Expectations and (in)sufficiency: Spanish como conditionals

Though the study of conditional sentences in terms of their meanings & functions has expanded rapidly over the past 20 years, analyses have not often dealt with noncanonical conditional constructions, focusing instead on canonical conditionals like those marked by if in English. This paper attempts to partially redress this bias by examining the meaning & function of a noncanonical conditional construction in Spanish: the como conditional. While prior analyses of this construction have characterized it as expressing pragmatic counterexpectation, here it is shown on empirical grounds that such an analysis is misguided. A more accurate account of the meaning of como conditionals is then provided, based on the pragmatic notion of argumentative insufficiency: a condition marked by como is one that would normally be considered "insufficient" for the ensuing consequent but is asserted as sufficient by the speaker. It is demonstrated that this analysis makes correct predictions about the formal & functional properties of como conditionals. The implications of the analysis for the (possible) relationships between noncanonical conditionals & their canonical counterparts are discussed. 2 Tables, 34 References. Adapted from the source document