Conditionals in Berber

This chapter provides an analysis of conditional constructions in Berber, with a focus on varieties of the language spoken in central Morocco. Although there are relatively recent and more fine-grained typologies (e.g., Dancyger 1998; Dancyger and Sweetzer 2005), we have relied on Comrie’s (1986) and Athanassiadou and Dirven’s (1995) classifications to consider the extent to which they can account for Berber conditionals. This is mainly because these classifications are based on both formal and semantic aspects while the more recent ones tend to put more emphasis on semantics. In this respect, the chapter considers four parameters, namely, clause order, marking of conditionality, degrees of hypotheticality, and time reference. Since Berber belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family, and therefore differs in a number of respects from the better-studied European languages, a comparison of Berber conditionals with their counterparts in some of these languages (mainly English) will contribute to some of the different ways in which degrees of hypotheticality are expressed. More specifically, the chapter considers the way the interaction between aspect and time reference as well as the use of different conjunctions affect sentence meaning. The chapter reaches the following conclusions regarding marking, clause order, and degrees of hypotheticality: (1) with some conjunctions, only the protasis is marked, while with others, both clauses are marked. (2) When only the protasis is marked, the order of clauses is relatively free, but when the apodosis is also marked, the order is fixed, with the protasis coming first. (3) When neither clause is marked, the order is also fixed, as before. (4) Constructions in which both clauses are marked express a high degree of hypotheticality than those in which only the protasis is marked. (5) Counterfactuality is not formally distinct from high hypotheticality. (6) Aspect may be exploited to express various degrees of probability, but conjunctions play a bigger role. (7) Within marginal types, wishes are more closely related to conditionals than concessives. However, given the variation, both between and within Berber languages, it is likely that these conclusions may not hold for all varieties.