An Empirical Adaptationist Account Of The Use Of English Counterfactual Subjunctives

Subjunctives as an important grammatical category in English exist in many expressions such as hypothesis, suggestion, speculation and desire. Counterfactual subjunctives are one type of subjunctives denoting situations that are contrary to present or past states. Cross-linguistic studies indicate that counterfactual subjunctives are prevalent in both English and many other languages. The probe into the pragmatic attributes of English counterfactual subjunctives is conducive to the understanding of the nature of grammatical forms and learners' use of them in communication.This dissertation reports an empirical study on the pragmatic properties of English counterfactual subjunctives. Within the framework of Jef. Verschueren's Linguistic Adaptation Theory, the present study attempts to investigate the pragmatic functions,contextual correlates, and form-function mappings of English counterfactual subjunctives. Based on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data collected from three popular American TV dramas Ugly etty,Grey's Anatomy and Lost,the present study yields the following findings:First, since the use of English counterfactual subjunctives is significantly correlated to the performing of face-threatening acts, such English counterfactual subjunctives are basically a type of mitigators that function to reduce the positive or negative face threat to both the speaker and the hearer incurred by performing four types of speech acts: assertives, directives, commissives and expressives. In other words,they can be deemed as a kind of linguistic resource of politeness which embodies the efforts on the part of the speaker to adapt to the interlocutors' mental need of face want.Paradoxically, the use of English counterfactual subjunctives could enhance the speaker's wishes or intensify their feelings to achieve such special communicative effects as irony. According to Linguistic Adaptation Theory, these apparently non-mitigating usages are derived from the basic mitigating function.Second, the use of English counterfactual subjunctives is significantly correlated to the contextual factors of power, distance between the interlocutors and formality of occasions. The data of the present study indicates that English counterfactual subjunctives are more frequently adopted by speakers with higher social power than by those with lower social power. English counterfactual subjunctives are a unique type of mitigators in that the speakers with higher power use it more frequently than speakers with lower power do with the purpose of showing solidarity, creating positive self-image and establishing harmonious social relations with the hearer. Moreover,English counterfactual subjunctives as politeness markers are employed among interlocutors with relatively distant social relations on formal occasions. This proves that English counterfactuals are pragmatic resource adopted by the interlocutors to ease face threat by adapting to the contextual correlates of the social world.Third, different forms of English counterfactual English counterfactual subjunctives vary in their pragmatic functions and contextual constraints and there are'no one-to-one mappings between their forms and functions. The data of the present study suggests that the pragmatic functions of the three forms of English counterfactual are different in their mitigating functions which could in turn be attributed to the influence of different contextual variables. This proves that the choice of each form of English counterfactual is the endeavor of the speaker to soften face threat to the interlocutors by adapting to the contextual variables concerned.Based on the above analysis the present study comes to the conclusion that English counterfactual subjunctives are a distinct type of mitigators available to and adopted by language users in higher power position and with distant relations on relatively formal occasions to reduce the positive or negative face threat to the interlocutors.The probe into the pragmatic aspects of English counterfactual subjunctives promotes the grammar-pragmatics interface research by depicting labor division between grammar and pragmatics in English counterfactual subjunctives and expands its research scope by taking English counterfactual subjunctives into consideration.Moreover,this study,by exploring a specific grammatical form within the theoretical framework of Linguistic Adaptation Theory, shows its operability and explicability and provides a comprehensive paradigm for pragmatic research. Practically, the present study is helpful for language learners to grasp the usage conditions of English counterfactual subjunctives so as to improve their pragmalinguistic competence.Pedagogically, the present study provides guidance to the teaching of grammatical items;that is, teachers need to improve not only students' grammatical accuracy but also.appropriateness of language use and reduce their pragmatic failure in communication by explaining to them the usage conditions of and contextual constraints on specific grammatical items.