Catalogue Search | MBRL
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
{{itemTitle}}
2,657
result(s) for
"Subjunctive"
Sort by:
Remarks on counterpossibles
Since the publication of David Lewis' Counterfactuals, the standard line on subjunctive conditionals with impossible antecedents (or counterpossibles) has been that they are vacuously true. That is, a conditional of the form 'If p were the case, q would be the case' is trivially true whenever the antecedent, p, is impossible. The primary justification is that Lewis' semantics best approximates the English subjunctive conditional, and that a vacuous treatment of counterpossibles is a consequence of that very elegant theory. Another justification derives from the classical lore than if an impossibility were true, then anything goes. In this paper we defend non-vacuism, the view that counterpossibles are sometimes non-vacuously true and sometimes non-vacuously false. We do so while retaining a Lewisian semantics, which is to say, the approach we favor does not require us to abandon classical logic or a similarity semantics. It does however require us to countenance impossible worlds. An impossible worlds treatment of counterpossibles is suggested (but not defended) by Lewis (Counterfactuals. Blackwell, Oxford, 1973), and developed by Nolan (Notre Dame J Formal Logic 38:325-527, 1997), Kment (Mind 115:261-310, 2006a: Philos Perspect 20:237-302, 2006b), and Vander Laan (In: Jackson F, Priest G (eds) Lewisian themes. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004). We follow this tradition, and develop an account of comparative similarity for impossible worlds.
Journal Article
Emotivity matters for mood licensing
French distinguishes between indicative vs. subjunctive markings morphologically, by showing mood on the embedded verb. Embedded subjunctive appears with specific (classes of) matrix predicates, like vouloir (want), while the indicative mood is found with others, such as dire (say). This suggests that the subjunctive is licensed lexically by specific classes of predicates. However, the existence of verbs like rêver (dream), which seem to accept both moods, poses a challenge to this idea and raises the question of the source of optional mood selection. A recent approach sheds light on the importance of emotive contexts in the selection of subjunctive mood cross-linguistically (Baunaz & Pusks 2022, Baunaz & Lander 2024). Our hypothesis is that in cases where mood selection is optional (i.e., with alternating verbs), the subjunctive mood is licensed by the presence of the [Emo] feature, which is activated in emotive contexts. Consequently, we predict for alternating verbs, that the emotive contexts will favor the subjunctive mood, whereas the non-emotive contexts will favor the indicative mood. In contrast, the context manipulation will not affect the mood selection patterns of verbs that exclusively select either the indicative or subjunctive mood. We provide an experimental confirmation of this claim.
Journal Article
The teleological modal profile and subjunctive background of organic generation and growth
Formal methods for representing the characteristic features of organic development and growth make it possible to map the large-scale teleological structure of organic activity. This provides a basis for semantically evaluating, or providing a theory of meaning for, talk of organic activity as purposive. For the processes of organic generation and growth are subjunctively robust under a variety of influences characteristic for the kind or species in question, and these subjunctive conditions can be displayed in a two-dimensional array. After motivating and introducing this array, I use its two dimensions to partially account for features of the purposiveness characterizing two sets of exemplars of the plant and animal kingdoms: ferns and cacti, and cheetah and gazelle. The result is a formal framework for interpreting talk of organic activity as purposive, able to be adapted to a range of research traditions in the philosophy of language and the philosophy of biology.
Journal Article
Mood and modal concord in Spanish directive clauses
According to Faulkner (2022b), in the case of Spanish, “indicative directive complements are strongly preferable to subjunctive clauses when a weak necessity and teleological matrix directive embeds a modal verb of equivalent strength and type” (p. 8). She explains that the exceptionality of this phenomenon relates to both predicates being interpreted in concord with one another. Having compared and analyzed several authentic examples of mood use in this context (see Faulkner 2021b, 2022a, 2022b), she, consequently, suggests that, in spite of being labeled core selectors of the subjunctive (e.g., Villalta 2008), if a modal concord construction is to come into play, the mood of the particular directive complement is affected. However, unbeknownst to Faulkner (2022b) at the time of publishing, this symbiotic relationship between modal concord and mood is not exclusive to matrix and subordinate directives that are weak necessity (of strength) and teleological (of type). Concord readings may, in fact, be evoked in contexts in which both the matrix and embedded predicates are, for example, either deontic and strong necessity or bouletic and strong necessity. In other words, if the two expressions parallel each other in strength and priority, an indicative modal complement, interpreted in concord (or unison) with the main directive, is likely to result; and, most importantly, whether or not the two modal elements are teleological and weak necessity.
