Deriving Some Properties of Protasis-Referring Conditionals

In §1, I will show that the protasis-referring reading has a number of unusual properties which are not present under other readings of the conditional. In §2, I will present the classic type of analysis for these conditionals, what I term the MOVEMENT ANALYSES. Under these analyses, the if -clause is at some point an argument of the verb. I will show that movement analyses do not adequately account for the unusual properties associated with the protasis-referring reading. In §3, I will introduce a second type of analysis, which I term the QUANTIFICATIONAL ANALYSIS. Under a quantificational analysis, the if -clause functions as the restrictor of a tripartite quantificational structure. The pronoun sits within the nuclear scope, and is bound by the adverbial of quantification.