Conditionals and Discourse

这个项目使用条件构式来研究语篇结构在意义构建中的作用。该项目采用形式化和清晰的语篇理论(被理解为语篇移动的等级系统)，调查了语篇结构是如何在句子层面上构建意义的因素。本文的重点是一组条件句，它们的意义似乎超越了传统意义上传达的真理条件(话语敏感条件句，DSC)。借助与语篇结构的互动，不需要在句法或语义上进行特别的移动，就可以自然地解释直接语篇结构。DSC的研究支持这样一种假设，即句子意义和语篇结构之间的关系比以往认为的更丰富、更清晰，这为话语在意义构建中的作用提供了新的思维方式。主要的实证重点将放在两种类型的效应上，即穷竭效应和可取性效应。在文献中，它们都是在“条件完成性”和“可选性”的标题下讨论的。a.标准的条件完成性(“穷尽效应”)，语义帐户预测，在条件式的条件中，如果p，q，p是q的条件。然而，当听到条件if p，q时，听者似乎经常学习丰富的含义，即p是q的穷尽条件。这意味着p不仅是q的条件，而且是q(p-q)的必要条件：(1)如果你修剪草坪，我会给你5美元。听众的标准结论是，修剪草坪不仅是获得5美元的条件，而且只有修剪草坪才能获得5美元。在像(1)这样的情况下，神秘的是，观察到的与先行词关联的穷举效应并不是由条件句的传统语义预测的。这种效果是一种强健的现象，已经被称为“条件完成式”。b.视觉性(“合意性效果”)在条件句的前置条件句中存在某些焦点敏感的操作符，这可能会引起由结构的传统语义所不能预测的带有合意性的解释。这种结构被称为“可选的”结构：(2)如果飞机延误了5分钟，(我就会接通了)。如果说出(2)，听话者不仅会明白延误是进行接通的条件，而且说话者也希望已经接通。然而，(2)中没有词项负责这一含义，这仍然是传统语义学无法解释的。

This project uses conditional constructions to investigate the role of discourse structure in the construction of meaning. Adopting a formalized and articulated theory of discourse (understood as a hierarchical system of discourse moves), the project investigates how the structure of discourse is factored into the construction of meaning at the sentence level. The focus is on a set of conditional constructions whose meanings appear to go beyond conventionally conveyed truth-conditions (discourse sensitive conditionals, DSCs). Appealing to the interaction with discourse structure provides a natural account of DSCs without requiring ad-hoc moves in the syntax or semantics. The study of DSCs supports the hypothesis that the relation between sentence meaning and discourse structure is richer and far more articulated than has previously been thought, providing support for new ways of thinking about the role of discourse in the construction of meaning.The main empirical focus will be on two types of effects that will be argued to illustrate discourse-sensitivity in conditionals: exhaustivity effects and desirability effects. They have been discussed in the literature under the headings of "conditional perfection" and "optativity".A. Conditional perfection ("exhaustivity effects")Standardly, semantic accounts predict that in a conditional of the form if p, q, p is a condition for q. However, upon hearing a conditional if p, q, listeners often appear to learn the enriched meaning that p is an exhaustive condition for q. This means that p is not just a condition for q, but also a necessary condition for q (p - q):(1) If you mow the lawn, I will give you $5.Upon hearing (1), listeners standardly conclude that not only is mowing the lawn a condition to obtain $5, but also that only by mowing the lawn will the $5 be obtained. What is mysterious in cases like (1) is that the observed exhaustivity effect associated with the antecedent is not predicted by the conventional semantics of the conditional. The effect is a robust phenomenon that has come to be known as "conditional perfection".B. Optativity ("desirability effects")The presence of certain focus sensitive operators in the antecedents of conditionals can give rise to interpretations flavored with desirability that are not predicted by the conventional semantics of the structure. This type of structure is known as "optative":(2) If only the plane had been delayed for five minutes, (I would have made my connection).Given an utterance of (2), the listener doesn¿t only come to understand that a delay was a condition to make the connection, but also that the speaker desires to have made the connection. There is, however, no lexical item in (2) responsible for this meaning, which remains unexplained by the conventional semantics.