A Cognitive Study Of English Counterfactual Conditionals

The present thesis tries to analyze if-counterfactual conditionals from a cognitive perspective, with a view to exploring their nature and the ways to categorize them.Based on the conceptual integration and blending theory, which has figured prominently in cognitive linguistics in recent years, the thesis attempts to discuss and characterize if-counterfactual conditionals by means of qualitative analysis, which is chiefly used to collect data of the conditionals under consideration.To characterize if-counterfactual conditionals, the paper adopts conceptual integration network. It is argued that protasis and apodosis don't share an organizing framework in if-counterfactual conditionals. The structure from input spaces of the conditionals with different organizing frames is projected to a new space, i.e., the blend, while the emergent structure arises in the blend itself. The dynamic meaning is embodied in the emergent structure.If-counterfactual conditionals are classified into two types: single-scope network conditionals and double-scope network conditionals. The on-line construction of meaning is shown by the network of the conditionals.In a word, this research is a significant attempt at the study of if-counterfactual conditionals in English. Needless to say, it can offer a new theoretical approach to the analysis of if-counterfactual conditionals and throw a new light on the understanding and use of them.