Sprachgeschichte und Sprachvariation

Abstract

Cross linguistic studies have shown that the «invasion» of the past tense into the conditional clause is not unusual, but nevertheless seems to be «puzzling ». The subjunctive is supposed to be more appropriate because of its «strong association with irrealis» than a tense of the indicative (Givon 1994). This paper describes the striking combination of the French imperfect with the conjunction si ‘if’ and discusses general aspects of the relationship between tense and mood. In accordance with Barbara Dancygier’s concept of «predictive conditionals», it is argued that the two clauses of conditional sentences are not «combined at random» but are related elements of an integrated construction in which the interplay of the verb forms is of eminent importance in order to assure the connection between the two parts of the construction. By choosing a diachronic perspective it is possible to compare the imperfect with its rival non-standard variant (i.e. the conditional tense) and to consider the specific characteristics of the two competitive forms. Some final conclusions concern the conditions of language change and the impact of social factors.