The aim of this paper is to provide a semantic description of WILL in IF-clauses, with the help of an analysis of a linguistic corpus. To do so, I first discuss the development of the modal WILL across the centuries with a particular reference to its use in IF-clauses, so as to point out the gradual semantic changes of this verb from strong deontic volition to futurity and prediction; in the following section I examine the current meaning conveyed by WILL with reference to the most recent and most authoritative studies on the subject; then I move on to the central part of my study, where two linguistic corpora, the Brown corpus and the LOB corpus, are examined; in so doing, an attempt will be made to characterize the meaning of conditional WILL in such context starting from its current uses in everyday BrE and AmE prose.
'WILL' in 'IF'-clauses: A dynamic-epistemic interpretation
FACCHINETTI, Roberta
1995-01-01
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to provide a semantic description of WILL in IF-clauses, with the help of an analysis of a linguistic corpus. To do so, I first discuss the development of the modal WILL across the centuries with a particular reference to its use in IF-clauses, so as to point out the gradual semantic changes of this verb from strong deontic volition to futurity and prediction; in the following section I examine the current meaning conveyed by WILL with reference to the most recent and most authoritative studies on the subject; then I move on to the central part of my study, where two linguistic corpora, the Brown corpus and the LOB corpus, are examined; in so doing, an attempt will be made to characterize the meaning of conditional WILL in such context starting from its current uses in everyday BrE and AmE prose.
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