This article examines the epistemic use of the conditional in French. After surveying the current research into the different traditions in which such a conditional has been analysed (evidentiality, polyphony and modality), it proposes an analysis according to which the epistemic use of the conditional is a subtype of the hypothetical one. This assumption is based on diachronic data, which show that the epistemic conditional can be interpreted as coming from an allusion to a hypothetical point of view. The shift toward the epistemic value is realized by the ambiguous interpretation between the report of a point of view [si l'on suit le point de vue de X] (according to X's point of view) and the report of a saying [si ce que dit X est juste] (if X says the truth). The epistemic value of the conditional comes from a loosening of the semantic link between the latter protasis and the main conditional clause.

Résumé Cette étude se propose d’analyser, au moyen d’une recherche quantitative sur corpus, la fréquence de certaines formes véhiculant les sens modaux épistémique et concessif dans trois langues romanes : le français, l’italien et le roumain. Partant de l’observation que les mêmes formes véhiculent des sens modaux différents d’une langue à l’autre, nous mettons en évidence les points de proximité et de divergence dans l’actualisation de ces sens dans les trois langues considérées. Notre objectif est de fournir des pistes pour rendre compte de la répartition des sens modaux dans le lexique d’une langue ainsi que des facteurs qui favorisent le développement de ces sens sur certaines formes de la langue au détriment d’autres.

In this paper, we investigate some syntactic and semantic properties of a subclass of consecution discourse markers, or "connectives", in French. Consecution connectives express causal, implicative, or deductive relations between propositional entities. Typical instances of the class in English are therefore, so, then. We study the specific properties of donc (resembling therefore) in contrast with de ce fait, du coup, and alors (which can be rendered by so or then in many cases). We first describe the surface position constraints for these connectives, and relate the observations to the general problem of adverb position. Next, we appeal to a basic distinction between illocutionary force, propositional attitude, and propositional content to explain some observed semantic scope differences among the four items. Focussing on donc, we turn to the problem of the (in)compatibility of these connectives with if-sentences, illustrated by the following contrast. (A) S'il fait beau, alors j'irai me promener If the weather is fine, (then) I'll have a walk (B ) ?? S'il fait beau, donc j'irai me promener If the weather is fine, (therefore) I'll have a walk We connect this difference with a variation in connexion "strength", a notion we substantiate in the final section by resorting to a version of generalized quantification. We also consider the influence of surfacc position on acceptability for examples of type (B), and we propose that this should be related to a difference in syntactic scope, which shows in explicative c 'est que structures as well.

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The article explores how the evidential meaning of 'inference', 'perception' and 'hearsay' transmitted resp. by the following French markers: faut croire [one should believe], on dirait [one should say] and paraît [it seems] is related to their parenthetical use. To address this question, we first analyze the syntactic and pragmatic function of these three parenthetical constituents, by showing that their preference for the final position is to be put in relation with a dialogical value. Second, we will see that their evidential meaning can be reconstructed step by step by taking into account such a dialogical value as well as the lexical meaning of the verb they are compounded with. More generally, our study will show that an evidential meaning is not a genuine value, but is obtained by a plurality of factors. Among them, the pragmatic function due to their parenthetical use plays a significant role.