Structural and semantic differences between Russian esli and esli-to conditional clauses
Daria Paramonova
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Abstract: This paper discusses the role of the optional particle to in the distribution of conditionals in Russian. The main claim is that the particle to signals a higher adjunction site of the conditional clause in the clausal structure of the main clause. We cover the known contrasts involving the particle to (focus particles, ellipsis, variable binding) and argue that they follow from the main syntactic claim. We also make some assumptions considering the possible syntactic structure of Russian conditional constructions with and without the particle to. Our analysis of the syntactic and semantic properties of the constructions under consideration relates to existing theoretical descriptions [Haegeman 1984; Haegeman 2003; Haegeman, Schönenberger 2023], but at the same time offers a new direction for the study of conditional constructions.
Keywords: conditional constructions, particle, focus operators, verb ellipsis, syntactic asymmetry, binding, sluicing
For citation: Paramonova D. Structural and semantic differences between Russian esli and esli-to conditional clauses. Typology of Morphosyntactic Parameters. 2024. Vol. 7, iss. 1. Pp. 89–106. (In Rus.). doi:10.37632/PI.2024.26.95.004