Explore the vast range of titles available.

This paper investigates the semantic functions and the distribution of the Conditional and the Conditional-Conjunctive moods in Moksha Mordvin. Based on corpus data from Standard Moksha, I argue that these grammatical moods are not contiguous in semantic space: they rarely occur in hypothetical conditional clauses. The Conditional-Conjunctive is more restricted than the Conditional, both functionally and syntagmatically, as the former is not compatible with directive speech acts in the main clause, it requires that the predicate of the main clause is in the Conjunctive, it resists the occurrence of a correlative apodosis marker in the main clause, and it rarely occurs in postposed or inserted conditional clauses.

This article analyzes the distribution of conditional clauses in multiple complementizer constructions, showing that preposed adverbial clauses could occupy in early Italo-Romance varieties different specifier positions within the left periphery of embedded clauses, a possibility that has been lost with time in Italo-Romance but is still attested in modern Ibero-Romance. It is further argued that in multiple complementizer structures the highest complementizer invariably lexicalizes the head Force°, while the other occurrences of the complementizer mark the lower boundary of the main two Topic subfields.

Estonian conditional clauses have previously been divided into two clear-cut groups: real and unreal, with indicative and conditional main verbs of conditional clauses, respectively. This article defends the view that it is a question of the degree of hypotheticality that a sentence conveys, and it treats hypotheticality as a continuum that includes groups of linguistic forms, which have a relatively clear core and are separated by fuzzy transition areas. Secondly, the article concentrates on the relationship between Estonian conditional clauses and temporal clauses. As these clause types have the same marker (kui), the article discusses whether it is always possible to distinguish between these two clauses and which factors are relevant for determining whether the clause is a temporal or conditional one. Thirdly, the relationship between Estonian conditional and concessive clauses is under consideration, focusing particularly on Estonian scalar concessive conditional clauses.

This paper concerns the semantics of coordinated if -clauses, as in (1)-(2). It is argued that the meanings of such sentences are explained straightforwardly on theories of conditionals that tie their non- monotonic behaviour to the if -clause itself (e.g. Schlenker 2004 , but not theories that tie it to a (covert) modal operator (e.g. Kratzer 1981 ; 1991 ). Coordinated if -clauses are revealing of the fine-grained compositional semantics of conditionals.

Background Sentence comprehension involves the interaction of various complex linguistic (syntactic and grammatical structures) as well as non‐linguistic processes (working memory). There is a lack of consensus among research studies regarding the presence of sentence comprehension deficits in dementia as well as the underlying causes. The present study was conducted to investigate the specific nature and causes of breakdown in sentence comprehension abilities in Kannada (Dravidian Indian language) speaking persons with dementia. Method 103 persons with mild and moderate dementia [Alzheimer's Disease (n = 55); Vascular dementia (n = 31); and Frontotemporal dementia (n = 17)] as well as 64 normal age matched subjects participated in the study. The effect of sentence length and complexity was assessed using the ‘Revised Token Test ‘(RTT‐Kannada). Grammaticality judgement was evaluated using the ‘Linguistic Profile Test’ (LPT‐Kannada). Baseline scores of cognitive abilities were ascertained using the `Hindi Mental Scale Examination’ (HMSE). Result ANOVA and post‐hoc tests revealed a statistically significant difference (p <0.001) between the control group and dementia group (mild and moderate) on the total score of RTT and LPT as well as on the subsections. In the RTT, a declining trend in performance from R1 to R10 (increasing sentence length and complexity) was observed in all the 3 groups, with a steeper decline in the moderate dementia group. In the LPT, the most significant deficits were observed for conditional clauses and participle constructions. A qualitative response analysis was also carried out. Pearson's correlation coefficient showed a strong positive correlation (p <0.001) between the syntactic comprehension tests (LPT and RTT) as well as between the HMSE scores and syntactic processing skills. Conclusion The results of the study demonstrated the presence of syntactic and grammatical processing deficits in dementia. The study highlights that grammatical incompetence could suggest a genuine linguistic deficit whereas sentence structure analysis through post interpretation, could place higher demands on working memory. Hence cognitive resource deficits could also be a possible underlying cause for the syntactic comprehension deficits. Further studies are required to explore the interaction of cognitive processes and syntactic comprehension deficits.

