companion to syntax, 638–687. Malden: Blackwell.