Mood alternation in Spanish conditional clauses: Condition, cause and the dominion hypothesis

Abstract

The present paper analyzes the mood alternation between Spanish conditional clauses introduced by the particlesi‘if’, on the one hand, and by conditional conjunctions such asa condición de que‘on the condition that’,con tal de que‘provided that’ andsiempre y cuando‘as long as’, on the other hand. Situated within the theoretical perspective of Cognitive Grammar, the paper argues that the conceptual content of the linguistic unit that introduces the conditional clause determines mood choice. In particular, it is claimed that the indicative mood insi-clauses reflects theconceptualizer’sreasoning about the causal relation between two events. By contrast, the occurrence of the subjunctive mood in other conditional clauses is analyzed as a natural effect of the condition expressed by the conditional conjunction. The analysis further shows that the mood alternation can be explained by the concept ofdominion. The particlesiintroduces a clause that is located within the conceptualizer’sepistemic dominion, whereas other conditional conjunctions introduce clauses that are located outsidethe dominion of effective control.