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Causal and Conditional Causal and Conditional ConstructionsConstructions
Holger DiesselHolger DiesselUniversity of JenaUniversity of Jena
[email protected]@uni-jena.dehttp://www.holger-diessel.de/http://www.holger-diessel.de/
HypothesisHypothesis
The formal differences between causal and
conditional constructions are motivated by principles
of language use.
DataData
Cross-linguistic data from a representative sample Cross-linguistic data from a representative sample
of 50 languages.of 50 languages.
Corpus data from child and adult language (Diessel Corpus data from child and adult language (Diessel
2004, 2005).2004, 2005).
PositioningPositioning
72,9
1,10
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
conditional causal
conversation
academ ic prose
Data from Diessel 2005
PositioningPositioning
72,9 72,2
1,1
27,1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
conditional causal
conversation
academ ic prose
Data from Diessel 2005
PositioningPositioning
38
12
00
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
conditional
initial
m ixed
final
PositioningPositioning
38
12
0
1214
24
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
conditional causal
initial
m ixed
final
Japanese (Kuno 1978)Japanese (Kuno 1978)
(1) Kodama ga bete-iru uti ni, hon o yomimasyoo.Children SUB sleeping-is while book OBJ let’s read.‘While the children are asleep, let’s read books.’
(2) Gakko ni iku to, Mary ga kite ita.School to go when Mary SUB coming was‘When I got to school, Mary had already been there.’
(3) John ga ki-tara, boku wa kaeru.John SUB come-if I TOP leave‘If John has come, I will leave.’
(4) Bukka ga agatta node, minna gakomatte iru.Price SUB rose because all suffering are‘Because prices have gone up, all are suffering.’
Verb formsVerb forms
Many languages employ particular verb forms in conditional sentences.
Conditional conjunctionsConditional conjunctions
Multiple conditional conjunctions differentiate between semantic subtypes of conditional clauses: (i) counterfactual conditionals (ii) habitual conditionals (iii) negative conditionals (e.g. unless)
Barbareño (Wash 2001)Barbareño (Wash 2001)
(1) siyekutíywaš kayke iyalitimí:naw΄΄š. they.would.not.go.out.to.see.it because they were afraid ‘They did not go out to see it, because they were afraid
(2) no?no? sixwatá:ta΄΄n mehu=salaxs ۪úmwa΄΄š much he.trembling because=he.be.suffering ‘He was trembling a lot because he was suffering.’
(3) mehu=samšú:ku΄΄š tšuka sé:wil hiláyi΄΄ … because=they.were.law.abiding thus not.be anyone …. ‘Because they were law abiding there was therefore never anybody ...’
Positioning of English causal Positioning of English causal clausesclauses
7
93
4753
58
42
010
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
because since as
initial
final
Data from Diessel 2005
Kannada (Sridhar 1990)Kannada (Sridhar 1990)
(1) Bisilu hecca:giruv-udarinda oLage: a:Ta aDo:Na. Heat much.hot.be-CAUSE inside game play ‘Since it’s very hot, let’s play inside.’
(2) Ra:manige jvara bandidda karana na:vu maduvege barala galilla. Rama fever come CAUSE we wedding come not.possible ‘Because Rama had a fewer, we couldn’t come to the wedding.’
(3) Na:vu mya:cige ho:galla ya:kandre namma yajama:narige we match go CAUSE my husband mayyalli sariya:gilla. body not.well ‘We won’t go to the match because my husband isn’t feeling well.’
English and GermanEnglish and German
German
Subordinate da, weil
English and GermanEnglish and German
German
Subordinate da, weil
Coordinate denn
English and GermanEnglish and German
German
Subordinate da, weil
Coordinate denn
Conj. adverb deshalb, darum
English and GermanEnglish and German
German English
Subordinate da, weil because, since, as
Coordinate denn for
Conj. adverb deshalb, daraum therefore
WeilWeil and and becausebecause
(1) Ich komme nicht, weil … ich habe absolut keine Zeit.
(2) a. She didn’t answer because she wasn’t there, was she?
b. He moved to NY, because there lives his family.
c. I’m leaving because when Jack comes there’ll be trouble.
Subordination-coordination Subordination-coordination
continuumcontinuum
causal constructions
SUB COOR
conditional constructionsSUB
QuestionsQuestions
1. Why do causal and conditional clauses differ in their distribution?
2. Why do so many languages employ multiple causal constructions that vary along the subordination-coordination continuum?
Conditional clausesConditional clauses
(1) If you have a large garden with a lot of trees you should gather your own supply, otherwise leaves have to be acquired from somewhere else. [ICE-
GB]
Conditional clausesConditional clauses
otherwise
If you have a garden with lots of trees
you should gather your own supply
leaves have to be acquired
somewhere else
If you don’t have a garden
with trees
Conditional clausesConditional clauses
(1) I will take the big one, … if you don’t mind..
(2) I guess we ought to put those in the oven, if we’re gonna eat them.
Causal clausesCausal clauses
(1) Because the climate is changing, there will be more floods in the future.
Causal clausesCausal clauses
(1) I .. played with them all week long,which was really stupid,… because they got worked up.
(2) ... And me and mom always accused her of being lazy.... You know,… because she was just, ... all she did was sleep.
(3) I realize it takes two to three weeks to process,but just tell me whether it's on file.…because if not, I want her to have another one
(4)A: We could spend a lot of our life trying to contradict that.B: Why?A: Well, because … it may be a very bad chemical bath.
Causal clausesCausal clauses
(1) ADULT: Did you run over my blocks? [Peter 2;5]
CHILD: Mmhm.ADULT: Why?CHILD: Because it’s a fire engine.
(2) CHILD: No you can’t get a napkin. [Peter 2;7]
ADULT: Hmhm.CHILD: No!ADULT: Why?CHILD: Cause it’s Mommy’s, … Mommy’s cleaning.
(3) CHILD: No, don’t touch this camera. [Peter 2;7]
ADULT: Why?CHILD: Cause it’s broken.
Causal clausesCausal clauses
(4) CHILD: The microphone. [Peter 2;7]
CHILD: Don’t touch it!ADULT: Why?CHILD: Cause it’s … I wanna put this right there.
(5) CHILD: Over here right over here, … don’t put it there. [2;8] ADULT: Why not?
CHILD: Cause it’s my horse.
(6) ADULT: On the truck? [Peter 2;8]
CHILD: YeahADULT: Why?CHILD: Cause … you need to?
Why? Because …Why? Because …
72
60
73
47
35
58
35
61
11
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Adam Sarah Nina Peter Naomi
3;0
4;0
5;0
Data from Diessel 2004
ConclusionConclusion
Processing motivates the tendency to express conditional Processing motivates the tendency to express conditional clauses in initial subordinate constructions.clauses in initial subordinate constructions.
Causal clauses vary along the subordination-coordination Causal clauses vary along the subordination-coordination continuum because they serve several communicative continuum because they serve several communicative functions.functions.
In conversations, causal clauses are commonly embedded In conversations, causal clauses are commonly embedded in a particular discourse structure in which the causal in a particular discourse structure in which the causal clause serves as an independent utterance.clause serves as an independent utterance.
In other registers (e.g. academic prose) causal clauses are In other registers (e.g. academic prose) causal clauses are commonly used like ordinary subordinate clauses.commonly used like ordinary subordinate clauses.