We define a model for computing probabilities of right-nested conditionals in terms of graphs representing Markov chains. This is an extension of the model for simple conditionals from Wójtowicz and Wójtowicz (Erkenntnis, 1–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-019-00144-z, 2019). The model makes it possible to give a formal yet simple description of different interpretations of right-nested conditionals and to compute their probabilities in a mathematically rigorous way. In this study we focus on the problem of the probabilities of conditionals; we do not discuss questions concerning logical and metalogical issues such as setting up an axiomatic framework, inference rules, defining semantics, proving completeness, soundness etc. Our theory is motivated by the possible-worlds approach (the direct formal inspiration is the Stalnaker Bernoulli models); however, our model is generally more flexible. In the paper we focus on right-nested conditionals, discussing them in detail. The graph model makes it possible to account in a unified way for both shallow and deep interpretations of right-nested conditionals (the former being typical of Stalnaker Bernoulli spaces, the latter of McGee’s and Kaufmann’s causal Stalnaker Bernoulli models). In particular, we discuss the status of the Import-Export Principle and PCCP. We briefly discuss some methodological constraints on admissible models and analyze our model with respect to them. The study also illustrates the general problem of finding formal explications of philosophically important notions and applying mathematical methods in analyzing philosophical issues.

The view that if-clauses function semantically as restrictors is widely regarded as the only candidate for a fully general account of conditionals. The standard implementation of this view assumes that, where no operator to be restricted is in sight, if-clauses restrict covert epistemic modals. Stipulating such modals, however, lacks independent motivation and leads to wrong empirical predictions. In this paper I provide a theory of conditionals on which if-clauses are uniformly interpreted as restrictors, but no covert modals are postulated. Epistemic if-clauses, like those in bare conditionals, restrict an information state parameter which is used to interpret an expressive layer of the language. I show that this theory yields an attractive account of bare and overtly modalized conditionals and solves various empirical problems for the standard view, while dispensing with its less plausible assumption.

The goal of this paper is to provide an analysis of two important aspects of conditional clauses in Korean. The first goal is to reveal the structure of the conditional clause. In investigating reduced conditionals and regular copula clausal conditionals, we suggest the right-periphery of conditional clauses based on the Split CP hypothesis ( Rizzi 1997 ; Saito 2010 ). The second goal is to examine the distribution of the clausal pronoun kukes in reduced conditionals, which, we argue, is the result of FinP ellipsis, building on the ellipsis theory of pronominalization ( Baltin & Craenenbroeck 2008 ). In doing so, we make two empirical points: (i) the parallelism regarding argument/adjunct asymmetry indicates that reduced conditionals are derived from clausal conditionals; and (ii) various connectivity effects reveal hidden clausal structure behind the pronominal element kukes , which means that there is a tight connection between focus constructions and conditional constructions in Korean. The implication of the present study is that we can argue against a simple-minded dichotomy of anaphora that says there are two types of anaphora, Deep and Surface, and Deep anaphora does not have syntactic structure.

I investigate the semantics of conditionals with proposition-taking attitude expressions in their consequents. I defend a “face-value” interpretation of non-doxastic versions, arguing that everyone is committed to the truth of such interpretations in circumstances that would otherwise prompt theorists to interpret them in other ways. I do this by arguing from the obvious acceptability of attitude ascriptions with ‘ever’ free relatives. Doxastic conditionals require complicating my account somewhat; I show how to demarcate the class, and then argue that we aren’t committed to the truth of a face-value interpretation of such conditionals. I then provide the details of all the relevant interpretations; one main benefit of my account is that it requires little or no semantic novelty, despite the difficulty of the data I attempt to account for.

Indicative conditionals with present tense antecedents can have ‘shifted’ readings that are unexpected given the semantic behavior of the tenses outside of conditionals. In this paper, we compare two accounts of this phenomenon due to Kaufmann (J Semant 22(3):231–280, 2005) and Schulz (SALT XVIII, pp. 694–710, 2008), by reconstructing them in the framework of branching time. We then propose a novel account of indicative conditionals based on the branching time semantics suggested in Rumberg (J Logic Lang Inf 25(1):77–108, 2016), viz. transition semantics. We show that not only is the account of ‘shifted’ readings with present tense antecedents within this semantics very natural, but it also is empirically superior to its rivals in some respects.