In the conditionals below, though the speaker does not overtly express his/her marked certainty toward the protasis, we nevertheless can implicitly infer the speaker’s marked lower certainty from the broader context other than the co-text, such as our encyclopedic knowledge. Conditionals of this kind are of comparatively lower degree of certainty (and thus higher degree of hypotheticality) than conditionals in which the speaker holds unmarked mid-level certainty.
(4.18) ((job))
1. A: 副總 娘仔, 咱 講 實在 的 啦.
hu-chong niua, lan kong sitchai e la.
vice-president wife 1PLI say honestly NOM UFP 2. 兩 項 代誌 同時 發生 hoN,
nng hang taichi tong-si hoatseng hoN, two CL thing same-time happen UFP 3. 難免 卓仔 伊 會 想 傷 濟 啦.
lanbien Toh-e i e siuN siuN che la.
unavoidable Toh-e 3SG will think too many UFP 4. 所以 hoN, 我 想 講 hoN,
soui hoN, goa siuN kong hoN, so UFP 1SG think COM UFP
5. 伊 毋知 會 足 切 阮?
i m chai e chok chhe gun?
3SG NEG know will very hate 1PLE 6. 這碼 我 看 hoN,
chitma goa khoaN hoN, now 1SG see UFP
7. 一定 是 切 死 矣.
itteng si chhe si a.
certainly COP hate dead CRS 8. B: heN 啊.
heN a.
right UFP
9. 冤仇 hoN, 愈 結 愈 深 啦.
oansiu hoN, lu kiat lu chhim la.
hatred UFP more accumulate more much UFP
→10. m=, 這碼
若
跳 落 溪仔水 攏 洗 勿會 清 矣 o!m=, chitma na thiau loh kheachui long se be chheng a o!
DM now if jump into stream all wash NEG clean CRS UFP 11. A: 著 啦.
tioh la.
right UFP
12. 啊 所以講 hoN, a soui kong hoN, DM so COM UFP
13. 欲 拜託 副總仔 hoN, beh paithok hu-chonge hoN, want request vice-president UFP 14 勿愛 將 卓仔 辭 頭路 啦.
mai chiong Toh-e si thaulou la.
NEG DISP Toh-e fire job UFP
A(1-7): Vice President’s wife, frankly speaking, because these two things happened at the same time, no wonder Toh-e misunderstood it. So I am wondering whether he hates us or not. In my opinion, he must hate us very much.
B(8-10): That’s right. The hatred is accumulating. Now even if we drop into a stream, we cannot wash the hatred away.
A(11-14): Right. So we want to make a request to you—please don’t fire Toh-e.
In example (4.18), B, in line 9 and line 10, tells the manager’s wife that the hatred between the guy and them are getting so strong that even if A and B jump into a river, the hatred cannot be eliminated. In uttering line 10, B is actually being exaggerating.
Depending on his encyclopedic knowledge, B knows that it is unlikely for them to jump into a river, and therefore the protasis thiau loh kheachui is of quite low degree of certainty (high degree of hypotehticality). The protasis is marked with na, and the apodosis is unmarked.
(4.19) ((proposal))
1. B: 我 問 你 le, goa bun li le, 1SG ask 2SG UFP
2. 彼秋月 腹肚 底 彼個 囡仔 是毋是 he Chhui-goat pakto te hit-le gina si-m-si that Chhui-goat belly bottom that-CL baby COP-NEG-COP 你 的?
li e?
2SG ASSC 3. A: 是 啦.
si la, COP UFP
4. ia 毋閣 我 著 共 講 了 矣, ia mkoh goa toh ka kong liou a, DM but 1SG just GOAL say finished CRS 5. 我 叫 伊 去 提掉 著 無 代誌 矣.
goa kio i khi thehtiau toh bo taichi a.
1SG ask 3SG go abort then NEG problem CRS …(ellipsis of ten lines)
16 B: 恁 爸 teh 厝的 等 你 啦, lin ba teh chhue tan li la, 2PL father at home wait 2SG UFP 17 免 問 伊 啦,
bien bun i la, need-not ask 3SG UFP
18 欲 問 你 講, beh bun li kong, want ask 2SG COM
19 秋月 彼個 囡仔 是毋是 你 的 啦, Chhui-goat hit-le gina si-m-si li e la, Chhui-goat that-CL baby COP-NEG-COP 2SG ASSC UFP
→20
假使若
是 你 的, kasu-na si li e, if-if COP 2SG ASSC 21 伊 欲 講 hoN,i beh kong hoN, 3SG want COM UFP
22 欲 叫 媒人婆 欲 去 提親.
beh kio moailangpo beh khi tehchhin.
will ask matchmaker will go propose-marriage
B(1-2): Let me ask you. Are you the father of the baby Chhui-goat is expecting?
A(3-5): Yes, but I have told her to do the abortion and everything would be fine.
…
B(16-22): Your father is awaiting you at home. You don’t have to ask him. (Actually), he wanted to ask you whether or not you are the father of Chhui-goat’s baby.
If you are, he says that he will ask a matchmaker to make an offer of marriage to Chhui-goat.
From the subject matter discussed in the example, along with the encyclopedic knowledge common to Taiwanese people in the early decades, we can implicitly infer the speaker’s lower certainty toward the protasis. Unwed pregnancy is regarded as a dishonor in the society. Therefore, the parents don’t want it to be true. This undesirability is reflected in the choice of the forward-linking element kasu-na, which expresses higher degree of hypotheticality. The correlation between hypotheticality and desirability is thoroughly discussed by Akatsuka (2002), who points out that
“natural language conditionals are an important device for encoding the speaker’s evaluative stance of desirability” (Akatsuka 2002: 323). The Japanese conditional
conditionals. The Taiwanese marker kasu-na in this example serves the same function as Japanese –tewa.