We investigate the notion of relevance as it pertains to ‘commonsense’, subjunctive conditionals. Relevance is taken here as a relation between a property (such as having a broken wing) and a conditional (such as birds typically fly). Specifically, we explore a notion of ‘causative’ relevance, distinct from ‘evidential’ relevance found, for example, in probabilistic approaches. A series of post...

This article argues that Eph 5.33b should be understood as “so the wife may respect her husband” and translations reflect this understanding in ways appropriate to target language. In English translations, φοβῆται “may respect,” though subjunctive form, is typically rendered a command function, thus giving unilateral instruction instead of expressing probable result prior for husbands love thei...

This essay aims to redress the contention that epistemic possibility cannot be a guide to the principles of modal metaphysics. I argue that the interaction between the multi-dimensional intensional framework and intensional plural quantification enables epistemic possibilities to target the haecceitistic properties of individuals. I outline the elements of plural logic, and I specify, then, a m...

Our understanding of subjunctive conditionals has been greatly enhanced through the use of possible world semantics and, more precisely, by the idea that they involve variably strict quantification over possible worlds. I propose to extend this treatment to ceteris paribus conditionals – that is, conditionals that incorporate a ceteris paribus or ‘other things being equal’ clause. Although such...

Abstract This paper investigates the syntax and semantics of third person singular pronoun ɦi⁶ in Shanghainese its non-referential use. Evidence from phonological dependence syntactic integration with preceding host verb is presented to show that a clitic. It further observed this use requires licensing [+subjunctive] feature, echoing Qian (2004) Jin (2016) . However, my analysis diverges their...