【虚拟语气】SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD IN MODERN ENGLISH: COGNITIVE BASE AND PRAGMATIC POTENTIAL OF GRAMMAR STRUCTURES INVOKING SUPRA-REALITY IN US ELECTION DISCOURSE #英语语法##虚拟语气#
Dmitry N. Novikov, Andrey S. Druzhinin
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University)

The paper makes a case for the cognitive analysis of English grammar constructions describing counterfactual situations. Such constructions are often referred to as the Subjunctive Mood and include (but are not limited to) sentences commonly known as Conditionals (Type 2, Type 3 etc.).
The authors’ approach is premised on the ideas of prototype semantics in combination with the principles of the bio-cognitive theory of meaning, which treat language as a human being’s unique ability to better adapt in the physical and socio-cultural environment owing to the experience gained and the knowledge accumulated. With that in mind, all language units, whether lexical, grammatical or any other, constitute epistemic reference points, which stem from a language speaker’s cognitive work, and provide them with quite an effective tool for the adequate coordination of their own activities in time and space.
Counterfactual grammar constructions provide such a pattern of linguistic units that can help the languager offer both themselves and other members of their language community orientation in their spatial and temporal environment, with the starting point of coordination located in a reality conceived of by the languager as a sort of mental extension of the real world, or otherwise, supra-reality.
Hence supra-reality is understood as a mental image created by the human consciousness at a given moment of languaging which contradicts a person’s hic et nunc sensual perceptions and is presented as an alternative model of reality. The image of supra-reality
is claimed to underlie the content of meaning of all counterfactual syntactic constructions, whose categorial prototype, that is the (best) mental image of the necessary constituents of their form, is derived from collocations with would and with verbs in the past simple, and whose linguistic category comprises various combinations with such sentential variables, or rather, affordances as if, only if, as if, as though, it’s time, rather, wish.
Pragmatically, election discourse provides a wide variety of situational affordances which trigger the actualization of supra-reality in the languager’s mind. The present cognitive discourse-based analysis (a case study of D. Trump’s and H. Clinton’s campaign speeches) suggests that there are three functions in which supra-reality is actualized in speech, namely those of project (‘It would create more jobs’), projection (‘If the USA got along with Putin, it wouldn’t be so bad’) and retrospection (‘My grandfather believed that his country would have a better life’).
In contrast with traditional conceptions and other works in the related area of linguistics, the designed approach allows for a more careful consideration of the language user factor, including his/her cognitive work when turning to the constructions under analysis in their actual discourse practice. Such structures, thus, help the speaker invoke in their mind the image of alternative reality, which creates a contrast to the factual reality (counterfactuality), for the purpose of describing potential and imagined situations.

术语对照
Counterfactual situations：反事实情境
Bio-cognitive theory of meaning：生物认知意义理论
Epistemic reference points：认知参照
Supra-reality：超现实（指心智中构建的替代现实）
Affordances：可供性（语言环境中的触发条件）
Categorial prototype：范畴原型（语法形式的心理表征）

现代英语虚拟语气的认知基础与语用潜能
——基于美国大选话语的超现实语法结构研究
Dmitry N. Novikov, Andrey S. Druzhinin莫斯科国立国际关系学院
本文主张对描述反事实情境（counterfactual situations）的英语语法结构进行认知分析。这类结构通常被称为虚拟语气（Subjunctive Mood），包括但不限于常见的“条件句”（Conditionals，如第二、三类条件句等）。
1. 理论框架：从认知角度看语法：本研究基于原型语义学（prototype semantics）与生物认知意义理论（bio-cognitive theory of meaning）。该理论认为，语言是人类凭借经验积累，更好地适应物理与社会文化环境的独特能力。因此，所有语言单位（无论是词汇、语法或其他）都是认知参照点。它们源于语言使用者的认知加工，并为其在时空中的活动提供有效的协调工具。
2. 核心概念：超现实（Supra-reality）：反事实语法结构提供了一种特殊的语言单位模式，帮助语言使用者在时空环境中进行定位。这种定位的起点，位于使用者构想的一种“超现实”中——即现实世界在心智中的延伸。
定义：超现实是人在特定时刻意识中创造的心智图像。它与当下的感官知觉相悖，表现为现实的一种替代模型。语言体现：超现实是所有反事实句式的意义内核。其范畴原型（即最佳心智图像）源于含有 would及一般过去时的搭配；其语言范畴则由 if, only if, as if, as though, it’s time, rather, wish等句式变量（即“可供性” affordances）组合而成。
3. 语用实证：美国大选话语分析：在语用层面，选举话语提供了触发“超现实”实现的丰富情境。本文基于对特朗普与希拉里竞选演讲的认知话语分析，指出“超现实”在言语中主要通过三种功能实现：
功能类型
4. 教学启示与结论：与传统语言学观点不同，本研究的创新在于充分考虑了语言使用者因素。它关注使用者在实际话语实践中调用这些结构时的认知加工过程。对外语教学的启示：虚拟语气不仅仅是规则记忆（如“主过从过”），更是一种认知工具的调用。学习者在习得 would或过去时形态时，实际上是在学习如何构建一个“超现实”的心智模型。教师应引导学生理解，这些结构是为了在对比事实现实（factual reality）的过程中，描述潜在的、想象中的情境。这有助于将语法教学从机械操练提升到认知与语用的高度。