仮定法の従属節への影響

Goldberg著のExplain Me This : Creativity, Competition, and the Partial Productivity of Constructions（2019）に次のような一文が出てくる（p26）。

（１）If two words were truly interchangeable, speakers would be forced to make a totally random decision each time either word was used. 

この文は内容からして全体としては明らかに仮定法の文と言えるが、最後のeach timeに導入される副詞節でwasという過去形が使われているのはやや奇妙にも思える。というのも、「どちらかが使われるときは毎回」という内容は仮定的な条件ではないからだ。

千葉（2013、2018）では、このように仮定法動詞が現れる一つの節だけでなく一つ下の従属節に伝播あるいは浸透する場合を「仮定法の伝播」と読んで議論している。これらからいくつか例を挙げる。

（２）If we measured adult sentences with a ruler, we would find in most cases that the length before the verb was short and the length after the verb was long.

（３）If Japanese students were supposed to study English so that they developed competence in English, then such study should begin much earlier than it does. 

（４）If I were rich, I would buy you anything you wanted.

（５）In such a situation, the acceptance of their proposal would be tantamount to an admission that you were really wrong.

上記はそれぞれ（２）が名詞節、（３）が副詞節、（４）が関係節、（５）が同格節になっている。

次の例の二つ目の下線部では仮定法過去を受けて関係節部分が過去完了を受けていて面白い。

（６）If, for example, children did not remember many of the words, phrases and sentences that they heard, they would have little basis for discovering abstract meanings and rules. A certain grammatical structure, negation for instance, requires that the child remember many negative sentences. If the child could not remember negative sentences that had been experienced previously, the child would have nothing with which to compare a presently occurring sentence, and thus could not make significant guesses as to its structure. Without a good memory, language learning would not be possible.（青学）

文献

千葉修司（2013）『英語の仮定法ー仮定法現在を中心にー』開拓社.

千葉修司（2018）『英語の時制の一致ー時制の一致と「仮定法の伝播」』開拓社.