Abstract
This paper holds the opinion that although lacking unique markers for counterfactuals, Chinese indeed has counterfactual thoughts as well as expressions. Based on the definition of counterfactual conditionals, this paper lists three different types of counterfactual conditionals in Chinese for analysis of the relationship between the past tense and counterfactuality. Besides, samples from other languages are also collected to discuss the relationship between the temporal markers and counterfactuality. Based on the above analysis, we conclude that Chinese belongs to the past- tense-counterfactuality language although the tense is not fake. Past tense cannot be grammaticalized into counterfac- tual markers because of the isolating characteristics of Chinese.
| Translated title of the contribution | A Typological Research Towards Counterfactual Conditionals |
|---|---|
| Original language | Chinese (Traditional) |
| Pages (from-to) | 60 - 71 |
| Journal | 外国语(上海外国语大学学报) |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |
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