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physicalobjects,secondorder–facts(classicalconditionals),thirdorder–be-
liefs(otherif-clauseslikeIfshewenttherealone,shemusthavelosthermind
expressinginferentialrelations).Sheherselfsuggestsanotherdivisionbasedon
verbforms,i.e.intopredictive(theapodosispredictedontheassumptionrelat-
edtotheprotasis)andnon-predictiveconditionals.Butshealsopointstothe
existenceofcontextualconditionals.Ontheotherhand,Sweetser(1990:chap-
ter5)recognizescontent(consequential),epistemic(non-consequential)and
speechactconditionalsinwhichshefindsasub-classofpolitenessconditionals
(e.g.ifImaysayso,whichhaveno“genuineconditionalvalue”;Sweetser
1990:118).Therearealsootherpossibledivisionsandsubdivisionsofcondi-
tionals(cf.Molencki1999:37–42),yet,generally,cognitiveclassificationmay
beshortenedtocontent/consequentialconditionals(prototypical,condition–
consequencerelation),epistemic/inferentialconditionals(reasoningbasedon
evidenceleadingtoaconclusion),speech-actconditionals(whichdonotde-
scribefacts,events,states,etc.,buttheyarejustspeechactsaboutmainclauses),
contextualconditionals(dependingonthespeaker’sandhearer’sstateof
knowledge),orothers.
InmyanalysisIwillfollowtheterminologyofgrammariansratherthanlo-
gicians,henceIwilltreatconditionalsascomplexsentencescomposedofthe
mainclause(calledq,ortheapodosis)andthesubordinateclause(calledp,or
theprotasis)usuallyintroducedwithaconditionalconjunction,mostfrequently
if.Generally,Iwillsticktotheterminologyoftraditionalgrammarbooks,how-
ever,Iwilladoptalsosomeideasofcognitivelinguisticstopointoutthediffer-
encesinmeaning.
Conditionalsentencesmaybetreatedasanexampleofaconstructioninthe
meaningof“aconventionalpatternoflinguisticstructurewhichispairedwith
featuresofinterpretation.(...)Therefore,adescriptionofaconstructioninvolves
anexplanationofhowitslexicalandstructuralfeaturesaremappedontoaspects
ofinterpretationinwaysthatmaybeconstructionspecific”(Dancygier1998).
Hence,thedescriptionofconditionalscomprisessuchfeaturesliketheuseof
lexicalitems(andespeciallyconjunctions),morphology(verbforms),structure
(clauseandwordorder),andalsointonation.Allofthemaremeaning-related.
Ifp,qbuildsupagroupofthemostcommonconditionalsentencetypes.
Nevertheless,therearemanyvarietiesoftheseformulas.Firstly,differenttypes
ofsentencesmayserveasmainclauses:
–declaratives,
–interrogatives,
–imperatives.
Secondly,ellipticalformsbothofprotasesandapodosesarepossible:
[8]
Sheissatisfied,ifnotdelighted.
[9]
Ifnotnow,thenmaybenextweek.
[10]
Ifithadn’tbeenyou,thenwho?
(Dancygier1998:12)
