Modality in the nominal domain: The case of adnominal conditionals
Ilaria Frana · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2017
In 1996, Peter Lasersohn discovered a construction in which an if-clause appears as an NP-modifier, rather than a sentential adjunct (e.g. The price if you pay now is predictable). He dubbed these types of if-clauses “adnominal conditionals” (ACs). Building on Lasersohn’s proposal that ACs are NP modifiers, this chapter provides a compositional analysis of ACs within a restrictor-based analysis of conditionals (Lewis 1975; Kratzer 1986; Heim 1982). According to my proposal, ACs always restrict the domain of an operator within the NP they modify (a modal adjective), and when there is no overt operator within the NP, ACs restrict the domain of a covert necessity modal adjective (cf. Kratzer 1986’s analysis of matrix indicative conditionals).