research proposal
In this lecture our concern is not with subtleties in the logical or semantic properties of conditional sentences, but with the tight connection between the meanings of English conditional sentences and features of their grammatical form.
In a conditional sentence, there are two parts, (1) the antecedent = the protasis, and (2) the consequent = the apodosis. In general I will refer to them simply as "P" and "Q", from the logician's tradition of representing material implication as "P implies Q".
Most of the examples we consider will be of the form "if P, Q", but actually there are numerous ways of expressing the meanings that get expressed in English conditional sentences. Here are some examples:
1. "If you come closer, you'll be able to see the parade."
(the form we'll mainly be considering)
2. "Unless you come closer you won't be able to see the parade."
(If you don't stand closer, you won't be able to see the parade)
3. "Do you like it? It's yours!"
(If you like it, it's yours)
4. "Come here and I'll give you a kiss."
(If you come here, I'll give you a kiss.)
5. "Criticize him the slightest bit and he starts crying."
(If you criticize him the slightest bit, he starts crying.)
6. "Get out of here or I'll call the police."
(If you don't get out of here I'll call the police.)
7. "Anyone who does that deserves to be punished."
(If anyone does that, they deserve to be punished.)
8. "With his hat on he would look older."
(If he had his hat on, he would look older.)
9. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be here."
(If things were not the way they are, I wouldn't be here.)
Our main examples will be of type (1) above, marked by the introducer "if", and with the antecedent or subordinate clause preceding the consequent or main clause. (Hence, "if P,Q".)
Dependencies in Conditional Clauses
It is common to think of "if" in English as a kind of conjunction, and to think of the meaning of a conditional sentence as a straightfoward product of
In a conditional sentence, there are two parts, (1) the antecedent = the protasis, and (2) the consequent = the apodosis. In general I will refer to them simply as "P" and "Q", from the logician's tradition of representing material implication as "P implies Q".
Most of the examples we consider will be of the form "if P, Q", but actually there are numerous ways of expressing the meanings that get expressed in English conditional sentences. Here are some examples:
1. "If you come closer, you'll be able to see the parade."
(the form we'll mainly be considering)
2. "Unless you come closer you won't be able to see the parade."
(If you don't stand closer, you won't be able to see the parade)
3. "Do you like it? It's yours!"
(If you like it, it's yours)
4. "Come here and I'll give you a kiss."
(If you come here, I'll give you a kiss.)
5. "Criticize him the slightest bit and he starts crying."
(If you criticize him the slightest bit, he starts crying.)
6. "Get out of here or I'll call the police."
(If you don't get out of here I'll call the police.)
7. "Anyone who does that deserves to be punished."
(If anyone does that, they deserve to be punished.)
8. "With his hat on he would look older."
(If he had his hat on, he would look older.)
9. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be here."
(If things were not the way they are, I wouldn't be here.)
Our main examples will be of type (1) above, marked by the introducer "if", and with the antecedent or subordinate clause preceding the consequent or main clause. (Hence, "if P,Q".)
Dependencies in Conditional Clauses
It is common to think of "if" in English as a kind of conjunction, and to think of the meaning of a conditional sentence as a straightfoward product of