Thought and language in conditional assertions

Authors

  • Gilberto Gomes Programa de Pós-Graduação em Cognição e Linguagem - UENF

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/delta.v29i1.8504

Keywords:

Conditionals, counterfactuals, thought, language

Abstract

Conditional assertions are a peculiar language structure that manifests a specific cognitive operation. In order to express it, different languages have found different ways of using verb forms. Primary conditionals are here defined as those that presuppose the possibility of the falsity of both the antecedent and the consequent. In them, the truth of the antecedent appears as a sufficient condition for the truth of the consequent. The truth condition of primary conditionals is defined as the impossibility of the conjunction of the truth of the antecedent with the falsity of the consequent. The demand for a connection between antecedent and consequent, expressed by Chrysippus as the incompatibility between the affirmation of the antecedent and the denial of the consequent, is thus satisfied. Counterfactuals are conditionals that speak of some aspect of reality through the imagination of an unreal situation.

Author Biography

Gilberto Gomes, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Cognição e Linguagem - UENF

Doutor pela Universidade Paris VII (1998). Pós-doutor pelo IFCS/UFRJ (2011). Autor de 14 artigos publicados em periódicos internacionais (entre os quais Cognitive Linguistics) e 10 em periódicos nacionais.

Published

2014-04-23

How to Cite

Gomes, G. (2014). Thought and language in conditional assertions. DELTA: Documentação E Estudos Em Linguística Teórica E Aplicada, 29(1). https://doi.org/10.1590/delta.v29i1.8504

Issue

Section

Articles