Universal Parameters yielding Counterfactuals

Isabel Repiso

Research output: Contribution to journalComment/debate

Abstract

This paper presents a set of non-language-specific principles yielding counterfactual thinking that has been previously outlined by psychologists (Kahneman & Tversky 1982, Kahneman & Miller 1986, Miller & Gunasegaram 1990, Summerville & Roese 2008, Dray & Uphill 2009). The application of these regularities to if-clauses narrows a specific type of constructions –i.e., heuristic counterfactuals– whose semantic properties remain static across languages, resulting in the following description: [+] Restrictedness, [-] Reality status, [-] Probability, and [-] Counterfactual factuality.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)267-276
Number of pages10
JournalTheoretical Linguistics
Volume47
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2021

Fields of Science and Technology Classification 2012

  • 602 Linguistics and Literature
  • 501 Psychology

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