Journal Article
The presence and absence of subordinators in subjunctive substantive clauses in Plautus
Abstract
Latin subjunctive complement clauses, particularly in Plautus’ Archaic Latin, can either be introduced by a conjunction or consist only of a subjunctive (fac ut uenias type and fac uenias type). This paper aims to explain the contexts in which these constructions are chosen and the reasons for those choices. To that end, all subjunctive complement clauses in Plautus were collected, annotated and analysed. The analysis was conducted in accordance with several criteria. The results of the analysis demonstrate that neither the register of a character’s speech and their social standing (sex, type and rank) nor the relative position of the main and subordinate verbs influences the choice of construction with or without a conjunction. That being said, two criteria are extremely significant: (1) the distance (in number of words) between the main and subordinate verbs (the longer the distances, the greater the probability of conjunction use), and (2) the use of a main verb with deontic (quasi-modal) semantics and well-defined pragmatic functions (“Imperatives”, “Desiderative verbs”, and “Evaluative expressions”). As a result, we can conclude that in Plautus the subjunctive complementation without a conjunction displays formal characteristics of proximity (the absence of the conjunction and the shorter distances between both verbs), which iconically reflect the cognitive and functional proximity between both verbs within the construction (quasi-modal semantic integration and functional specialization).
Journal Article
Intention reports and eventuality abstraction in a theory of mood choice
Recent work on mood choice considers fine-grained semantic differences among desire predicates (notably, ‘want’ and ‘hope’) and their consequences for the distribution of indicative and subjunctive complement clauses. In that vein, this paper takes a close look at ‘intend’. I show that cross-linguistically, ‘intend’ accepts nonfinite and subjunctive complements and rejects indicative complements. This fact poses difficulties for recent approaches to mood choice. Toward a solution, a broad aim of this paper is to argue that—while ‘intend’ is loosely in the family of desire predicates—it differs from ‘want’ and ‘hope’ in that it has a causative component, and this is relevant to its mood choice behavior, given that causative predicates also systematically reject indicative complements. More concretely, my analysis has three ingredients: (i) following related proposals in philosophy, intention reports have causally self-referential content; (ii) encoding causal self-reference requires abstraction over the complement clause’s eventuality argument; and (iii) nonfinite and subjunctive clauses enable such abstraction but indicative clauses do not. Aside from causative predicates, independent support for the proposal comes from the syntax of belief-/intention-hybrid attitude predicates like ‘decide’ and ‘convince’, anankastic conditional antecedents, aspectual predicates, and memory and perception reports. Synthesizing this result with that of previous literature, the emergent generalization is that subjunctive mood occurs in attitude reports that involve either comparison or eventuality abstraction. Toward a unified theory of mood choice, I suggest that both comparison and eventuality abstraction represent departures from the clausal semantics of unembedded assertions and consequently that subjunctive mood signals such a departure.
Journal Article
Sequence of Tense violations in subjunctive clauses
Starting from the assumption that the occurrence of Sequence of Tense violations in subjunctive argument clauses is sensitive to the type of clause, we examine the distribution of [Present under Past] occurrences violating the double access requirement (i.e. those in which the event in the subjunctive clause precedes Speech Time) in two closely related Spanish varieties, Argentinian and Uruguayan Spanish. Our results show that the two varieties clearly differ both in the frequency of occurrence of the [Present under Past] pattern and in the sensitivity of SoT violations to the type of clause, with the Argentinian variety exhibiting greater frequency of the pattern and less sensitivity to the type of clause. This supports our assumption that the Argentinian variety is more advanced in the process of change affecting the temporal specification of the present subjunctive as a morphological form.
Journal Article
Explicit information and working memory in second-language acquisition of the Spanish subjunctive: A replication and extension of Fernández (2008)
An important issue in second-language acquisition concerns the role of explicit information (EI) and how it is affected by individual differences. The present study explored this question through a partial replication and extension of Fernández (2008: Experiment 2), which investigated the effects of EI in processing instruction (PI) for the Spanish present subjunctive. This replication compared training with EI (PI) to training without it (structured input; SI). In addition to methodological changes that balance the amount of exposure between groups, this study also includes a control group that received exposure to the target form (C+). Extending the original study, we also assessed the durability of training and whether its effects interact with individual differences in working memory (WM). Results indicate advantages for the PI group during training, supporting Fernández’s conclusions. Immediate post-tests show advantages for the PI group that are not sustained on delayed post-tests. Analyses also indicate benefits for higher WM but only for the PI and C+ groups, although this was only sustained for the C+ group. Thus, findings indicate that when paired with SI, EI and high WM may influence the initial learning of the Spanish subjunctive, but their influence may dissipate over time.
Journal Article