Uncertainty as a disambiguating factor for conditional, temporal, and habitual constructions: evidence from Spanish

Abstract

The present work analyzes conditional constructions in Spanish that are polysemous between different conditional and non-conditional readings and whose meaning arises pragmatically. This article shows that the feature of uncertainty can help us identify potential conditional constructions, and distinguish constructions that are disguised as conditional, but that do not behave as such. Thus, factual protases are not considered “true” conditionals as their behavior is more akin to causal clauses. I argue that including uncertainty as a determining factor of conditionality can allow us to disambiguate between causal, temporal, and habitual clauses that can also yield a conditional meaning and vice versa. I also provide four tests that can allow us to disambiguate between conditionality, temporality, and habituality.