A Cognitive Study Of The Conditional Of Futurity In English

The condition concept is the outcome of people’s conceptualization of the conditional relation between events. The conditional relation refers to a kind of subjectively assumed causative relation between assumed events, which is expanded from the causative relation between objects in the objective world. In this thesis, the condition concept refers to the subjectively assumed causative relation in which the occurrence of the premise event causes the occurrence of the result event. As a subcategory of the condition concept, the concept of the condition of futurity refers to the subjectively assumed causative relation in which the occurrence of the premise event after the present point of time causes the occurrence of the result event.Under the guidance of the prototype theory and subjectification, this thesis has made a study of the generation and expansion of the concept of the condition of futurity and the conditional of futurity in English. Specific contents include the concept of the condition of futurity, its generation, its prototype and non-prototypes and the semantic features of its prototype and non-prototypes, the motivation and process of its expansion, the conditional of futurity in English, its generation, and its prototype and non-prototypes and the syntactic features of its prototype and non-prototypes.The study shows that the condition concept is generated from the mapping of the conditional relation into the conceptual world. The concept of the condition of futurity is the subjective assumption of the conditional relation between events occurring after the present point of time. The prototype of the concept of the condition of futurity refers to the concept of open condition which shows the speaker’s subjective open assumption about the relation between the events occurring after the present point of time. The tendency of the occurrences of the events is not presupposed in this kind of assumption, so both of the premise event and the result event are likely or unlikely to occur after the present point of time. There are two non-prototypes of the concept of the condition of futurity:the concept of closed condition and the concept of semi-closed condition (or semi-open condition). The concept of closed condition indicates the speaker’s subjective closed assumption about the relation between the events occurring after the present point of time. The negative tendency of the occurrences of the events is presupposed in this kind of assumption, so both of the premise event and the result event are unlikely to occur after the present point of time. The concept of semi-closed condition refers to the speaker’s subjective semi-closed assumption about the relation between the events occurring after the present point of time. The positive tendency of the occurrences of the events is presupposed in this kind of assumption, thus both of the premise event and the result event are likely to happen after the present point of time. The cognitive mechanism of the expansion of the concept of the condition of futurity from the prototype to the non-prototypes is subjectification. In detail, the expansion process from the concept of open condition to the concept of closed condition and the concept of semi-closed condition is a process of increase in subjectification.The study also shows that the conditional of futurity in English is the linguistic representation in English of the concept of the condition of futurity and it is generated when the concept of the condition of futurity is mapped into English. The premise event and the result event are respectively represented by the Clause-premisc and the Clause-resuit., and the conditional relation is represented by the conditional connective. The prototypical concept of the condition of futurity is represented by the prototypical conditional of futurity, namely the open conditional of futurity, and the non-prototypical concepts of the condition of futurity are represented by the non-prototypical conditionals of futurity, namely the closed and the semi-closed conditional of futurity. The syntactic differences between the prototypical conditional of futurity in English and the non-prototypical conditionals of futurity in English are mainly reflected in the verb forms which are determined by the concept of the condition of futurity that is expressed by the conditional of futurity. Starting from the concept of the condition of futurity, this thesis has provided a unified account of the use of different verb forms in the prototypical conditional of futurity in English and the non-prototypical conditionals of futurity in English.This thesis has revealed the law of cognition behind the generation and expansion of the concept of the condition of futurity and the conditional of futurity in English. Not only can it verify the practicality and explanatory force of the theories of cognitive linguistics, but it can also offer useful reference to the learning, teaching, and application of the conditional of futurity in English.