Conditional Predicates – Part I: Syntax

This paper develops an account of the structure of ‘if’-clauses in noun phrases (N if S) and verb phrases (V if S), labeled ‘conditional predicates’. The analyses are developed in a three-layered architecture for noun phrases (√-n-n∗) and verb phrases (√-v-v∗). I provide evidence from ellipsis and interactions with modifiers which support analogous structures for N if S conditionals and V if S conditionals. In both cases the ‘if’-clause combines with a predicate and is interpreted under the base position of an external argument. I argue that interpretation at the level of the √P and nP/vP are each possible; and the ‘if’-clauses can modify predicates of events, states, and entities. An array of novel corpus data and crosslinguistic data are provided. The data and syntactic results have rich implications for broader work on the semantics of conditionals as well as root meaning, ellipsis, and nominal and verbal predication.