Chinese and counterfactual reasoning

Abstract

This paper begins with a scrutiny of the notion SUBJUNCTIVE CONDITIONAL together with an introduction to the distinction of EXTRINSIC and INTRINSIC FACTORS affecting the nature of logical operators. This is followed by a cursory overview of psychological and grammatical researches on counterfactual expressions in Mandarin Chinese. It then sets out a list of tasks to be accomplished and explicates the author’s view in a recent proposal that Mandarin counterfactuals can be formally divided into EXPLICIT and IMPLICIT counterfactuals, which cross-cut the tripartite division of TRUTHIFIERS, FALSIFIERS, and COUNTERPOSSIBLES. It is suggested that this understanding can serve as a unified framework to describe Chinese counterfactuals and can also be used to accommodate some related optative expressions found in several dialects.