4.1.6 Positive conditional CMs
Using conditional CMs,the authors implicitly indicate that they have reasons to present the assumption or proposition as being unassertive.Quirk et al.(1985)divide CONDITION into two types:direct condition and indirect condition.In direct conditions,the truth of the proposition in the matrix clause is a consequence of the fulfillment of the condition in the conditional clause.For example,
(56)If“management”and“finance”are combined together to form a new broader field of study“business and administration”,the number of students who chose this field accounted for 44.6 per cent of the total sample,topping the ranks of all majors.(H,ANEs)
In Example(56),the author sets up his/her expectation within the proposal in the conditional clause,and the matrix clause is the consequence which fulfills the expectation.Comparatively,indirect conditions are peripheral and are not related to the situation in the matrix clause.For example,
(57)She’d far too considerate,if I may say so.(Quirk et al.,1985:1089)
In Example(57),the speaker does not set up his/her expectation in the conditional clause.Instead,in order to achieve politeness,he/she is“making the utterance of the assertion dependent on obtaining permission from the hearer,though the fulfillment of that condition is conventionally taken for granted”(Quirk et al.,1985:1089).It is not taken into account in this study since it is very rare in academic discourse.
According to Halliday & Matthiessen(2004),there are three types of conditional conjunctives:positive condition,negative condition and concession.Negative conditional CMs and concessives will be analyzed in Section 4.2.Positive conditional CMs such as if,as long as belong to CMFEs.Table 4.6 lists the frequencies and occurrences of the typical positive conditional CMs.
Table 4.6 Occurrences and frequencies of typical positive conditional CMs
Seen from Table 4.6,there is a great difference between the frequency of CM if(81.0)and other conditional CMs.If is the most typical positive conditional CM in the chosen academic discourse.In fact,“the most common and versatile”(Quirk et al.,1985:1089)of the conditional conjunctives is also if.Hyland(1994)proposes that if clauses imply academic consensus and membership within an academic community.Warchal(2010)distinguishes conditionality into eight categories,seven of which could express interpersonal function.The conditional type introduced by if could be separated into two types:open condition and hypothetical condition.The former is neutral,leaving unresolved the question of the fulfillment or nonfulfillment of the condition,and hence the certainty of the authors.For example,
(58)As students and scholars,we can be accused of unreasonable manipulation if we misquote from other written texts and on most occasions,writers,even tabloid journalists,try not to commit the sin of misquotation.(S,NNs)
In Example(58),the author leaves the question whether we misquote aside,but only emphasizes the bad result once this happens.A hypothetical condition,as illustrated by Quirk et al.(1985:1091),conveys the speaker’s belief that the condition will not be fulfilled(for future conditions),is not fulfilled(for present conditions),or was not fulfilled(for past conditions).
In SFL,modality has attitudinal coloring in that the authors could express the degree of probability and usuality of proposition,as well as the command and offer of the proposals.The modal expressions used in the matrix clause,or the apodosis,represent negative assumption,at the same time the positive meaning is not rule out completely,however.Quirk et al.(1985)make a general rule for verb tenses in conditional clause and matrix clause in counterfactual condition,which is illustrated in Table 4.7.
Table 4.7 General rules of verb tenses in counterfactual condition(Quirk et al.,1985:1010)
Seen from Table 4.7,in present and future reference,when the verb tense in conditional clause is hypothetical past,the verb tense in the matrix clause is past modal.For example,
(59)If these mineral deposits(e.g.gypsum)were to host chlorophyll bearing photosynthetic endolithic communities(such as those present at LSM),there could be multi-layered chlorophyll deposition.(N,AEs)
In Example(59),the modal verbs in the matrix clause are used to express the negative assumption about the proposition in the conditional clause,namely,I assume that these mineral deposits are not to host chlorophyll.Comparatively,in past reference,when the verb tense in conditional clause is hypothetical past perfective,the verb tense in the matrix clause is past perfective modal.For example,
(60)...if they had known better,then at least one would not have agreed to the DRAW without playing on.(Bronstein,1979:132)
(S,ANEs)
According to the corpus analysis,the most frequent modal expressions used in the matrix conditional clause are listed in Table 4.8.
Table 4.8 Occurrences and frequencies of modal expressions in the matrix conditional clause
As can be seen in Table 4.8,modal expressions of low value constitute a high frequency,reaching 32.8,and then the tendency falls down to the frequency of 20.7 of the median-value modal expressions,while the high-value modal verbs form the smallest portion,reaching only 3.5.This distribution fits well with the expectation that academic discourse are potentially objective and therefore commonly frame propositions with the modal expressions of low value.